Does a partner need to know our sexual fantasies?

Posted on 8 September 2025 • Arts and social sciences, Psychology

The actor of the X-Files series, Gillian Anderson, has just released a book about sexual fantasies. The book titled Want summarizes the various sexual fantasies of women from all over the world.

Anderson is not the first author to explore the topic, says Samuel Jones, Lecturer in Applied Cognitive Psychology, The Open University.

In 1973, American author Nancy Friday released a book called My Secret Garden. Each story in this book presents an interesting portrait of women’s relationship with their sexuality from time to time.

Nancy’s book sparked controversy in her day, but is now considered to be instrumental in encouraging a more open and healthy view of sexuality.

Although the way of view, use of language, and forms of sexual fantasy has changed a lot between the past and the present, the two books have some similarities.

The first similarity: fantasy themed romantic relationships in the world of work still has a timeless appeal. The second similarity: women still tend to be ashamed of their own sexual fantasies.

Previous research has found that the majority of adults (regardless of gender) have sexual fantasies. The findings also indicate that many people are hesitant to tell their sex fantasies to their partners.

Over the past four years, we’ve been researching what influences a person’s decision to express their sexual fantasies—and what kind of reaction they receive.

Read the full article on The Conversation

Picture credit: Anastasia Shuraeva on Pexels