Tell me what you want: a painting on italian sexual fantasies.

Abstract

Sexual imagery and fantasy are key aspects of human sexuality: they are associated with sexual arousal and are reflective of societal influences on sexuality. In addition, they are thought to play a role in sexual activation, desire and personal satisfaction. The current study aimed to depict the sexual imagery of Italian population using a paradigm similar to the pioneering American study about the same topic (Lehmiller, 2018). 5043 participants were recruited on social networks. A first collection of basic socio-demographic information was asked and then, the respondents were questioned about their sexual imagery. After descriptive analyses, a comparison was made between groups (sexual orientation, gender, age) through a one-way ANOVA and t-student test for independent samples, while correlations were investigated with Pearson correlations. Most participants (82%) think that sharing sexual fantasies with their partner improved their relationship, while the most common fantasy in the sample (60%) is seeking for “novelty or having new or exciting sexual experiences”. It also emerged that men think about having sex with their partner's parents / best friends significantly more often than women, as well as having sex with younger partners, even much younger. People with a gender identity other than biological sex report the fantasy of having a different body during sexual intercourse and are more prone to having sex with transgender or cross-dressed people than respondents with congruence between gender identity and biological sex. Conversely, they report less interest in vaginal sex. This study offers a general but innovative overview of the Italian sexual imaginary. In a Country where LGBT+ rights are still underrepresented, and sex education struggles to emerge due to stigma and religious concerns, a colorful landscape of sexual fantasies and preferences has nevertheless emerged, highlighting continuity with the sexual revolution that is underway happening all over the world. Daniel Giunti, Paolo Antonelli, Andrea Olmi, Gioele Salvatori, Miriana Amoroso, Francesco Fantacci, Justin Lehmiller declare that they have no conflicts of interest.