The attitude towards sexual fantasies as an indicator of sexual health

What is it about?

Sexual fantasies are thoughts or mental images with sexual content, and they are experienced by most people, regardless of gender and sexual orientation. Both the ability to sexually fantasize and the frequency of the sexual fantasies depend on the attitude towards them. This study focuses on one of the few instruments that exist to assess the attitude towards sexual fantasies: the Hurlbert Index of Sexual Fantasy (HISF). The scale evaluates the positive attitude towards sexual fantasies. It is a short instrument, with excellent psychometric properties in the Spanish population, that include items about the frequency with which sexual fantasies are considered healthy and about the degree of enjoyment when listening to the sexual fantasies of the partner, among others. In a sample composed of 3,458 Spanish adults, (1,641 men, 1,817 women), distributed in three age range (18-34, 35-49, and 50 years old or older), the authors have concluded that the HISF is invariant across sex, age range, and education level, that is to say, its scores could be compared between men and women, people with different ages and different level education. Also, it was demonstrated that the positive attitude towards sexual fantasies is related to the positive attitude towards general sexuality, higher sexual assertiveness (higher ability to initiate/refuse sexual activities), and better sexual functioning. In this sense, the Spanish version of the HISF showed the ability to discriminate between individuals with and without sexual functioning difficulties.

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Photo by MARIOLA GROBELSKA on Unsplash

Photo by MARIOLA GROBELSKA on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Apart from presenting a useful instrument for both clinical practice and research, this study has pointed out that having a positive attitude towards sexual fantasies is a clear indicator of good sexual health.

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