Alexander and Fisher (2003) conducted a study to examine the effects of social norms on women's self-reports of their number of sexual partners. The researchers utilized a "bogus pipeline" methodology; wherein participants were wired to a replica polygraph, with the participants being under the impression that the replica was functional and could detect the honesty of their responses to the researchers' questions.

The study's participants (N = 201; N = 96 men and N = 105 women) were asked to complete a survey gauging their level of sociosexuality (how permissive or not their sexual attitudes were) and assigned to one of three conditions: anonymous response to the survey, bogus pipeline to control (filler questions), bogus pipeline answering the questions pertaining to their number of sexual partners and the "exposure threat" condition (the participants were under the impression that the researcher could read the responses to the questions).

It was found that women underplayed their number of sexual partners when they were threatened with "exposure" by the researchers (mean number of partners 2.6) versus the anonymous response (mean number of partners 3.4) and that their self-reported partner count was highest under the bogus pipeline condition; where they were wired to the replica polygraph (mean number of partners 4.4). Thus, women's self-reported number of sexual partners was ~1.7x less under the exposure threat condition versus the fake polygraph condition.

Men's number of self-reported sexual partners remained reasonably stable under all conditions, with the mean number of partners reported by the men being 4.0 under the bogus pipeline condition. It was also found that women had a slightly lower earlier mean age of first intercourse (16.3 years versus men's 16.5) under the bogus pipeline condition, with women reporting a later age under the exposure threat condition.

Ergo, it was also found by the researchers that the women had a higher mean partner count than the men under the bogus pipeline condition, contradicting the general trend of women self-reporting less sexual partners than roughly equivalent aged men.

Thus, it was demonstrated by the researchers that women generally deflate their self-reported number of partners and that this tendency is strongest when they are threatened with social shame or peer exposure for reporting their true number of sexual partners (paternity assurance).

This study is frequently misquoted in the manosphere that men would exaggerate their partner counts. In this particular study there was no significant effect for men, and there is also elsewhere no evidence that men exaggerate nearly as much as women downplay their sexual activity, except perhaps for a small subset of men (Clark, 1966).

An explanation for women lying about their sexual past can likely be found in evolutionary psychology and female intrasexual competition by gossip. Women accuse one another of sluttiness because men prefer non-sluts and virgins to avoid STDs and to gain certainty that the offspring they invest in is really theirs.

  • Sex differences were greatest in the exposure threat condition, which encouraged gender role accommodation, and were smallest in the bogus pipeline condition, which discouraged stereotypical responses and encouraged honest responding instead.
  • Surprisingly, women reported an earlier age than men in the anonymous condition.
  • Because men do not face the same negative consequences for expressing their sexuality as do women, they may not experience the need to inhibit these responses to the same degree.

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