T01-P-04 Women erotic fantasies: an exploratory study

Objectives For some people, erotic trigger of daydream, either credible or imaginary, is so strong to make it the core feature of sexual activity. The first extensive study on women erotic fantasies was carried on by Crepault in 1981. He used a self-report semi structured questionnaire in order to assess broad-spectrum women erotic fantasies in an extensive way. Women were involved in that study since they were considered freer of speaking about erotic fantasies than men. The present study aimed to compare the results obtained by Crepault in 1981 to the ones of a new women group, in order to highlight differences in erotic fantasies contents. Methods The sample is composed by 80 women from northern Italy, with a mean age of 31 (sd: 8) years and a mean educational level of 15 (sd: 3) years. We used a self-report semi structured questionnaire investigating the use of erotic fantasies and the typologies of erotic fantasies that women use in the following situations: sexual excitement, masturbation, sexual act. Results In our sample erotic fantasies are mainly used to trigger sexual activity or to increase sexual pleasure. Erotic fantasies contents differ depending on situations. Specifically, tenderness and affectivity contents prevail during sexual act, while more aggressiveness and passion emerge during masturbation. Conclusion The triggering role of erotic fantasies seems to be unchanged. Moreover, speaking about erotic fantasies and sharing them with partner seem to be still difficult, because we enter in the field of private intimacy.