How Erotic Fantasies Work Their Magic

The subject matter can reflect a person's feelings about sex. They are powerful because they contain images the individual would never want to experience in real life. The thoughts can also evoke feelings of guilt or fear, which are then transformed into sexual excitement.

Ideas
People fantasize about many different things. Research suggests half of women fantasize while making love to their husband, and most about having sex with another man. Surveys for men reveal similar results.

One gender difference is that men tend to fantasize about visual aspects of sex -- great legs, nice breasts and a pert behind -- while women emphasize the emotional context in which the encounter takes place, like a sun-drenched wheat field or having sex with a stranger.

People fuel their fantasies from a variety of sources. They may get images from porn, erotic literature or from daydreaming about someone they met on the bus.

What Do They Do?
The interconnection between fantasy and sexual arousal is complicated. Put simply, fantasies get a person excited and the body responds by producing adrenaline, which heightens sexual tension and libido.