Lena Chen

is a reluctant sexpert, a feminist and queer advocate, and a walking case study on bad publicity. As a Harvard undergrad, she authored the blog Sex and the Ivy about her college sexcapades and misadventures. Her reputation has never quite recovered. Want to give her a book deal, send her hate mail, or misquote her in an article? Read her daily musings at The Ch!cktionary and check out her full bio.

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If you have a chance, give this a read! I’m the featured expert on an article in Cosmopolitan Australia’s March 2011 issue. I talk about the stigma behind “the Number” and give some advice on what to do when discussing sexual history with a current partner. Since I recently revealed my own number in Marie Claire, I’ve given this topic a lot of thought, and some of the questions I’ve been grappling with include: What “counts” and how do you determine who to include in your tally? Why do we care about the number of partners someone has had? Why does sharing their number make so many people feel uncomfortable? Does “the Number” actually indicate anything about a person? Is there such a thing as the perfect number? Are the expectations different for men and women? What about people who aren’t straight? I didn’t have the room to get into answering all of the above questions (but maybe I’ll tackle the topic for a feature essay). If you want to check out what did make it in print, you can click here or on the image below for a PDF of the article.

If you have a chance, give this a read! I’m the featured expert on an article in Cosmopolitan Australia’s March 2011 issue. I talk about the stigma behind “the Number” and give some advice on what to do when discussing sexual history with a current partner. Since I recently revealed my own number in Marie Claire, I’ve given this topic a lot of thought, and some of the questions I’ve been grappling with include:

  • What “counts” and how do you determine who to include in your tally?
  • Why do we care about the number of partners someone has had?
  • Why does sharing their number make so many people feel uncomfortable?
  • Does “the Number” actually indicate anything about a person?
  • Is there such a thing as the perfect number?
  • Are the expectations different for men and women? What about people who aren’t straight?

I didn’t have the room to get into answering all of the above questions (but maybe I’ll tackle the topic for a feature essay). If you want to check out what did make it in print, you can click here or on the image below for a PDF of the article.

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