Multidimensionality of the content of female sexual fantasy

Testing the Factor Structure and Construct Validity of the German Version of Gray et al.'s (2003) Sexual Fantasy Questionnaire

Gray et al.'s (2003) Sexual Fantasy Questionnaire (SFQ) is becoming an increasingly used self-report measure of sexual fantasy use. The current study analyzed the factorial structure and construct validity of the behavioral items of the SFQ using a nomological network of other sexuality-related measures in a large German-speaking sample (N = 846). Participants' (27.7% females) mean age was 30.8 years (SD = 11.0). Exploratory factor analysis revealed a 65-item scale comprising five-factors, which were termed: normophilic sexual fantasies, sexualized aggression, sexualized submission, submissive courtship, and bodily functions. This German version of the SFQ was found to have high construct validity indicated by its association with other related constructs. Based on these results, we argue that the SFQ is a valid self-report measure that can be used in both research and clinical practice (foremost the factors sexualized aggression and sexualized submission). Suggestions for future research are discussed in light of the results and the study's limitations.

From Fantasy to Reality: Self-Reported Aggression-Related Sexual Fantasies Predict Sexually Sadistic Behavior beyond Indirect and Direct Measures of Sexual Preference

Aggression-related sexual fantasies (ASF) have been related to various forms of harmful sexual behavior in both sex offender and community samples. However, more research is needed to fully understand this relation, particularly whether ASF is associated with harmful sexual behavior beyond hostile sexism against women and a sexual preference for violence and sexual violence. In the present study, N = 428 participants (61.9% women) between 18 and 83 years of age (M = 28.17, SD = 9.7) reported their ASF and hostile sexism. They rated their sexual arousal by erotic, violent, and sexually violent pictures as a direct measure of sexual preference. Response latencies between stimulus presentation and arousal ratings were used as an indirect measure of sexual preference. ASF and the directly and indirectly assessed sexual preference for violent and sexually violent stimuli were positively correlated. They were unrelated to hostile sexism against women. ASF showed the strongest associations with self-reported sexually sadistic behavior and presumably non-consensual sexual sadism beyond these preferences and hostile sexism in the total group and separately among men and women. The findings indicate that ASF and sexual preference are not equivalent constructs and further underscore the potential relevance of ASF for harmful sexual behavior.

The Sexual Fantasies of Childhood Sexual Abuse Survivors: A Rapid Review

Although the association between childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and various aspects of sexual difficulties is well established, little is known about the association between CSA and adult sexual fantasies. The current rapid review searched for studies that reported on CSA and sexual fantasies through PubMed, PsycInfo, and Violence & Abuse Abstracts databases. Included in the review were empirical studies involving a population of adults who experienced CSA before the age of 18 and which reported on survivors' sexual fantasies. The impact of CSA on adult sexual fantasies was found across three main dimensions: prevalence of sexual fantasies, content, and appraisal of the fantasies. Overall, 13 studies that addressed the sexual fantasies of survivors of CSA were identified. This review found an association between CSA and adult sexual fantasies, indicating that survivors of CSA are more likely to report: unrestricted sexual fantasies, more atypical sexual fantasies, more sexual fantasies that involve force, and more fantasies that include elements of sadomasochism, submissiveness, and dominance. Survivors of CSA also begin having sexual fantasies at a significantly earlier age and report their sexual fantasies as being significantly more intrusive than do nonabused subjects. When treating CSA survivors, therapists should acknowledge that a history of CSA can impact the survivors' sexual fantasies. Further studies with adult survivors of CSA are needed to determine how these sexual fantasies develop subsequent to the abuse, how they are perceived by survivors, and what their effect is on survivors' and their partners' sexual health, function, and satisfaction.

Aggression-Related Sexual Fantasies: Prevalence Rates, Sex Differences, and Links With Personality, Attitudes, and Behavior

BACKGROUND

Aggression-related sexual fantasies (ASF) are considered an important risk factor for sexual aggression, but empirical knowledge is limited, in part because previous research has been based on predominantly male, North-American college samples, and limited numbers of questions.

AIM

The present study aimed to foster the knowledge about the frequency and correlates of ASF, while including a large sample of women and a broad range of ASF.

METHOD

A convenience sample of N = 664 participants from Germany including 508 (77%) women and 156 (23%) men with a median age of 25 (21-27) years answered an online questionnaire. Participants were mainly recruited via social networks (online and in person) and were mainly students. We examined the frequencies of (aggression-related) sexual fantasies and their expected factor structure (factors reflecting affective, experimental, masochistic, and aggression-related contents) via exploratory factor analysis. We investigated potential correlates (eg, psychopathic traits, attitudes towards sexual fantasies) as predictors of ASF using multiple regression analyses. Finally, we examined whether ASF would positively predict sexual aggression beyond other pertinent risk factors using multiple regression analysis.

OUTCOMES

The participants rated the frequency of a broad set of 56 aggression-related and other sexual fantasies, attitudes towards sexual fantasies, the Big Five (ie, broad personality dimensions including neuroticism and extraversion), sexual aggression, and other risk factors for sexual aggression.

RESULTS

All participants reported non-aggression-related sexual fantasies and 77% reported at least one ASF in their lives. Being male, frequent sexual fantasies, psychopathic traits, and negative attitudes towards sexual fantasies predicted more frequent ASF. ASF were the strongest predictor of sexual aggression beyond other risk factors, including general aggression, psychopathic traits, rape myth acceptance, and violent pornography consumption.

CLINICAL TRANSLATION

ASF may be an important risk factor for sexual aggression and should be more strongly considered in prevention and intervention efforts.

STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS

The strengths of the present study include using a large item pool and a large sample with a large proportion of women in order to examine ASF as a predictor of sexual aggression beyond important control variables. Its weaknesses include the reliance on cross-sectional data, that preclude causal inferences, and not continuously distinguishing between consensual and non-consensual acts.

CONCLUSION

ASF are a frequent phenomenon even in in the general population and among women and show strong associations with sexual aggression. Thus, they require more attention by research on sexual aggression and its prevention. Bondü R, Birke JB, Aggression-Related Sexual Fantasies: Prevalence Rates, Sex Differences, and Links With Personality, Attitudes, and Behavior. J Sex Med 2021;18:1383-1397.

Further Examination of Measurement Properties of Spanish Version of the Sexual Desire Inventory with Undergraduates and Adolescent Students

The factor structure and construct validity of a Spanish version of Spector, Carey, and Steinberg's Sexual Desire Inventory was examined with structural equation modelling and a nonclinical sample ( N = 608). Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that Dyadic and Solitary sexual desire scales measured two factorially distinct constructs. Their internal consistency reliabilities were .87 and .88, respectively. Structural equation analysis indicated that both subscales are distinguishable from similarly conceptualized correlates of sexual desire: the Impersonal subscale of the Sex Fantasy Questionnaire and the Erotophilia measure of the Sexual Opinion Survey. However, the data raised some questions about an empirical distinction between dyadic sexual desire and intimate sexual fantasy.

Social dominance and forceful submission fantasies: feminine pathology or power?

This study addresses forceful submission fantasies in men and women. Although many approaches implicitly or explicitly cast women's force fantasies in a pathological light, this study seeks to explore the associations of such fantasy to female power. By adopting an evolutionary meta-theoretical perspective (and a resource control theory perspective), it was hypothesized that highly agentic, dominant women prefer forceful submission fantasies (more than subordinate women) as a means to connect them to agentic, dominant men. In addition, it is suggested that dominant women would ascribe a meaning to the object of the fantasy different from that assigned by subordinate women (i.e., "warrior lover" vs. "white knight"). Two studies were conducted with nearly 900 college students (men and women) from a large Midwestern university. Hypotheses were largely supported. Analysis of meaning supports theoretical perspectives proposing that forceful submission reflects desires for sexual power on behalf of the fantasist. Implications for evolutionary approaches to human mate preferences are discussed.

Physiologic measures of sexual function in women: a review

OBJECTIVE

To review and describe physiologic measures of assessing sexual function in women.

DESIGN

Literature review.

SETTING

Studies that use instruments designed to measure female sexual function.

PATIENT(S)

Women participating in studies of female sexual function.

INTERVENTION(S)

Various instruments that measure physiologic features of female sexual function.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S)

Appraisal of the various instruments, including their advantages and disadvantages.

RESULT(S)

Many unique physiologic methods of evaluating female sexual function have been developed during the past four decades. Each method has its benefits and limitations.

CONCLUSION(S)

Many physiologic methods exist, but most are not well-validated. In addition there has been an inability to correlate most physiologic measures with subjective measures of sexual arousal. Furthermore, given the complex nature of the sexual response in women, physiologic measures should be considered in context of other data, including the history, physical examination, and validated questionnaires. Nonetheless, the existence of appropriate physiologic measures is vital to our understanding of female sexual function and dysfunction.

Sex differences in visual attention to erotic and non-erotic stimuli

It has been suggested that sex differences in the processing of erotic material (e.g., memory, genital arousal, brain activation patterns) may also be reflected by differential attention to visual cues in erotic material. To test this hypothesis, we presented 20 heterosexual men and 20 heterosexual women with erotic and non-erotic images of heterosexual couples and tracked their eye movements during scene presentation. Results supported previous findings that erotic and non-erotic information was visually processed in a different manner by both men and women. Men looked at opposite sex figures significantly longer than did women, and women looked at same sex figures significantly longer than did men. Within-sex analyses suggested that men had a strong visual attention preference for opposite sex figures as compared to same sex figures, whereas women appeared to disperse their attention evenly between opposite and same sex figures. These differences, however, were not limited to erotic images but evidenced in non-erotic images as well. No significant sex differences were found for attention to the contextual region of the scenes. Results were interpreted as potentially supportive of recent studies showing a greater non-specificity of sexual arousal in women. This interpretation assumes there is an erotic valence to images of the sex to which one orients, even when the image is not explicitly erotic. It also assumes a relationship between visual attention and erotic valence.

Guilty or not? A path model of women's sexual force fantasies

This study estimated a path model of women's forceful sexual fantasies. Constructs examined were childhood sexual abuse, feminist beliefs, sexual guilt, erotophilia, and sexual experience. The study clarifies how these factors mediate one another in relationship to forceful sexual fantasies, and is first to examine the effects of feminist beliefs on forceful sexual fantasy. Adult women (N = 261) participated by completing an online survey. A path from sex guilt to forceful sexual fantasy, mediated by erotophilia, was found, wherein low levels of sex guilt and high levels of erotophilia were found to predict forceful sexual fantasy. A direct path between childhood sexual abuse and forceful sexual fantasy was also found. The resulting model is discussed in relation to previously-proposed theories on the role of force in women's sexual fantasies.

Confirmatory factor analysis of a Spanish version of the sex fantasy questionnaire: assessing gender differences

The objective of this study was to validate the factor structure of Wilson's Sex Fantasy Questionnaire (SFQ; Wilson, 1978; Wilson & Lang, 1981) using a Spanish version. In order to do this, we conducted confirmatory factor analysis on two nonclinical samples containing 195 men and 315 women. Both groups were tested for the structure proposed by Wilson and also for some alternative models. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that four factors were reasonably distinct, especially for the men. We proposed shortened version of the instrument that would have sufficient psychometric guarantees for assessing sexual fantasies in both genders. This abridged version improved the fit of the four-factor oblique factor equally for both the samples of men and women. In the light of the results of the validation hypothesis established with some criterion variables (dyadic sexual desire, unconventional sex, homophobia), we discuss discrepancies between both versions.

The relationship between women's subjective and physiological sexual arousal

Previous literature presents discordant results on the relationship between physiological and subjective sexual arousal in women. In this study, the use of hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) revealed a significant concordance between continuous measures of physiological and subjective sexual arousal as assessed during exposure to erotic stimuli in a laboratory setting. We propose that past studies that have found little or no association between the two measures may have been in part limited by the methodology and statistical analyses employed.

The content of sexual fantasies for sexual offenders

Although the phenomenon of sexual fantasy has been extensively researched, little contemporary inquiry has investigated the content of sexual fantasy within the context of sexual offending. In this study, a qualitative analysis was used to develop a descriptive model of the phenomena of sexual fantasy during the offence process. Twenty-four adult males convicted of sexual offences provided detailed retrospective descriptions of their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors before, during, and after their offences. Using Grounded Theory, a model was developed to elucidate the content and themes of sexual fantasy for sexual offenders, as well as the way fantasy content was used in the process of sexual offending. The Sexual Fantasy Content Model (SFCM) comprises of three higher-order (level 1) and five second-order (level 2) categories that describe the content of sexual fantasy across the offence process. The level 1 categories are general sexual fantasy, nonspecific offence fantasy, and offence-specific fantasy, whereas the level 2 categories included demographic, behavioral, relational, situational, and self-perceptual considerations. The strengths of the SFCM are discussed and its clinical implications are reviewed.

Female sexual arousal and the law of initial value: assessment at several phases of the menstrual cycle

Genital responses to erotic film and fantasy were recorded from 10 women at five phases of the menstrual cycle by means of vaginal photoplethysmography. Relationships between baseline (prestimulation) and difference (stimulation minus prestimulation) levels of response were examined. Neither vaginal blood volume nor average pulse amplitude conformed to the law of initial value ("the higher the baseline level, the less will be the difference score"). Baseline levels and difference scores generally were positively correlated at each phase of the menstrual cycle in the case of average pulse amplitude. For blood volume the correlations between baseline levels and difference scores were inconsistent in direction and small in magnitude, but trends differed between phases of the menstrual cycle. It is recommended that measures of female sexual arousal obtained through testing women who are at different phases of the cycle should not be aggregated unless it is established that the relationship between baseline levels and difference scores is uniform across phases.

Male sexual fantasy: multidimensionality in content

Sixty-six men provided ratings of the extent to which they regarded fantasies depicting nominated sexual activities as sexually arousing. A Male Sexual Fantasy Questionnaire (MSFQ) with five subscales was constructed following factor analysis of these ratings. The subscales yield separate scores for fantasies representing sensual, genital, public sex, sexual dominance-submission, and sexual aggression themes. Levels of penile tumescence recorded while men engaged in fantasies depicting content represented in the MSFQ correlated with the extent to which these men earlier had rated these same fantasies as sexually arousing. Since ratings on the MSFQ did not correlate substantially or consistently with scores on the Betts Questionnaire Upon Mental Imagery, the Imaginal Processes Inventory, and the Gordon Test of Visual Imagery Control, sexual fantasy may be mediated by processes different from those involved in non-sexual imagery and daydreaming. The need to validate use of the MSFQ in several clinical contexts is noted.