Men’s and women’s fantasy lives have some aspects in common. First, the frequency of fantasy is similar for both sexes during sexual activity with a partner. Second, both
CHAPTER 8
men and women indicate a wide range of fantasy content. A research summary of heterosexual male/female content of sexual fantasy (Leitenberg & Henning, 1995) found notable differences:
■ Men’s fantasies are more active and focus more on a woman’s body and on what they want to do to it, whereas women’s fantasies are more passive and focus more on men’s interest in their bodies.
■ Men’s sexual fantasies focus more on explicit sexual acts, nude bodies, and physical gratification, whereas women use more emotional context and romance in their sexual fantasies. Similarly, a more recent study of reactions to types of erotic stories found that women reported arousal to both suggestive and explicit erotic stories, whereas men experienced a significant increase in arousal only to explicit erotic stories (Scott & Cortez, 2011).
■ Men are more likely to fantasize about multiple partners and group sex than are women.
■ Men are more likely to have dominance fantasies, whereas women are more likely to have submission fantasies.