This paper discusses the place of conscious fantasy in the sexual life of women. In certain psychoanalytic, lay, and literary sources, fantasy is thought to enhance sexual experience. In contrast, the authors have observed that conscious fantasy appears often to serve as needed protection against full, intersubjective, sensual-sexual sharing with another, a protection that in itself provides the conditions necessary for sexual satisfaction. For Freud, fantasy takes the place of actual experience; for Klein, phantasy invariably accompanies it. This crucial distinction has been blurred over the course of the time, particularly in the area of sexuality where fantasy plays a central role. The predominant point of view of those who have written about this topic (e.g.,