Sexual Fantasy - Purposes

Purposes

The scenarios for sexual fantasies vary greatly between individuals and are influenced by personal desires and experiences, and range from the mundane to the bizarre. Fantasies are frequently used to escape real-life sexual restraints by imagining dangerous or illegal scenarios, such as rape, castration, or kidnapping. They allow people to imagine themselves in roles they do not normally have, such as power, innocence and guilt. Fantasies have enormous influence over sexual behaviour and can be the sole cause of an orgasm. While there are several common themes in fantasies, any object or act can be eroticized.

A person may have no desire to carry out a fantasy; people often use fantasies to help plan out future sexual encounters. Fantasies occur in all individuals and at any time of the day, although it has been suggested that they are more common among frequent daydreamers.

Sexual fantasy is frequent during masturbation, although this may be truer for men than for women.

During sexual contact, some people can use their fantasies to "turn off" undesirable aspects of an act. For example, a woman receiving cunnilingus may shut out thoughts about her body's odours or fluids in order to fantasize about her physical or emotional pleasure. Conversely, a person may use fantasy to focus and maintain arousal, such as a man receiving fellatio ignoring a distraction. Men tend to be aware of only parts of themselves during sex-—they are more likely to focus on the physical stimulation of one area, and as such, do not see themselves as a "whole."

Many couples share their fantasies to feel closer and gain more intimacy and trust, or simply to become more aroused or effect a more powerful physical response. Some couples share fantasies as a form of outercourse; this has been offered as an explanation for the rise of BDSM during the 1980s — in order to avoid contracting HIV, people turned to BDSM as a safe outlet for sexual fantasy. Couples may also act out their fantasies through sexual roleplay.

Fantasies may also be used as a part of sex therapy. They can enhance insufficiently exciting sexual acts to promote higher levels of sexual arousal and release. A 1986 study that looked at married women indicated that sexual fantasies helped them achieve arousal and orgasm. As a part of therapy, anorgasmic women are commonly encouraged to use fantasy and masturbation.