Loose men get the cold shoulder almost as much as loose women, a recent study of college students has revealed.

It seems there's a greater sense of equality in the younger generation when it comes to sleep with "too many" partners.

A study of 19 000 college students in the US found that a small minority judged their peers according to their gender, rather than their direct actions when it came to sleeping around.

In an online survey available in 22 colleges across the State, student were asked whether they agreed with the statement, "If women hook up or have sex with lots of people, I respect them less," and then whether they agreed with the corresponding statement when it came to men.

Just under 50 percent of the respondents (48 percent) metted out the same judgement on both genders and only 12 percent judged women more harshly for sleeping around.

Interestingly, a further 13 percent were more disapproving of loose men than they were of loose women.

Lastly, 27 percent said that they withheld judgement completely - no matter how often their peers hooked up with other people.

When it came to how each gender reacted to the statement, 54 percent of women were more likely to offer an equal judgement - revealing that they were what researchers term "egalitarian conservative". Only 34 percent of men were egalitarian conservatives.

Men were more likely to judge women more harshly (25 percent), in particular, those from male fraternities or male athletes who typically held a double standard, letting men off the hook for the same behaviour for which they judged women harshly. Only six percent of women judged their female counterparts more than they did men.

Women who expressed a double standard - judging men more harshly - are believed to be invoking a type of justice, according to researcher Barbara Risman.

"They are critical of men who treat women badly, and they do not accept a 'boys will be boys' view of male sexuality," she told LiveScience.