TEASERS FROM THE TEXT
OF
IMPRINTED SEXUAL FANTASIES:
A NEW KEY FOR SEXOLOGY
    The following short quotations are taken from
Imprinted Sexual Fantasies: A New Key for Sexology
by James Park.

    If you were browsing the book at a friend's house,
in a local library, or in your favorite bookstore,
you might come across these paragraphs.
They are presented in the order in which they appear.
Usually a heading has been added to name the content.

    These teasers from the text provide both
an introduction to the themes of the book
as well as good illustrations of the style of
Imprinted Sexual Fantasies.

    If you would like to find exactly where
any teaser is found in the text,
take the page number back to the table of contents.
The titles in CAPS are added just for these teasers.

HOW CHILDHOOD TRAUMA CAN BE IMPRINTED IN THE CHILD'S SEX-FILE.

     This might be compared to the way an oyster deals with sand:
If the oyster cannot expel the irritant from its shell,
it coats that troublesome fragment, making it into a pearl.
Likewise when something very negative happens to a child,
that child might sexualize the trauma to soften it.
The soft, smooth hormones of sex can surround the irritation
and change what was initially negative into something positive.
If this becomes a sexually-imprinting event,
then that pearl might become a part of the child’s sex-script.
As an adult he or she may delight in what was originally a childhood trauma.
And the adult might seek more ‘grains of sand’ like the original one
in order to repeat the experience of wrapping the irritant
in a mantle of glowing pearly pleasure.

Chapter III          SEXUAL IMPRINTING AT CRITICAL PERIODS          by JAMES PARK               33

HOW RAPE CAN BECOME A SEXUALLY-IMPRINTING EVENT.

            f.  Sexual Imprinting in Adulthood.

     The sex-script hypothesis suggests that almost all sexual imprinting 
takes place before age 20—in short, during childhood.  
But there seem to be some striking exceptions to this observation.  
Rape during adulthood is one of these.  
In a series of events that took less than an hour, 
the life of a rape-victim might be changed forever.  
This might be because the rape is permanently stored in the sex-file.           
There is probably no other event of an hour's duration 
that will leave such a lasting impression on the psyche.  
Such an event is not a form of enculturation or learning, 
which must be repeated again and again, like the multiplication table.  
But might be a permanent scar on the mind caused by a single event 
that somehow got into a deep part of the mind—the sex-file.

ISF p 43

HOW 'GREAT PERSONS' CAN GET STUCK IN ADOLESCENT PATTERNS OF SEX.

     Problems arise when it becomes publicly known
that respected individuals are stuck in adolescent patterns of sex.
Scandal results when an honored statesman, a respected businessman,
a renowned theologian or church leader, a lady of the arts,
a professor at a world-famous center of learning,
a teacher, a therapist, a doctor, or a judge
is discovered to be engaged in a pattern of sexual behavior
not considered suitable for the status of that person.

     Such people have continued to advance professionally,
artistically, esthetically, socially, intellectually, spiritually, etc.,
but in secret they still dwell in teen-age sexual fantasies.
The clash is especially glaring if part of the professional life
includes telling other people to avoid the same sexual practices
that the ‘great person’ is now disclosed to be following.

ISF p. 51

HOW EROTIC DREAMS MIGHT DISCLOSE OUR IMPRINTED SEXUAL FANTASIES.

    B. Erotic Dreams.

     We all have dreams, some of which are explicitly sexual.
And if we examine our erotic dreams, we might uncover our sex-scripts.
When we are half asleep, our self-censoring function is dormant.
And sexual materials can slip past the usually-vigilant file-clerk.

     In our sexual dreams are we attracted to males or females?
Are the other characters specific persons we know in real life
or just types of sex-partners imprinted into our brains?
Does the same erotic dream recur?
When we awake, are we happy about our erotic dreams
or do we wish these phantoms would not haunt our brains while we sleep?

     Sexual dreams often create sexual arousal and even orgasms.
Thus, such dreams must be closely related to our imprinted sexual fantasies.
Are the ‘movies’ created by our dreaming brains
similar to the sex-scripts we have already identified within ourselves?

ISF p. 95

WHAT CAN PORNOGRAPHY TELL US ABOUT SEXUAL FANTASIES?

    D. Pornography as a Catalog of Sex-Scripts.

     Pornography is usually more sexually-explicit than advertising,
but the same appeal to sex-scripts might be occurring.
The pornography that stimulates our sexual interest
tells stories close to the scenarios already in our sex-files.
Pornographic images were not created for scientific purposes,
but careful observations of our responses to pornography
could be a place to begin the scientific study of imprinted sexual fantasies.

96        IMPRINTED SEXUAL FANTASIES:        A NEW KEY FOR SEXOLOGY         by JAMES PARK

USING PORNOGRAPHY TO GET 'TUNED ON' BEFORE SEX.

     If we use pornography as a way of getting ‘turned on’
before we go to bed with the people we ‘love’
—for instance, watching a sexy video before sex—
we might still be responding to the sex-scripts in the movie,
rather than responding to one another as persons.
   
     If our purpose is merely to get our bodies aroused for sex,
then whatever method we use is unimportant.
But if we would like our sexual encounters to express love,
then the pornographic ‘helps’ might detract from that purpose.
In one sense we might have ‘better’ sex after using pornography.
But in another sense we are making sex less personal
—stimulating our imprinted sex-scripts rather than having real relationships.

ISF p. 99

INDULGING OUR IMPRINTED SEXUAL FANTASIES IS IMPERSONAL.

     When our behavior is completely controlled by our sex-scripts,
sex is quite impersonal (rather than intimate as assumed).
Two separate individuals are indulging their separate sex-scripts,
enjoying their private fantasies, using each other to achieve orgasm.

ISF p. 112

SEARCHING FOR THE 'CAUSES' OF HOMOSEXUALITY.

     However, even research looking for the ‘causes’ of homosexuality
might discover that the original question was inappropriate.
It might be similar to looking for the ‘causes’ of left-handedness
—assuming that right-handedness did not need to be explained
because being right-handed is ‘natural’.
Open-minded research into the origins of handedness will seek models
that explain right-handedness, left-handedness, & being ambidextrous.

     Likewise, open-minded research into the origins of sexual fantasies
will seek models that explain the emergence in human persons
of all forms of sex-scripts: heterosexual, homosexual, & bisexual.

Chapter X              RESEARCHING HUMAN SEX-SCRIPTS                by JAMES PARK              131

POSSIBLE BIAS FROM THE SEXUAL FANTASIES OF THE RESEARCERS.

     One of the more likely biases of anyone who does sex research
will be his or her own sexual imprinting. 
Because sex-scripts are imprinted at such an early age
and because they seem so natural to the person who has them,
many researchers will implicitly assume that their own sex-scripts
are the standard against which all other sex-scripts should be measured.
Open-minded research will not assume that any sexual fantasies are natural.

132        IMPRINTED SEXUAL FANTASIES:        A NEW KEY FOR SEXOLOGY        by JAMES PARK

ASKING RAPISTS WHY THEY RAPE.

     In the past, almost all efforts to study rape
have sought cultural reasons for rape.
So when convicted rapists are asked for their own explanations,
they too offer cultural explanations:
They came from deprived backgrounds.
They were sexually abused as children.
They were under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Women provoked them beyond their power to resist the urge.
They were encouraged by other men to join in a gang rape.
They felt depressed by life; they had nothing to lose.
They were angry at women because of something a woman once did to them.

     Some of these excuses might be somewhat valid in specific cases.
But notice that none of them refers to an underlying sex-script.
Only very insightful rapists will be able to describe
the sexual imprinting that created their rapist fantasies.
And researchers should concentrate
on these rapists who understand themselves the best.
If researchers can help to identify the sexual imprinting
that leaves some men with rapist sex-scripts,
perhaps future generations can avoid imprinting children with rapist fantasies.

     If we refer back to the sex-with-animals contrast,
we see that all of the social explanations would be irrelevant
if the person convicted of ‘bestiality’ had no animal sexual fantasies:
I had sex with animals because I came from a deprived background.
I had sex with animals because I was sexually abused as a child.
I could not resist having sex with animals because I was drunk.
Animals provoked me beyond my power to resist the urge.
I was encouraged by other men to join them in having sex with animals.
I felt depressed; I had nothing to lose by having sex with animals.
I was angry at animals because of something an animal once did to me.

     Such claims seem comical to us
because most of us have no inclination to have sex with animals.
(Readers with sex-scripts depicting animals as sexual objects
might find some of these ‘explanations’ plausible.
And this is another area for sex-script research:
How do some people get animals imprinted into their sex-scripts?)
If we have no sexual attraction to animals,
we assume that there must be some explanation for people who do.
Likewise, those heterosexual men who have no inclination to rape women
assume there must be some explanation for men who have such urges.

ISF p. 143-144
 
Created 4-6-2008; Revised 4-11-2008

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