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What are the most popular sexual fantasies?
If you had to guess what the most popular sexual fantasies were, you might go for some of the classics: threesomes, role play, maybe a bit of bondage. But a recent study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine shows that there’s much more to sexual fantasies than you might think.
Researchers from the University of Montreal surveyed over 1,500 men and women about their sexual fantasies, giving them 55 common ones and asking them to rank them, as well as to describe one of their sexual fantasies in detail. Their aim was to find out just how common certain desires were, and what counted as an ‘atypical’ fantasy. You might be surprised at how romantic the results were.
Most common fantasies
When asked to rank the statements about sexual fantasies chosen by the researchers, the top results were:
– I like to feel romantic emotions during a sexual relationship
– Taking part in oral sex
– Having sex in an unusual place
– Atmosphere and location are important in my sexual fantasies
– Having sex in a romantic location
It looks like the people who participated in the study were keen to get down to it in a variety of interesting and romantic places. Maybe they need to head to one of the sexiest holiday destinations we recommended over the summer…
How common are your fantasies?
You might have wondered before just how common your own sexual fantasies are. If you dream of being tied up, are you unusual? Or is that quite a typical fantasy?
The researchers distinguished between ‘rare’, ‘unusual’, ‘common’ and ‘typical’ fantasies, so if you find yours on the list you can work out just where you fit in terms of the general population.
Rare fantasies are those favoured by 2.3% or less of the people surveyed. These include things like having sex with an animal. Unusual fantasies are those with 15.9% or less, like having your sexual partner urinate on you (or vice versa).
Common means ‘more than 50%’, and quite a few BDSM fantasies fall into this category, while ‘typical’ (over 84.1%) includes the top 5 list above.
Sexual fantasies more popular with men
Unsurprisingly, given that 85% of the respondents identified as straight, one of the most popular male fantasies was ‘having sex with two women’, and just watching two women make love came out pretty high on the guy’s list as well.
Sadly for the guys who are keen to fulfil this particular fantasy, fewer than 50% of women responded positively to either of these.
Sexual fantasies that won’t be fulfilled
Interestingly, the study also highlighted the fact that some participants wanted the fantasies to remain purely in their heads: they never actually wanted to carry them out. Although plenty of women had fantasies involving submission, many said that they didn’t want these things to actually happen: the fantasy was a turn-on, but they wouldn’t want it to happen in real life.
There are certain fantasies which are unlikely to happen in real life because they’re difficult to do: threesomes, group sex, and if you’re strapped for cash then anything that involves having sex on a gorgeous white sandy beach might have to be put on the back burner! But there are many more things which are unlikely to happen because the person who dreams of it has decided that in real life it wouldn’t be nearly as fun as it is in their head.
Do you think your fantasies are common, or rare? And do you have fantasies that you think you’ll never want, or be able to, carry out?