When someone would ask me my number when I was younger, I would tell him or her the 10-digit number that Verizon Wireless had so generously tied me down with. Of course that wasn’t the only number that I would think of; I also knew my mother’s number, my best friends’ numbers, my house number, and many more. I thought those were the only numbers people were concerned with at the time. As I got a bit older, when someone asked me my number I would think in my head, “Wait, which one are they asking about?” In that moment, I would think about the circumstances and respond accordingly. I had to think to myself if they wanted my actual phone number or wanted to know how many people I have slept with! How odd! It’s definitely a very personal question that they have no right to ask about. Of course that question has just become normality in conversation, and no one truly understands what it means to someone. In that moment, whether it was one, seven, twenty-five, or zero, all of those people just became a part of a larger category: my number.
It seems like it belittles the people that are being placed in my number box. Not only does it lump together a group of men that probably know nothing about each other, it belittles me. I feel like I am being categorized as soon as I answer the question. Where did this question even come from? Did they think that by the number I said, they would be able to tell everything about me? Did it make me different than a girl that said a lower number than me? What about the girl that said a higher number than me? What were people basing these answers on?
People get so caught up with this convention that it starts to be a part of a ‘checklist’ people go through when trying to find a significant other. Your number should not even be on your radar when you are meeting potential new love interests. Your number is just something society deemed as normal. Ladies and gentlemen, that number means nothing. I’m sure you have heard the expression “age is just a number.” Well your number is just a number, as cliché as it sounds. You aren’t defined by the weight on that scale, your age, or your bust size, so why should you let the number of people you’ve slept with define you? If you think that you are any different than someone that has slept with zero people as opposed to five, you are wrong.
Everyone has a history. The number of people you sleep with should be based on what you feel comfortable with, not based on a number value. Everything is relative as well; maybe there was a regretful one-night stand, but you can’t change what has already been done. SO MOVE ON. Why let an unimportant number ruin something that could potentially flourish into a loving and healthy relationship? Don’t reveal your number if someone asks you. That is your own personal business and should have nothing to do with who you are as a person! Don’t let this silly little convention bog you down. Your number is just a number.