The study investigated the hypothesis that women with a history of
childhood sexual abuse would report different sexual fantasies from
women with no childhood sexual abuse. Women with a history of abuse
had more force in their fantasies, had more sexually explicit
fantasies, began having sexual fantasies at a younger age, and had
more fantasies with the theme of being under someone's control. Women
with a history of childhood physical abuse did not have a similar
pattern. It was suggested that the sexual fantasies may reflect the
sexualizing effect of childhood sexual experiences and that fantasies
of the abusive experience may become intrusive.