Body Count...To Ask or Nah?

This topic is a little controversial it seems, at least if the responses I've seen are of any indication.  The topic is to the question of "body count" (how many folks someone has slept with) and whether or not the question should be asked before going into a relationship.

I was slightly amused and a little puzzled to see folks, mostly women, actually getting upset just about the question of asking this question!  Yeah, your life and personal business is your life and personal business, however, my philosophy is, TRY to never do anything you're going to be ashamed of if it comes to light.  We're human and we make mistakes, bad decisions, etc and we live, learn and grow and any human old enough to engage in sexual relations should understand this.  So, in my opinion, to ask the question for any other reason except to deepen a bond, is just being nosy, judgmental, etc..  My thoughts, as jumbled as they may seem here is, it shouldn't be asked unless you both are ok enough with yourselves that you can maturely discuss it and/or you're ready to make a commitment that includes marriage.  And if you're uncomfortable sharing all of who you are with the person you're joining yourself with, then maybe you should rethink marrying him/her (another topic altogether!).

With all of that being said, this topic brought this to my mind...it's so amazing to me, with all of the "independent woman" proclamations being shouted quite loudly and clearly, that when your actions of independence comes into question, there's a problem.  So, does this mean this whole thing is a scam?  Are we using "independence" to counter some of the things we've done, some things we may feel deep down inside are/were not the best way of doing things as an excuse to feel better about our decisions (which, by the way, should be looked at as life lessons learned)?  Shouldn't we just accept ourselves and the choices we've made as simply life lessons which hold no right or wrong value if the lesson was gained from the interaction?  No one is perfect; no one makes no mistakes; we're all human; we can change anything we want about ourselves, or at minimum, change the way we think about it..

Ok, I've said ALL of that to say this... Let's look at it from the most simplistic way I can think of at 11:06am...  if doing it bothers you, STOP DOING IT.  Point. Blank. Period.