"Sexual fantasy," sometimes referred to as erotic fantasy, is a term used to describe a pattern of internal thoughts or mental images existing in the imagination and that an individual finds sexually arousing or exciting. A sexual fantasy occurs only when a person is awake, because an essential element in this form of fantasy is the ability of the imagination to control exactly what takes place. Dreams of a sexual nature while asleep are not the same as sexual fantasies because the element of deliberate control is lacking.
A sexual fantasy can be as lengthy as an elaborate story filled with intricate details or as short as a split-second flash of sexual imagery. Fantasies might be intentionally imagined or spontaneously happen as a result of sudden feelings or sensory cues. Generally speaking, sexual fantasies exist on a spectrum from being extremely realistic to being highly inventive, using unusual or unconventional imagery.
As far as human sexuality researchers have been able to determine, erotic fantasies are almost universally experienced. Given the endless variety of humans and imaginations, it might seem that an infinite assortment of sexual fantasies would exist. In fact, however, they fall into two basic categories. One is memories of previous sexual encounters or experiences that are arousing to remember, and the other consists of activities that have not happened but are sexually exciting to imagine.
Studies indicate, though, that sexual fantasies are also affected by factors outside of an individual’s imagination or previous experiences. Gender, for example, is one of the main factors affecting the content of a sexual fantasy. Men and women do have some erotic fantasies in common, such as reliving an exciting sexual encounter, imagining sex with a current partner or imagining sex with a different person. Research has shown, though, that a male’s sexual fantasy tends to be more visual and anatomically explicit, and a female’s focuses more on affection and emotion. This can be seen in a male’s use of pornography as a base for sexual fantasy; a female might use a romance novel for the same general purpose.
Society and the culture at large affect sexual fantasy through the practice of labeling some practices or thoughts as taboo. As might be expected, sexual orientation also influences sexual fantasies. In content, the sexual fantasy of a gay man or lesbian woman tends to be the same as a heterosexual man or woman, except that homosexuals imagine same-sex partners.