Dear Agony Aunt...

This was a genuine question to an Agony Aunt in a newspaper:

I've been with my boyfriend for six months. We're both 34 and I am fairly sure he's "The One".

The other night we ended up having a conversation about how many lovers we'd had. He told me he'd slept with 8 women and suddenly I felt nervous about confessing the truth - I had a lot of flings at university and in my first job at an Advertising Agency, so my tally is closer to 40. But I found myself saying 10 and even then he looked horrified!

I hate being untruthful with him, but don't want to be judged either. What should I do?

This is my unsolicited advice:

What the hell are you thinking Miss Aged 34? ARE YOU CRAZY?

You’re as crazy as your boyfriend giving him answers to dumb arsed questions! He’s crazy to ask in the first place and you’re both crazy to enter into that kind of dialogue. Anyway, enough with the crazy. A woman must never, ever EVER tell a man how many sexual partners she’d had because whatever the amount, it’s still too many.

I just don’t understand why men think it’s a good idea to be told how many men have been “there” before him. That’s just ridiculous. No good will come of it!

Men should stick to questions like ‘do you have pets because I'm allergic to cats’, or 'is your ex an axe murderer or an accountant' or ‘do you like red or white wine’, or maybe even ‘is your body naturally toned or do you work out’? But to ask how many guys you’ve slept with is a dumb question which should be met with the words don’t ask and if you ask me again, you’re gonna find us in the middle of a major misunderstanding.