An exploratory study on male homosexual erotic imagery

Abstract

Summary Having sexual fantasies is considered functional to sexual health. The literature focuses mainly on heterosexual subjects and studies of the erotic imagery of homosexuals are rather scarce. This study aims at investigating the erotic imagery of male homosexuals today. Fifty male homosexuals were interviewed; mean age of the subjects is 26.36 years (range 20 to 36). Their level of education is quite high. By means of a questionnaire we studied the following aspects: number of actual and imaginary partners, motivations for sexual intercourse, situations that trigger erotic fantasies, incidence of erotic fantasies during sexual activity, during nonsexual activity and during masturbation. Finally, we discussed the content of sexual imagery by listing the top five fantasies in order of frequency of occurrence. Main results show that the erotic fantasies in male homosexuals are principally triggered by visual stimuli. Compared to past results, we found more recognition of physical, emotional and relational aspects. In comparison with the past, there is a large use of erotic imaginary, especially during masturbation. We note the absence in our sample of fantasies referring to the opposite sex and of fantasies of forced intercourse, which, on the contrary, were found in previous studies. We discuss our results to describe the differences with previous research and we try to provide a picture that takes into account sociocultural changes.