Some responses seemed to understand fantasy as imagining improbable situations, where others seemed to understand the term as meaning any use of mental images regardless of probability.]
When I masturbate I think about sexual experiences with girls, usually friends of mine. However, when my wife masturbates, she thinks about weird things I do, like this little twitch my eyebrow gets when I am nervous. It seems strange that she thinks of such non-sexual things. She says it reminds her of why she loves me so much. That gets me to the point: Men want raw sexual energy when they masturbate, and women want love. So I say a man is more likely to fantasize.
- age 22, Canada
I hate visual aids. I just fantasize about a guy on top of me pumping and sweating — then he pulls out and ejaculates semen all over my breasts. I fantasize every time I masturbate. I have talked to some of my partners, and they said they usually just look at porn. I have also talked about fantasies with other women; they all fantasize about the same thing I do. So I think women fantasize more than men.
- age 16, Wisconsin (female)
I believe both males and females have the tendency to fantasize when they masturbate. Both love sex. Females may take a little longer to get turned on than males, but once they are turned on, who's to stop them from living their dreams when they turn up the heat? All of us love to fantasize when masturbating; it makes things so much more fun.
- age 19, Utah
Both males and females fantasize while masturbating, but the scenarios they imagine are very different. While a guy, for example, might think about a sexy chick dressed in black leather and red lace dancing for his pleasure, a girl might make a more complex story. One that I like to think of is my boyfriend visiting me while I'm asleep. I imagine one of his hands cupping my breast while he cuddles down beside me. I prefer to think of realistic, gentle, equal situations instead of rough, domination-type fantasies.
- age 20, Virginia (female)
I think men are more likely to fantasize, if only because the more common methods of male masturbation simulate the act of procreation more accurately. I'm sorry, but I cannot imagine a male member wiggling or vibrating while inside the female partner unless he's unusually flexible.
- age 17, Tennessee
Females. Women are much more "fantasy oriented" than men are. They are into the experience of sex, rather than the act. Women want a beautiful candlelit dinner beforehand, just the right surroundings for the bedroom, an amazing amount of foreplay, multiple orgasms, and then to be held all night, finished by breakfast in the morning. Guys just want to get off — they don't care how or when. As long as they get to ejaculate, it's all right with them. Because women desire a higher level of sexual fulfillment than men, I assume they would be more likely to fantasize while masturbating.
- age 25, California
Both men and women have to fantasize. It's part of sexual arousal. It has to be done, whether it's all the way through masturbation, at the beginning, or the end. It helps to get you off. Otherwise, it's just like combing your hair.
- age 19, Ohio
Being female who masturbates almost every day, I fantasize a lot because I feel dirty looking at porn. I think it's different for men; they feel fine looking at it.
- age 16, California (female)
I talked about it with my girlfriend because we both masturbate. She told me that when she masturbates, she likes to both fantasize and watch a porn movie. Personally, I do not fantasize very often. I just need some pictures of a female I know and I can masturbate and masturbate. Of course if I do not have opportunity to do this, I fantasize (about my girlfriend mostly).
- age 18, Poland
Females. My girlfriend says she fantasizes a lot, but I rarely fantasize.
- age 15, Texas
I think we all fantasize while masturbating. I mean, what would be the purpose of masturbating and not fantasizing about what you want sexually? Fantasizing just comes with the territory. So, I don't think any one gender fantasizes more than the other. We're all the same, but with different body parts. I mean we all have minds with imaginations in them, right?
- age 21, North Carolina
I think men and women fantasize equally while masturbating. However, I do believe men think about more hardcore things, while women think about more sensual and sweet things.
- age 14, New Jersey
It seems nearly impossible to answer a question like this, but I would say the ladies do more fantasizing. Women are more sensual, for one thing. I mean, when I masturbate, I think about making love, or a woman masturbating, or whatever. But from all I've read, at least some women seem to come up with much more elaborate fantasies than just simple sexual images. Could it be that it's easier for men to be physically stimulated? Perhaps women's fantasies are more thought-out and intense, in order to keep them aroused? It's an interesting question that I'm looking forward to investigating further.
- age 26, Florida
I usually fantasize before I masturbate. The fantasy puts me in the mood to go for it and actually start rubbing my clitoris (or using my vibrator). However, while I'm actually masturbating, I either don't have fantasies, or I just think about nonsexual things — like where I have to go or something I need to do at work. I'd say neither females nor males fantasize more. It all depends on who's doing the deed.
- age 16, New York (female)
Females are more likely to fantasize, as we guys seem to prefer visual stimuli. I've even found that stories are a lot more arousing to me than fantasy usually is. And hey, if guys fantasized more the sex industry wouldn't be so freaking huge!
- age 17, Canada
Drawing on my own personal experiences, I'd have to say men. While I do enjoy fantasizing when I masturbate, I don't need to in order to have an orgasm. My husband, as well as past boyfriends, have all said they couldn't climax through masturbation without fantasizing.
- age 40, California (female)
I think it doesn't matter whether you're male or female. Fantasizing while masturbating is a choice people make on their own regardless of their gender. People who are more visual will lean toward fantasy, although some will enjoy pornography or exhibitionism. It's all personal preference, I guess.
- age 18, Massachusetts
From women's posts on this site, they seem more likely to create elaborate masturbation fantasies. This stems from the tendencies of each gender. Visual perceptions and stimulation generally turn males on, while females react more to seduction and the experience. For me (and probably a lot of males), visual stimulation through pornography usually is gratification enough for masturbation. However, in the shower or in bed, wherever I don't have immediate access to visual stimulation, fantasies work perfectly.
- age 17, Minnesota
I think a male would fantasize more often. I do it all the time when I masturbate, and it feels great. My girlfriend says that she doesn't; she just lets the vibrator do the work.
- age 12, Florida
I think both genders fantasize equally, but for two entirely different reasons. Guys seem to love to imagine themselves visually with others. We women tend to imagine semi-vague, strongly romantic (but not all the time) guys or scenes — sort of "what if" situations. I guess that if guys masturbate more often, they would fantasize more often.
- age 23, Indiana (female)
I believe guys just masturbate without much thought. To a girl, though, it's more emotional. So I think girls fantasize more, and that's why our orgasms are better.
- age 17, Texas (female)
In my experience, when girls masturbate they stick totally to fantasies played out in their heads, whereas guys watch, read, and think about porn. Guys fantasize about porn — but girls fantasize more since they have no stimulus at all, apart from their own imagination. Personally, I've reached a stage where I find it difficult to masturbate without the aid of pornography, and fantasies don't seem to do it for me anymore, unless I can see pictures or movies of sex. I don't know whether that's a good or a bad thing.
- age 18, Australia
The answer to the question would probably be determined more by age than by sex. The more sexual experiences you have, the less likely you are to create a total fantasy. I would guess that among those of the same age, people of both sexes would be about equal in their need to fantasize. But let's hear what women have to say on the subject. Never having been one, it's hard to tell.
- age 53, New York
It seems men tend to have a more powerful and compelling libido, so that would indicate they are more likely to fantasize while they masturbate. However, females, if they are in touch with their sexuality (and I would think that applies to most reading JackinWorld), are probably just as likely to fantasize.
- age 18, California
Quite often I don't fantasize much because I am concentrating so much on the feeling. I get lost in the action and don't think about anything else!
- age 20, United Kingdom
Women, because they are more romantic. I also think women are likely to have more involved fantasies, something with more of a story line. I think this is also why many women read romance novels, while men look at porn mags or watch sexy movies.
- age 18, Texas (female)
I say both genders are going to fantasize, no matter what. It's what made us horny in the first place.
- age 16, Nevada
Females. I know that just the motion isn't enough to bring me to orgasm. Adding a fantasy or a mental picture just makes it different — it gives you the extra push you need to reach climax. I find that it also tends to make the orgasm a lot stronger and sensational if you have a desirable picture in your mind.
- age 20, Pennsylvania (female)
I'd say guys fantasize more, but maybe that's just because I am one. I'm not gay, but when I masturbate sometimes I even fantasize that my friend is masturbating me — and sometimes he really is! So really, I think that guys fantasize more because they masturbate more!
- age 16, Connecticut
Women are less likely to fantasize for the simple fact that most women (though not all) are more inhibited than men. Anyway, it seems that way to me. I for one enjoy an awesome fantasy while I masturbate. It intensifies the orgasm.
- age 21, Oregon (female)
Over 43 years of married life, my wife and I have both enjoyed mutual masturbation. My wife asks me to help her fantasize by verbally suggesting various sexual situations that we both have experienced during our adult lives — such as group sex situations, voyeur-related experiences, secretly watching our daughter masturbate as a young girl (just like her mother had at the same age), and retelling of mutual desires to masturbate with someone we both know. I'd say both male and female are as likely to fantasize.
- age 65, Delaware
My experience is that the guys tend to fantasize a bit less, although I'm not sure why.
- age 36, California (female)
A female is more likely to fantasize (although both commonly do). I think males more often use some form of visual stimulation (such as videos or pictures) and get excited by what they see. Females tend to rely more on their imagination to get excited, fantasizing or thinking about a real lover or real experience.
- age 39, Ohio
I guess it would depend on how good your imagination is. I have a wonderful imagination, so in my mind someone else is always doing the stroking. If you look at stereotypes, you would think females fantasize more, but I'm not so sure about that. Also, it depends on the state of your sexuality. Males that are straight and have had sex, or gay males who are open about being gay, would have no need to fantasize; they've had experience. Those of us who are virgins or are in the closet would have a much harder time if we didn't fantasize.
- age 22, Georgia
I think guys and girls fantasize the same amount, but of different things. I can see a woman setting up a whole story around a masturbation session. I personally spend about 10 minutes creating a situation in my mind to help stimulate me. I don't think I could do it as well without that time. I can definitely see guys just picturing sex or random naked women. Girls tend to emotionalize sex a lot more than guys do.
- age 15, Canada (female)
Both genders use fantasy equally, but they fantasize differently. I think that males tend to fantasize more about doing things: looking; acting; causing reactions in others. Females fantasize more about being in romantic situations. Everybody uses fantasy differently at different times in a masturbation session and at different times of their lives. Personally, I have fantasized from the time I started to masturbate. At first, my fantasies focused on imagining how someone's genitals might look. As I grew older and gained more sexual experience, the fantasies would involve embellishing remembered experiences. Sometimes I use one fantasy to get started and then others to build toward climax. But always when I finish, I get lost in the feelings of my orgasm.
- age 58, New Jersey
Who doesn't fantasize when they masturbate? I always have, and I'm sure the opposite sex would just as much as I do.
- age 18, Australia