By Liam Davenport
Medscape Medical News
Nov. 7, 2014 -- Very few sexual fantasies are uncommon, with both men and women expressing a wide range of fantasies.
Results of a large survey done by investigators at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières and the Philippe-Pinel Institute of Montreal, Canada, indicate that both men and women fantasize about domination and submission, and that both themes are commonly reported by the same individual. But there were differences between the sexes, with women less likely to want to act on their fantasies.
"It is clear that one should be careful before labeling a sexual fantasy, as the majority of the 55 on the questionnaire were not found to be either rare or unusual," the researchers, led by Christian C. Joyal, PhD, write.
The study was published online in the Journal of Sexual Medicine.
Fantasies Differ for Men and Women
The researchers recruited participants via advertisements in public places, interviews with the researchers on a local radio show and in local daily newspapers and magazines, presentations to groups of elderly people, word of mouth, a Facebook page, and university mailing lists.
Of the 1,516 participants, 799 (52.7%) were women, which is close to the female-to-male ratio of Quebec's general adult population. The majority of participants (85.1%) described themselves as heterosexual, 3.6% described themselves as homosexual, and the remainder as bisexual.
The research team gave them a modified version of a sex-fantasy questionnaire, bringing it into line with current cultural and social trends. The resulting 55-item questionnaire asked participants to rate fantasies in terms of intensity of interest from 1 (not at all) to 7 (very strong). A final, open question allowed additional fantasies to be gathered.
Sexual fantasies were defined as:
- Rare if they were shared by fewer than 2.3% of participants
- Unusual if shared by fewer than 15.9%
- Common if shared by more than 50%
- Typical if shared by more than 84.1%
There were two rare fantasies: sex with a child younger than 12 years, and sex with an animal.
Unusual fantasies for women were of peeing on a partner, being urinated on, cross-dressing, being forced to have sex, abusing an intoxicated person, having sex with a prostitute, and having sex with a small-breasted woman.
For men, unusual fantasies were of peeing on a partner, being urinated on, having sex with two other men, and having sex with more than three men.
Interestingly, only five sexual fantasies were typical:
- Feeling romantic emotions during a sexual relationship
- Fantasies in which atmosphere and location are important
- Ones involving a romantic location
- Receiving oral sex
- For men, having sex with two women
Of the remaining fantasies, 23 were common in men, and 11 were common in women.
source : Sexual Fantasies: What’s Considered Unusual?
