Unusual Sexual Fantasy ?

Is That an Unusual Sexual Fantasy?

Published: Nov 1, 2014

By Ivan Oransky MD, Global Editorial Director, MedPage Today

Are your patients' sexual fantasies "unusual, atypical or anomalous?"

That was the question a group of researchers at the University of Montreal were prompted to try to answer after finding DSM-V and other diagnostic criteria for paraphilias somewhat vague.

"Clarifying the ambiguous boundaries between usual and unusual SFs is important for both clinical and theoretical purposes," write Christian C. Joyal, Amélie Cossette, and Vanessa Lapierre in the Journal of Sexual Medicine. "Surprisingly, such clarification is seldom available."

The study used Wilson's Sexual Fantasies Questionnaire on more than 1,500 people in Quebec. (CreatorGlenn Wilson apparently came to sexual fantasies later in life than many of us: "My interest in sexual fantasies began at a time when I was exploring evolutionary approaches to the study of human sexuality and male-female differences," he wrote in an update of his questionnaire in 2010.)

The findings? "[T]wo sexual fantasies were found to be statistically rare (endorsed by 2.3% or less of participants): having sex with a child under the age of 12 (0.8% of women and 1.8 of men, not significantly different) and having sex with an animal (3% of women and 2.2% of men, not significantly different). Among the other 53 sexual fantasies, nine were statistically unusual (endorsed by 15.9% or less of participants): seven for women (urinating on partner, 3.5%; being urinated on, 3.5%; wearing clothes of the opposite gender, 6.9%; forcing someone to have sex, 10.8%; abusing a person who is drunk, asleep, or unconscious, 10.8%; having sex with a prostitute, 12.5%; and having sex with a women who has very small breasts, 10.8%) and four for men (urinating on partner, 8.9%; being urinated on, 10.0%; having sex with two other men, 15.8%; having sex with more than three other men, 13.1%)."

Then there were the "typical" fantasies, "endorsed by more than 84.1% of participants": "feeling romantic emotions during a sexual relationship, fantasies in which atmosphere and location are important, and fantasies involving a romantic location (both genders, no significant difference); receiving oral sex and having sexual intercourse with two women (typical for men)."

Not surprisingly, according to a press release about the study, "men have more fantasies and describe them more vividly than women." And "men, women in general clearly distinguish between fantasy and desire. Thus, many women who express more extreme fantasies of submission (e.g. domination by a stranger) specify that they never want these fantasies to come true. The majority of men, however, would love their fantasies to come true (e.g., threesomes)."

The study was funded by Fonds de Recherche Québécois sur la Société et la Culture. Perhaps Match.com can sponsor a follow-up.