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The Web of Human Sexual Contacts

Fredrik Liljeros·Christofer R. Edling·Luis A. Nunes Amaral·H. Eugene Stanley·Yvonne Aberg
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Abstract

Many ``real-world'' networks are clearly defined while most ``social'' networks are to some extent subjective. Indeed, the accuracy of empirically-determined social networks is a question of some concern because individuals may have distinct perceptions of what constitutes a social link. One unambiguous type of connection is sexual contact. Here we analyze data on the sexual behavior of a random sample of individuals, and find that the cumulative distributions of the number of sexual partners during the twelve months prior to the survey decays as a power law with similar exponents $α\approx 2.4$ for females and males. The scale-free nature of the web of human sexual contacts suggests that strategic interventions aimed at preventing the spread of sexually-transmitted diseases may be the most efficient approach.

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Fredrik Liljeros, Christofer R. Edling, Luis A. Nunes Amaral, H. Eugene Stanley, Yvonne Aberg. 2001-06-25. The Web of Human Sexual Contacts. https://doi.org/10.1038/35082140

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