We might be led to believe that the more sexual partners we have, the greater our collection of sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections (STBBIs); Balfe et al., 2010). This would be in line with the belief that a person can contract an STI because it is "immoral" or "irresponsible" (Balfe et al., 2010; Shepherd and Gerend, 2014).
In recent years, however, there has been a relative decline in the number of sexual partners among young adults (Twenge et al., 2015, 2017), but... an increase in the rate of STIs (Blouin et al., 2023).
This is simply because the link between the number of partners and the rate of STIs is not as simple as it seems.
This is not a cause-and-effect relationship: rather, the number of sexual partners is a factor in the number of sexual partners. risk factor. Just as having had only one sexual partner doesn't mean you don't have an STI, having or having had many partners doesn't mean you'll have one or more STIs, but it does increase your risk.
By the way, how many partners do you have to have before it's officially considered "a lot"?
Rather than thinking that "multiple partners" rhymes with "STIs", it would be wiser to reflect on the practices and contexts that may explain why multiple partners are considered a risk factor.