The Role of Sexual Fantasy in Sexual Offending

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Encyclopedia of Sexual Psychology and Behavior
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Synonyms

Fantasies; Fetishes; Deviant fantasies; Sexual offenses

Definition

Imaginative processes that withdraw an individual from his or her external environment and create an internal world characterized by daydreaming and erotica that creates and/or intensifies sexual arousal.

Sexual Fantasies

In the general population, sexual fantasies are normative and even rather widespread. In fact, in an extensive review of sexual fantasy in civilian men, researchers identified sexual fantasies in 95% of their population in a variety of contexts (e.g., daydreaming, masturbating, engaging in sexual activity with a partner) (Leitenberg & Henning, 1995). Some of the most common sexual interests that have been identified in men and women in non-offending populations include receiving oral sex, engaging in sexual activity in an unusual place, engaging in sexual activity in a romantic place, being masturbated by one’s partner, and being dominated (Joyal, 2015). The content of sexual fantasy appears...

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Correspondence to Amber Lin .

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Lin, A. (2023). The Role of Sexual Fantasy in Sexual Offending. In: Shackelford, T.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sexual Psychology and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08956-5_44-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08956-5_44-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-08956-5

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