The average American has had nine sexual partners in his or her lifetime according to a recent national survey.

A telephone poll of 1,000 adults age 18 to 65 was conducted by Adam & Eve, a mail-order erotica distributor, and showed men on average claimed to have had 14 sexual partners while women said they have had five.

Elementary education sophomore Keyan MacCune said societal pressures most likely account for the difference between the sexes.

“It’s probably because guys embellish and girls aren’t telling the truth,” she said. “For guys, it’s macho to have lots of sex, but for women it’s considered skanky.”

English senior Jeremy Mills said he agrees.

“They’re both lying,” he said. “I know people from all different age groups and their numbers don’t match up to that survey.”

Overall, about 53 percent of those surveyed said they have had one to five partners. At the opposite end of the spectrum, 9 percent said they have had more than 30 partners and 8 percent said they weren’t sure how many they have had.

English senior Kathryn Treadwell said the number of people unsure of how many partners they’ve been with is disturbing.

“It’s your body,” she said. “How can you not know how many people you’ve been with? There’s so many diseases, and it makes me wonder if these people who don’t know are using protection.”

But people shouldn’t worry about statistics such as these as long as they have healthy attitudes toward sex, said Olin Health Educator Dennis Martell.

“It doesn’t matter so much the number of partners you have as long as you know why you are having (sex),” he said. “Legitimate reasons are procreation and pleasure. If you are not having it for one of those reasons you need to ask yourself why.”