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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU to not disclose my sexual history?

134 replies

fll28 · 27/09/2013 06:12

I have never told my DH how many other people there were before him. He has asked a few times but I usually fob him off. AIBU? Have you shared all with your partner?

OP posts:
phantomnamechanger · 27/09/2013 16:28

I usually agree with AF on most things but in this case, I think OPs "reluctance" might also be used against her, and can only do harm to the relationship - he wants to know, feels he needs to know - does he not deserve honesty?

However, only OP knows what he is really like and how he might take the truth - I am speaking purely in relation to me and DH - either
of us would be hurt if the other would not talk about something. Neither of us would use any info negatively against the other, in any way.

OP, are you open in other ways eg discussing technique/position/what does or does not work for you? is he leading up to requesting something and this is why he wants to know more about your history?

AnyFucker · 27/09/2013 16:50

Why does he deserve to know how many men she has shagged. If he trusts her to be free of STIs and hidden children it is absolutely nothing to do with him

It isn't about honesty. If I was asked, I wouldn't lie. I would simply say you don't need to know, it doesn't affect you in any way

AnyFucker · 27/09/2013 16:52

Any decent person would not then keep asking, and if they did I would not believe they had a harmless motive for doing so

phantomnamechanger · 27/09/2013 16:56

but how can you fully, properly, feel you can "100% trust" someone who is wilfully withholding something from you, I really don't get it.

take the countless threads of late about wives being suspicious of a DH/DPs texting or emailing history......everyone tells them they have the right to know and if he wont fess up, there's definitely something dodgy going on with an OW. I really do not see how this is different. They would be told in no uncertain terms not to accept the "its no concern of yours" line.

phantomnamechanger · 27/09/2013 16:59

why should he believe she has a harmless motive for NOT telling, then? surely any decent person does not with hold info from a partner.

waltermittymissus · 27/09/2013 17:13

He might feel he needs to know.

But he doesn't need to know at all. Why does he need to know? It has absolutely no bearing on him.

Thisisaeuphemism · 27/09/2013 17:25

I don't get why he needs to know. What If he asks - who had the biggest? Who did it the most? Who had the best technique? Really, you think anyone who chooses not to divulge is being dishonest? I call it being discrete(sp?)

Gossipmonster · 27/09/2013 17:33

Neither of us can remember Grin

RaspberryRuffle · 27/09/2013 17:34

Phantom, you said "Hmm, I do agree with what some of Gansgster is saying actually

because women are more liberated and people in general are more promiscuous than they used to be a couple of generations ago, there IS a tendency for some people to sneer at those who for whatever reason DO NOT choose the same lifestyle."...
when Gangster has already said "I am by no means a prude but the thought of shagging about so much you can't even remember names or numbers makes me feel a bit Ill. have a small amount of respect for you body for goodness sake and buy yourself a decent shower head if you're that desperate. It may be your body but there's no pride to be found in sharing it with everyone."

It is not only liberated or "promiscuous" women sneering at others who DO NOT choose the same lifestyle.

I don't know how many people DH has had sex with/made love to/fucked/fumbled with and I don't care either. It's none of my business.

Crowler · 27/09/2013 17:51

I met my husband about 13 years ago. He was very serious about me, a bit more possessive & jealous than my previous boyfriend (I really liked that) and wanted to know my number. I pulled a number out of thin air, halved it, and presented it to him.

In the years interceding, I've become far more of an ardent feminist, more comfortable in my own skin, and today I would tell a man to fuck off (in so many words) if he asked me this. However, the die is cast and I must stand by my number where my husband is concerned. Not that it really matters anymore.

AnyFucker · 27/09/2013 18:25

Phantom, you are not comparing like with like

Having the right to know what is happening in a current relationship, right now, is very different to insisting you need to know the details of stuff that happened before you even met someone

AnyFucker · 27/09/2013 18:30

Phantom, go read the thread in relationships entitled "need some serious advice" and come back and tell us if anyone has the "right" to insist on knowing someone's sexual history

PunkHedgehog · 27/09/2013 18:33

"how can you fully, properly, feel you can "100% trust" someone who is wilfully withholding something from you"

Do you tell your partner absolutely everything - the colour of your snot each time you blow your nose, how many times you wet yourself when you were five, the number of postboxes you walked past in 1996? There are plenty of things that people 'withhold' from each other - not because of shame, not because it's wrong, simply because it's not relevant.

"take the countless threads of late about wives being suspicious of a DH/DPs texting or emailing"

Doing something in a relationship is not the same as doing something before a relationship. This should not be a difficult concept to grasp.

As for the health argument, 'how many?' is a useless question for that. You could have slept with 500 perfectly healthy people, or with only 1 who had every disease known to modern medicine and a few they've not discovered yet. If you want to know for health reasons then the only relevant numbers are 0 and not0 - and even then quite a few 'sexually' transmitted diseases (HPV, HIV, hepatitis etc) can also be caught in other ways.

And finally the 'it makes me feel ill therefore it's wrong' idea - plenty of things make me feel ill: the squeak of polystyrene and the idea of sticking my hand in other people's mouths for a living, for example. It doesn't mean that dentists and people who design, manufacture and assemble the packaging for televisions are all morally bankrupt.

CatAmongThePigeons · 27/09/2013 18:36

YANBU, I've told my husband the rough figure (lost count) and he told me, there was no pressure on either side and there should be no pressure to disclose anything about your history pre DH unless it would negatively effect him.

soontobeburns · 27/09/2013 18:53

I just wouldn't lie. When me and my OH exchanged nunbers he upped his amount. He also when during conversations talked about sex he had etc.

It waa only after a year I realised the number and his exploits where made up as he was embrassed by his low number and me having a higher one.

It made me feel like he couldnt trust me and like I didn't know him when I found this out and made a bigger issue out of it, than if he just had admitted 2 as his number.

So yes dont tell him if you dont want to but just don't lie about the number if you do decide to tell him.

AnyFucker · 27/09/2013 19:01

Look at the totally pointless arguments and bad feeling this can cause....for what ? Confused

IneedAsockamnesty · 27/09/2013 19:05

If anybody asked me,I would very politely tell them that I have a right to privacy as do they and that personal situations before I met them are not open to conversation.

They can infer from that anything they want fwiw they would more than likely be wrong.

If you really would have no concerns then its not something you need to know.

Health wise you could have sex with one person who has say 7 sexual transmitted infections and not have had sex with anybody else ever or you could have sex with 237 people with no sti's.the person who only had sex with one person is more likely to have an infection.

Just get checked before you go unprotected.

fll28 · 28/09/2013 05:51

Complexnumber:

lol ok I will tell you.

1, 7, 16, 27, 38, 50 something, 70 something, 100, 2000

There you go it is one of them.

I am not falling for your tricks lol

OP posts:
fll28 · 28/09/2013 05:53

Phantom:

No we normally are ok talking about what we like. He knows what is on and off the table

OP posts:
MrsKoala · 28/09/2013 06:53

I think if its an issue for someone they ask before you are married/have been together long. People i know who it bothers ask very early on - which is handy because it means you can fuck them off before wasting any more time. I would be surprised now if dh asked after 4 years and a child together. I wonder where the relevance of the question came from? Sorry if i missed it OP but how long have you been together? why do you think this is relevant to your DH now? What's his number? is yours vastly different?

Personally DH and i know ballpark numbers. But only because he was showing off one night by teasingly telling me what a prolific swordsman he had been. I guffawed (sexily of course) and informed him his number was about a third of mine. That took the wind out of his sails - but only in a fun way. I would find it hard to be with someone who would judge anyone on something as arbitrary as this. Also the fact that we met in a pub and had sex 5 times before we even really knew each others names means he would be a massive hypocrite, and i fucking hate those.

Apparently my Dad asked my Mum when they first met and she said none of your fucking business. Which was quite wise really, because he was the type of nob who made her burn all her photos of life before him - despite him having been married and had a baby.

DropYourSword · 28/09/2013 07:09

I think it's totally irrelevant. Me and DH don't know eachother's numbers. It's all in the past, can't be undone, and makes you the person you are today.

Lazyjaney · 28/09/2013 09:37

YANBU, but its also NBU to not want a relationship with someone who avoided the subject.

festered · 28/09/2013 14:31

Me and mine know everything about one another's sexual history, and enjoy exchanging tales about it.

He has slept with hundreds of women before me, unlike me who's pretty virginal in comparison. We laugh about it.

Each to their own-if you can build a good relationship without disclosing your past then kudos . I couldn't , though. I like my partner to know me inside out (literally!) lol.

As for STIs, well as unsexy as it may be, go for tests before you sleep together unless you're 100% sure about one another. And remember that it only takes one partner to catch something , with some STIs you'd be in the minority to not have as opposed to having them.

Writerwannabe83 · 28/09/2013 15:51

I know my husband's magic number and he knows mine, what's the problem? We probably talked about it very early in our relationship and it would have just come up in conversation. Humans are just curious creatures, nothing wrong with that.

It is just sex, asking how many people you have slept with, not how many people you have murdered Grin. I don't see what the issue is to be honest.

fll28 · 28/09/2013 21:11

MrsKoala - we have been together over 5 years. Not sure why he is asking. I did say in one of my replies that he has asked probably 3 times in 5 years. To be fair it tends to be in reaction to something - one of the times was when we watched the film 'whats your number' for example.

Yes our numbers are dradtically different. His is single figures I know that.

OP posts: