A Review of Influences on Sexual Fantasy: Attitudes, Experience, Guilt, and Gender

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Abstract
The important role of sexual fantasy in human sexuality has received wide support in the past decade and a half. The initial interest in establishing fantasy's normality has shifted to examining the functional aspects of fantasy and the variables that influence it. The following article reviews variables that affect sexual fantasies including the role of an individual's personality/sexual attitude, sexual experience, sex guilt, and gender. Also, a hypothesized link between parental sexual attitudes and their children's fantasy production is explored. A variety of methods have been implemented to investigate fantasy and a number of these methods are critiqued and some possible methodological improvements are suggested. Finally, the similarity of findings across studies and methods seem to warrant expanding fantasy investigation to other areas and some future directions are suggested.