**A 'high body count' in a woman can actually be a sign of a strong sense of self-esteem, and the desire to seek approval is not the only motivating factor in a woman's desire to have sex.** - There are several studies that demonstrate positive relationships between a high sense of self-worth and a larger number of sexual partners, or a greater sense of comfort with the idea of casual sex. [Walsh (1991)](https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1992-16310-001) conducted a correlational study that found a positive relationship between self-esteem and body count for both men and women. Similarly, [Reise and Wright (1996)](https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1996-03781-009) found that individuals who favourably describe their appearances are also those who are less 'restricted' in their sexual exploits. Studying women specifically, [Mikach and Bailey (1999)](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090513898000452) found little difference between women who have low and high impressions of their desirable traits (known as 'mate value'), and their restrictedness; this was in direct contradiction to the researchers' initial hypothesis that essentially predicted a high body count to be a sign of low self-worth. - This statement assumes that a woman's self-worth is 'usually' sourced from external factors, and that their engagement in a sexual act is a means of seeking approval from a male partner (here, making the generalisation that this claim is inherently heteronormative). There exist a myriad of reasons for which a women may choose to have sex, and it is safe to say that these are often overlooked; a flippancy and greater freedom of promiscuity are not as easily accepted in a woman as they are in a man. In light of these underlying prejudices, it appears hasty and reductionist to remark that women with highly active sex lives are inherently insecure.

**A "high body count" does not have to mean low self-worth, absolutely, and quite often does not; it _can_, though, occasionally be an indication that a person has low self-worth in areas other than sex, causing them to derive what they lack in good feeling in other domains from their active sex lives.** - Of course, just because someone has a very active sex life with many people does not mean that they lack self-worth feelings in other areas of life. In fact, as shown above, it can be the opposite. So we almost certainly shouldn't be attached to the idea of "usually" in this opinion. - But, interestingly, I think that there are definitely cases where people derive their self-worth from sleeping with lots of different people. The quest to find new people to have sex with (and/or connect with in varying degrees, depending on the person and what they want at that time) is a quest that can quell feelings of unworthiness in other aspects of life. It can provide a framework by which to illuminate oneself, a means to building oneself up when other avenues feel like they are failing. When or if ever the continual sex with different people comes to a slow or a standstill, there will often be another area that takes over to fill the void, showcasing how this might be a real process that some people who struggle to mete out their self-worth can get stuck in. - This may just be for people who tend to be obsessive types, by which I mean (and this is no fault, of course, just a particular way of being) that they tend to have one avenue at a time from which to derive their self-worth. Otherwise, they may not have been spurred to make up for any lack of self-worth in some way, since there would have been multiple avenues _at once_ from which they might derive their self-worth in a way that is, truly, more spread across time and type (work, athletic or artistic feats, actions in the world, etc.). - None of this is meant to be a negative thing; it's only "bad" insofar as it negatively affects the person who may or may not feel stuck in a search for self-worth - a search which sometimes takes the form of sex with many different people.

What is a body-count? Sounds like she is an assassin?