The Desire Lab

My Fantasy Lovers Say Things To Me I'd Never Tolerate In Real Life

Here's another reader's response to my question about sexual fantasy and the role it plays in your life:

Hi Daniel,

I just happened upon the piece in DoubleX about sexual fantasies, and I'd like to respond. I guess you still want answers to the original question, so here goes:

Before I begin, there are a couple things you should know about me: I'm pretty young (22) and I grew up in a home where there was sex almost everywhere: in films, on TV, in magazines, and in those Mills & Boon romantic novels where the man is always impossibly handsome and his member is always throbbing with desire. But, somehow, we were Christian, and it was taboo to talk about, or even acknowledge, the existence of sex. I discovered how to masturbate around the age of 13 and haven't looked back since. My upbringing is so ingrained in me, though, that I'm still overcome by a terrible sense of guilt right after I orgasm. But that's a whole other issue. I'm also black and grew up in Europe around a lot of white people. As a result, I often felt that I wasn't quite beautiful enough (something I'm still dealing with today). I found myself attracted to white boys, but all the boys had crushes on the girls with long blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. Not much has changed, and it's not very different here and now in America. So today, my fantasies are of a white man, whom I'm attracted to, being unable to control himself sexually. I like to imagine him beautiful beyond words (perhaps because I know this is something I can't have). He is tall and tan with azure eyes and thick, dark hair.

Typically, I use porn to aid my fantasies. I usually go for the dominatrix kind where the woman is bound and suspended, and the man is walking around her with a raging erection, but instead of taking her immediately (which is what his body clearly wants), casually whips her ass and her breasts with a leather whip as he walks around her, inspecting her all the while. When he finally does fuck her, it's unrestrained and debauched.

Depending on my relationship status, my fantasies take one of two forms. If I'm not in a relationship (and if I'm not having sex with my significant other), the fantasies are more bizarre, they are more violent—the faceless white man slams me against a wall and holds me in place with his elbow as he strokes out his rock-hard dick. He whispers right into my ear all the vile things he wants to do to my body. He tells me he's going to shove his cock so far into my pussy, I'll feel it in my belly; he says if I don't behave, he'll call in his friend (who's right outside, ear pressed against the door, violently masturbating) to come fuck me as well. Would I like that? he asks. Would I like two hot cocks in me? He takes me rough and hard from behind, standing up and he is calling me a bitch and a slut and a whore (note: not a “ho”). Just as he begins to cry out loudly as he comes inside me, his friend bursts in and comes on my ass. Both men are calling out in such pleasure that it almost sounds like they're crying. I should let it be known, though, that in real life, I'm so aware of being black and being a woman, that if any man called me any of the things the fantasy lover calls me outside of sex and without my consent during sex, I would slice his penis off and feed it to walruses.

If I'm in a relationship, my fantasies are gentler. I think this is because the things I imagine mirror my actual sex life to some degree. This recurring "relationship fantasy" comes to me when I'm making love with a boyfriend: I imagine that the man has had his eye on me for a long time. Maybe we work together, and I notice he often sneaks glances at me from across the conference table. Then magically, we are in a dark room with just enough light that I can see the powerful curve of his bare shoulders and the strain of his stiffening penis against his pants. He is suffering when he takes his time to gently press his lips against mine. He wants to tear my dress off and throw me to the ground and take me there from behind, but he doesn't. Then our clothes are off and we are standing opposite each other. He softly takes my hand and wraps my fingers around his hard cock as if to say, "Look at what you do to me. I know it shouldn't be this way, I know that society and logic say I shouldn't be attracted to you, but my body can't help it." He communicates this by looking deep into my eyes while his are large and helpless. Then I throw myself into him, and he quickly, but gently lays me down on a thin mattress on the floor and makes love to me. The love-making is savage and slippery, but his inability to control his hunger for me makes it tender.

I fantasize about sex a great deal. I do it so much that for a long time, I thought there was something wrong with me hormonally. When I see a good-looking man, I immediately imagine what he would look like fucking me from behind as we stand in front of a mirror. I work from home now, and take as many as three masturbation breaks a day (things are going to suck when I start working in an office again!), all fueled by the sight or the thought of a man and how I imagine him walking around me with a stiff penis, denying himself immediate gratification. Sometimes, if I'm in public, I store the fantasies up for when I come home to my boyfriend (or vibrator, as it were). I need these mental and actual images (through pornography) to make me orgasm whether I'm having sex or I'm masturbating.

As a side note, though my fantasies are always interracial, I notice that none of the men ever say anything racially derogatory. They never say a thing about my skin. In fact, the fact that we're different colors only seems to really occur to me, except in the fantasy where the man knows that according to society, this is sort of taboo. But to me, what makes the fantasy exciting is the fact that the man is stepping outside of societal bounds because he can't control his feelings. I am never in control in these fantasies, really. On the other hand, in real life, a lack of control makes me severely anxious. I am especially aware of being lorded over by white men in real life. Whenever I can, I won't let it happen, but it's all I want during sex; it's what I need in my fantasies. It's all that gets me wet; all that makes me come. I've never told anyone about my fantasies because I still harbor a bit of that embarrassment about and self-reproach for thinking about sex as much as I do, and also the fact that I seem to only be attracted to white men—which is a WHOLE other issue.

Thanks for reading. I hope this helps your research. Best of luck to you.

Photograph of a woman by Medioimages/Photodisc/Getty Images.

Tags: Race, sex research, sexual fantasy

Daniel Bergner is a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine and the author of three books of nonfiction: The Other Side of Desire, In the Land of Magic Soldiers, and God of the Rodeo.

Comments

SINTRYST

By: boredwell | Tue, 11/03/2009 - 00:17

I thought fantasies were supposed to remain in the closet! Hmmm, ok, so this young woman decided that instead of them rattling behind closed doors she would hang them out to air. Maybe I'm old-fashioned but I still think fantasies are for private occasions. Perhaps one of the author's fantasies was to go public.

Dirty book

By: lyssa77 | Mon, 11/02/2009 - 19:31

Ummm- yeah. I felt like I was reading a fantasy a man wrote, but whatever. This girl is a normal, horny 22 year old. She is concerned about her love for white men, but why? That's who she grew up around. It must be her family or black society in general making her feel guilty or strange about that. Don't worry about it. Go for what you want. It is a free country after all.

Christmas? Wuzza?

By: LittleAngus | Sat, 10/31/2009 - 23:12

So, we're supposed to cut up a Fendi Handbag and feed it to the walruses?

Sorry, but what is the point of this series?

By: sugar_k | Fri, 10/30/2009 - 16:48

I have a hard time taking seriously this project to unveil women's un-PC sexual fantasies. It reminds me too much of the prank-call "surveys" my friends and I got in high school, or of the creepy guy(s) who used to sneak into the girls' bathrooms at school and post nosy sex questions on the graffiti sheets.

eeek

By: wavevector | Fri, 10/30/2009 - 15:22

"I would slice his penis off and feed it to walruses"

damn

That's scary.

The writer did a great job of

By: vizzy | Fri, 10/30/2009 - 13:29

The writer did a great job of bringing the core of her fantasies into reality—each man who reads her description finds himself (I would assume (hope?)) desiring her or the at the very least, the fantasy she is sharing with them. I wonder if this was at the heart of her desire to share? Either way, I’m glad she chose to divulge her fantasies. More women need to open up about their sexuality. It’s ridiculous that in this day and age there are still men, and even more sadly women, who think raw rather than romantic sexual fantasy is a male only domain.

photo caption

By: LenoraBabb | Fri, 10/30/2009 - 13:20

Please note: I changed the photo caption from "Photograph of a naked black woman by..." to the more simple "Photograph of a woman."  I felt the description was a bit superfluous and strange-sounding as well (Thanks MrJM).

Nice non-sequitur...

By: musicman | Fri, 10/30/2009 - 12:20

It doesn't say "photo of naked black woman" and even if it did, I don't see how that simple note would impugn it's "journalistic merit." One does not have to do with the other but it does seem to say something about you.

Yeah, there are definitely some psychological issues here but this young woman seems to have a pretty good understanding of why she thinks and acts the way she does. While some people are EXTREMELY uncomfortable with the notion that a woman (a woman, I tell you!) has hard-core sexual fantasies, is in touch with her own sexuality and watches porn while masturbating (3 times a day!) it is good to see that women have the courage to honestly talk about this type of thing with candor and honesty. While it is tough to see that, in some ways, she has some social hang-ups, she has the wherewithall to note that it doesn't transfer into her fantasies.

Fantasies are healthy and natural and it would be refreshing if more women would disclose this sort of info even if anonymously. Women are sexual creatures, too, and even though there are some differences between male and female sexuality, there are likely more similarities that, if know, would lead to more pleasurable and fulfilling experiences as well as understanding and acceptance. Kudos to this woman for being willing to share her innermost life in hopes of fostering understanding.

Oh, and, yeah, it is super hot stuff.

Pretty hot!

By: goffers | Fri, 10/30/2009 - 12:17

I think it is quite interesting that our fantasies change whether or not we are in a relationship. I think that our relationship to sex changes significantly depending on our luck in love. As someone who has gone through a long dry spell (2.5 yrs) in his adult life, I recall that the nature of my fantasies changed over time, as well as how I viewed women. I think that my longing distorted women, and while in day to day interactions things weren't changed, in fantasy they became more powerful and frightening.

I think that one of the problems with a lot of the "sex positive" attitudes out there today, is that people start to believe that we should really try to recreate in our lives what transpires in our fantasies. They differ, and that is okay. Giving the id exactly what it wants is not a good thing. Particularly because its wants are infinite, and if you get right down to it, fairly antisocial and horrible at times. I am sure with this gal, her actual sex life may only be of faint resemblance to these exciting and wild fantasies. But in real life, physical sensation, and the reward that there is actually someone who truly desires you (as opposed to an imagining), is just more compelling than what you get in a fantasy. On one hand, you just don't need as much stimulation mentally, as well, in real life you have to deal with all the consequences of acting out the fantasy (e.g., "How is this guy going to look at me afterwards? How am I going to look at myself? How will this change our relationship? Do I really trust this guy to do exactly what I want, and not what he wants?" etc.).

DAMN.

By: TygerTyger | Fri, 10/30/2009 - 11:51

There's clearly a lot of interesting undercurrents and subtext to the writer's favorite scenarios as they're presented here, but mostly, they're just scorching hot -- I dunno whether that's more a function of the content or the writing, but either way...wow.