If you have sex with other people in your dream, this doesn’t mean you are dissatisfied with your partner; we all have secret longings and it is healthy to express them as you sleep.
If you had a dream in which you were having sex and you are a teenager or young adult, this is perfectly normal. Adolescents frequently dream of sex, partly because the onset of puberty causes sex hormones to flood the body awakening sexual curiosity.
Such dreams are caused by these natural physiological stimuli, combined with feelings of anxiety or excitement about what making love is like. Sexual frustration is another reason why you may have erotic dreams. The sexual drive is extremely powerful and if you are not in a sexual relationship or have not had sex for a long time with your partner, your unconscious may find release in your dreams.
Similarly, if you are having unsatisfying or boring sex in real life, you may have a dream in which you have passionate and exciting sex, giving you an insight into your true sexual yearnings.
If you have low self-esteem, your unconscious may also try to boost your sense of self-worth by depicting you making love to a sexy stranger.
If you dreamed of making love to someone you know in waking life, you may be unconsciously or consciously attracted to that person or your unconscious may again be boosting your self-esteem by conjuring up such images. This is particularly the case if your dream lover is a celebrity or a person countless people have a crush on in waking life.
If none of the above applies to you, dreams in which you are making love to someone you know or don’t know could, according to a Jungian interpretation, depict your union with the anima or feminine aspects of your character if you are a man, or the animus or masculine traits within you if you are a woman. Your dream may have symbolized the complete integration of your masculine and feminine qualities or a longing for a part of yourself that has been lost. The other character in your dream—the sexual partner—represents the closest you can get to that part and helps you understand what your deepest needs are. Another interpretation suggests that dreams in which sex is the theme are referring to your creative powers, although not necessarily fertility, and the use you could be making of them in waking life.
Because semen is a symbol of masculinity and of physical and sexual maturity, dreams of ejaculation or emission can suggest the nature of your attitude to sex and the conflicts which arise in you.
If you dream of seducing someone or being seduced yourself, this suggests that you make compromises too easily in both business and love, and you should not commit yourself so cheaply. To dream of undressing in front of your dream partner suggests confidence, but to be shy or reticent to reveal yourself naked suggests body- image concerns. Having sex fully dressed in a dream suggests feelings of guilt; to dream of being naked or your genitals being exposed in public suggests feelings of sexual insecurity. It can also suggest indiscretion in your waking life, whilst deformed genitals warn against over-indulgence.
See also BODY.