Lemondrop

It tends to be one of those taboo dating topics that we don't bring up unless he asks.

And, if he does, some members of the female sex have even been known to utter a figure very different from the one they've discussed in vivid detail with their five closest girlfriends.

The question in question: How many other people have you slept with?

According to a new survey of 1,200 guys commissioned by Seventeen magazine, if you've ever been deliberately fuzzy on the math, you're in good company: 60 percent of dudes reported having no problem rounding up, or down, depending on the circumstances.

30 percent said they'd lied about how far they'd gone with a girl; 24 percent fibbed about their number of sexual partners; and 23 percent claimed not to be a virgin when they were.

Funny: Women tend to do the opposite. In fact, when it comes to little white lies we've told about the notches in our futons, they tend to fall into one of three categories:

The Sin of Omission: Similar to all the reasons we use to justify why the calories we eat don't count. If the sex happened on vacation, in a foreign country, over the holidays, or on the floor (the sexual version of the three-second rule), you simply subtract one man. Two if it involved twins. And so on.


The Third-Base Rule: Like the 30 percent of fibbing guys above, sometimes we tell the tale James Frey–style: half-truth, half-fiction, but we always say it went no further than third base. (Note: In case you're wondering, almost-slept-withs definitely don't count. If you didn't have a condom, he didn't fit in the condom, or you got walked in on by his four roommates in mid-act, subtract. Penetration, not intention, is what matters here.)

The Britney Bluff: Think back -- pre-babies, pre-shaved head -- to a time when she and Justin were still wet behind their Mouseketeer ears. "I'm still a virgin," Brit told the world, wide-eyed. And she's not alone. It's the favorite fib of any girl who still wishes she could flunk the Purity Test -- or wants a guy to believe he's her "first."

What we want to know: Have you ever lied about how many guys you've had sex with -- and why?