Could I BE having any less sex?
January 4, 2013 5:13 PM   Subscribe

 
This guy sort of stole my thunder. I'm currently doing the same thing with all of the SpongeBob SquarePants episodes (SPOILER: Plankton is currently in the lead).
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 5:26 PM on January 4, 2013 [6 favorites]


I find myself surprised at the low numbers. 236 episodes and Rachel only slept with 15.5 people?
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 5:36 PM on January 4, 2013


At first I read "Their Friends", which would have been a lot more interesting.

I'd like to see a graph of who slept with whom when in my town.
posted by dunkadunc at 5:54 PM on January 4, 2013 [7 favorites]


ThePinkSuperhero: "236 episodes and Rachel only slept with 15.5 people?"

Was that last one from the crossover with Two And A Half Men?
posted by dunkadunc at 5:54 PM on January 4, 2013 [4 favorites]


These people know that "Friends" went off the air awhile ago, yes?
posted by xingcat at 6:11 PM on January 4, 2013


I find it interesting that the two ...um, consistently portrayed as "less bright"... characters had the most sex.

Also, just because I'm a totally amateur stats nerd, I wonder if there was any significant difference between Rachel, Monica, Ross, and (maybe) Chandler.

/too lazy to test myself because it's Friday night and I'd have to evaluate how they collected this data.
posted by smirkette at 6:31 PM on January 4, 2013 [2 favorites]


And by "interesting," I mean "possibly stereotypical" and "f'ng LAZY WRITING." (which, you know, FRIENDS, so I shouldn't be surprised.)
posted by smirkette at 6:33 PM on January 4, 2013


Man, Monica peaks really early. Poor Monica.

what am i doing feeling sorry for friends characters

why am i commenting alone on a friday night
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 6:54 PM on January 4, 2013 [3 favorites]


I honestly thought Chandler's number was something like 3 or 4 people.

Now someone do Seinfeld!
posted by littlesq at 6:58 PM on January 4, 2013


37?
posted by Smedleyman at 6:59 PM on January 4, 2013 [5 favorites]


Wait, hold on, I misread Chandler as Monica. Poor Chandler.

i dont even have wine on hand
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 7:01 PM on January 4, 2013


Didn't Phoebe have the entire membership of Jethro Tull in her little black book? How did they count that?
posted by jonp72 at 7:03 PM on January 4, 2013


Tag on the Grantland Article: Could You BE More Promiscuous?

Love this. Thanks for posting it!
posted by zarq at 7:05 PM on January 4, 2013


I was expecting a chart like this
posted by goshling at 7:08 PM on January 4, 2013


...the two ...um, consistently portrayed as "less bright"... characters had the most sex.
So, if my life were to be portrayed as an episode of 'Friends', I'd have to be the smartest character by a factor of, I dunno, *runs out of fingers*.
posted by dg at 9:28 PM on January 4, 2013


monica's numbers seem surprisingly low. wasn't it a recurring theme on the show that she was embarrassed by her unusually large number of sexual encounters? i remember when Dr. Burke asked her for a ballpark figure she said "definitely less than a ball park"
posted by camdan at 9:30 PM on January 4, 2013 [1 favorite]


For anyone who has downloaded the Excel file (from here): why does scrolling -- either with the mouse wheel or the bar on the right of the worksheet -- only affect rows 9 and below?
posted by dhens at 9:42 PM on January 4, 2013


These people know that "Friends" went off the air awhile ago, yes?

Did it, though? I only get like 4 channels and it seems to be on approximately 47 times a week here. I probably end up watching it at least once or twice a week.

The biggest surprise for me from that post was how relatively early on in the series Chandler and Monica got together. It felt like something that happened late in the series, but it was less than halfway through. Which probably explains at least Monica's low total.
posted by lunasol at 9:48 PM on January 4, 2013 [1 favorite]


dhens: freeze panes (View Tab > Window > Freeze Panes)
posted by Reverend John at 10:05 PM on January 4, 2013 [2 favorites]


I find it interesting that the two ...um, consistently portrayed as "less bright"... characters had the most sex.

Joey and Phoebe were portrayed as more open to physical intimacy, as well. Joey the slut was a pretty big part of his character. And Phoebe wasn't less bright, just kooky. They both also remained single for much of the show's run, whereas Monica and Chandler were a couple for 6 of the 10 seasons, while Ross and Rachel were on again/off again and portrayed in other stable longer term relationships.

In the early seasons, Phoebe was specifically written as kooky but clever. She had a kind of "street smarts" that the other characters didn't have. There was often some humour to be had over her hippy-ness, but she was not portrayed as dumb. (Not, I guess, until later seasons when it became easier to write broad comedy - and even Ross became annoyingly stupid.)

So, even if you think the writers thought less bright = promiscuous, they really also thought two single attractive people in New York would probably have more sexual partners than those in long term relationships.
posted by crossoverman at 11:09 PM on January 4, 2013 [3 favorites]


Didn't Phoebe have the entire membership of Jethro Tull in her little black book? How did they count that?

As 5 different sex partners. See the spreadsheet dhens linked to above.

monica's numbers seem surprisingly low. wasn't it a recurring theme on the show that she was embarrassed by her unusually large number of sexual encounters?

People are odd and sometimes assume their numbers are high, even when they are not. Monica has the highest number of sex partners recorded in the first season and she definitely was written as someone who dated a lot of guys early on.

And maybe some/most people think 14.5 sexual partners is a lot?
posted by crossoverman at 11:23 PM on January 4, 2013


Googling around seems to find the average number of sex partners in the US is between 6 and 10. Or something like that. Fictional people aren't included in the survey, though, and I'd bet that they usually have more.
posted by NoraReed at 12:49 AM on January 5, 2013


"At first I read "Their Friends", which would have been a lot more interesting.

I'd like to see a graph of who slept with whom when in my town."



In the early 90s, someone on the goth.net group did this. It was disturbing. And we agreed to never do that again unless the CDC needed to know.
posted by _paegan_ at 2:49 AM on January 5, 2013 [1 favorite]


And maybe some/most people think 14.5 sexual partners is a lot?

Monica was up to 9.5 confirmed partners by the time she dated Dr. Burke, so maybe to her that was quite a lot. as these stats are just a confirmed minimum, I'm going to assume there is a possibility that Monica went through a promiscuous phase that she's not talkative about.

(of course this is all fiction, Monica could have spent some time mining minerals in space if the writers had wanted that)
posted by camdan at 4:19 AM on January 5, 2013


236 episodes and Rachel only slept with 15.5 people?

Saving herself for the wrap party?
posted by Thorzdad at 5:44 AM on January 5, 2013


From a purely subjective standpoint, I totally thought Monica and Chandler had hooked up in, like, season 7 or later. It was after the whole buildup to Ross and Rachel/breakup of Ross and Rachel/"we were on a break!"/marriage to Emily period, wasn't it? That's got to be at least five, maybe six, seasons.

*tries not to tabulate time wasted watching Friends*
posted by the sobsister at 9:27 AM on January 5, 2013


Sometime in college, I made a graph of all my (relatively few, especially at the time) sexual partners, everyone they'd had sex with (to my knowledge) and so on as far as I can go.

Very soon, it became a very intricate, very scary, beautiful little spiderweb that I was forbidden from showing anyone who didn't live in my apartment because it exposed too many secrets both proud and shameful,l and occasionally roping in parents and famous people.

I'd be afraid to do this now in my thirties but maybe not... my memory isn't what it used to be and my friends are a lot more coy about their intimacies.

Back on topic... I think a HOW DOES YOUR LOVELIFE STACK UP AGAINST GEORGE COSTANZA'S website would be fun, in a wholly depressing way
posted by elr at 1:50 PM on January 5, 2013 [1 favorite]


It was after the whole buildup to Ross and Rachel/breakup of Ross and Rachel/"we were on a break!"/marriage to Emily period, wasn't it?

Except, Ross and Rachel weren't really together for that long (mid-season 2 to mid-season 3). And Ross' marriage to Emily was at the end of Season Four, which is when Monica and Chandler got together.

The on again/off again Ross/Rachel thing is built on them being together for a year, which doesn't seem like a lot, but it's more than most romantic films where people fall in love at first sight and are willing to sacrifice themselves based on a single kiss.
posted by crossoverman at 7:17 PM on January 5, 2013


For some reason I would think Ross would have had the least amount of partners. Who knew?
posted by SisterHavana at 5:51 PM on January 6, 2013


I fall in love every time i see Rachel.
posted by crash9811 at 5:30 PM on January 14, 2013


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