body count
noun
The number of sexual partners a person has had
What does body count mean?
Body count refers to the number of sexual partners a person has had, sometimes—but not always—with the gendered implication that a high count is bad for women and/or good for men.
Examples of body count
When it comes to sex, many people are quite open about their body count. Others, however, like to keep their intimacy tight-lipped.
—Christine Younan, The Daily Star [UK], 22 Apr. 2023
My sister just asked my mom her body count … Thanksgiving is insane
—I had this conversation with a man. his body count was 17 and told me he wouldn’t date a girl who’s count was over 4.
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Where does body count come from?
The non-spicy and original use of body count most people are familiar with refers to the number of persons killed usually in a battle or war. This led to body count being used more broadly for the number of persons involved in a particular activity. The slang use of body count simply makes that “particular activity” explicit in more ways than one, though it’s not exactly new:
In “Seeing Other People,” Alice (Julianne Nicholson) and Ed (Jay Mohr), an attractive, comfortably monogamous couple about to be married, decide to try belonging to everyone as a premarital treat before they settle down. Alice, all fired up after spying on a couple enjoying furtive, quickie sex at her engagement party, persuades her reluctant fiance that having more notches in their respective belts will fortify their union. Her body count of three lovers simply isn’t enough, she insists.
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However, its increasing popularity may be due in part to its prevalence in the manosphere: male-centered websites, Internet communities, and other digital media regarded collectively as espousing anti-feminist views, typically involving misogyny and associated with far-right ideologies. In such online communities, women with high body counts, whether real or perceived, are regarded with extreme contempt.
How is body count used?
While the noun body count can be used judgment-free and matter-of-factly, there is often judgment attached, depending on the user’s level of prudishness or double standards, or both. As one Redditor put it succinctly:
Usually “body count” is used as a reason to devalue women based solely on their dating history.
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It usually features in conversations about people’s different preferences in potential partners, and attitudes toward sex and the importance (or unimportance) of one’s sexual history.
Once a man’s body count hits double digits, he becomes so unattractive to me
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