Basics

The use of representations of aspects of life is part of what it is to be human (Byrne and Osland, 2000). Representations exist outside the brain on film and paper and in its inner workings of fantasy. Our early ancestors left us cave paintings depicting hunting scenes and wild animals. In the period up to 600 bc, Etruscan art was already explicit in its depiction of heterosexual and homosexual activity (Byrne and Osland, 2000). These days we have films, the Internet, television, photographs, novels and paintings to convey other worlds to our imaginations, including those of sexuality and its possibilities.

Representations of sexuality can trigger arousal in the present as well as plans for the future and reflections upon the past. In the absence of a partner, as in masturbation, or even in their presence during sexual activity, people commonly employ ‘virtual’ means of boosting sexual excitation: erotic visual images, stories and the use of pure fantasy in the imagination (Byrne and Osland, 2000).