Nov 11, 2014 10:00 AM PST    Text size: 

BIRMINGHAM, U.K. — A new report published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine reveals the most common sexual fantasies had by men and women.

The research, carried out by the University of Montreal, involved a total of 1,517 participants, including 799 men and 718 women, quizzing them about a range of sexual fantasies.

According to the report, more than 85 percent of participants described themselves as heterosexual, while 3.6 percent said they were homosexual, and the remaining 11.3 percent described themselves as somewhere in between these two groups. The average age of survey participants was 30 years old.

To conduct the survey, researchers read out a list of 55 fantasy scenarios, with participants asked to rank them between one and seven. Anything scoring three or higher was marked as a sexual fantasy.

As might be expected, the survey results showed distinctly different trends for both women and men — with the latter far more interested in ultimately re-creating a sexual fantasy in real life. Other different findings note that women are far more aroused by the idea of sex with a stranger or by having sex in a specific location, while men were far more interested in fantasizing about having sex with someone they knew, as well as having anal and oral sex.

Participants were asked to describe fantasies that weren’t on the lists read out by researchers, and men outperformed women in this area too, vividly describing scenarios which hadn’t been covered, and were

also particularly interested in acting out fantasy scenarios in real life — an interest not shared by their female counterparts.

In general, the most common fantasies were those you might expect: sex with someone who isn’t your partner, oral sex, “unusual” locations and masturbating — either yourself or someone else — while the fantasies that scored the lowest on the list included bestiality, rape and sex with children under 12.

The detailed results of the survey allowed researchers to organize the fantasies into separate groups, such as typical, common, unusual and rare. To be classified as typical, a fantasy would have to be shared by more than 84.1 percent of participants; common between 50-84.1 percent, whilst unusual fantasies were found in 15.9 percent or less of participants. Rare fantasies were present in 2.3 percent or less of the individuals taking part.

Examples of an unusual fantasies included being urinated on or of urinating on someone else, wearing clothes intended for the opposite sex, forcing someone to have sex (this scored more highly in men), having sex with three or more people, either just men or men and women (this scored more highly in women), and sex with a prostitute or stripper (this scored with men only).

Some of the common sexual fantasies included having sex with a famous person, being tied up (this scored more highly in women), watching someone undress without them knowing (this scored more highly in men), and having sex openly in a public place.

Typical fantasies included sex in a romantic location (this scored more highly in women), feeling romantic emotions during sex, taking part in either fellatio or cunnilingus (this scored more highly in men), and having sex with two women (this scored more highly in men).

“Whilst not all of the sexual fantasies may ever be played out, sales of sex toys such as vibrators and bondage equipment from online adult stores suggest that at least some of these are acted upon in reality,” says a spokesperson for adult retailer Tempt Me Tease Me. “Researchers are now working to see if any of the fantasies can be connected, to gain a further understanding of less obvious trends and associations.”

For more information, visit TemptMeTeaseMe.co.uk.