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When asked what my sexual fantasy is, I’ve been at a loss for how to answer. First, people usually assume that I only have one, which is simply untrue, and second, even if I fantasize about something, I’m not quite sure I want to tell anyone about it for fear that they might actually try to make it happen. That seems to be the funny thing with fantasies: While they’re great fun in your head, some are disturbing and I would not actually want to carry them out.

However, some people go to great lengths to fulfill their fantasies. Some people invent sex machines.

My immediate reaction to that phrase is, “Duh, dildos and vibrators,” but sex machines aren’t just that. Rather, they’re creations. I would even call them works of art – there are “The Thrill Hammer,” “Anaconda” or “Blue Balls.”

These inventions have come to the public’s attention mainly because of Timothy Archibald, a California-based photographer whose photos are in the book “Sex Machines: Interviews and Photographs.”

Archibald told me in an e-mail: “At first I felt that the inventors would be antisocial misfits who couldn’t relate to women, thus they felt the need to create a machine to take over their sex life ... What I found was normal folk, good parents, people who go to PTA meetings, are married and monogamous, people searching for community and affection ... people with good values to hold and a sense of humor about what they were up to.”

I first came across sex machines during my visit to New York City’s Museum of Sex over winter break. The exhibition was by far the most interesting and refreshing part of the museum for me, precisely because of the reason that Archibald details above – the inventors of these machines are, for all intents and purposes, my next-door neighbors.

In general, men invented the machines and women were meant to use them. In a lot of cases the situation, according to Archibald, involved men who enjoyed the process and the idea of making the machine, but were having trouble getting people to try it.

This may be due to psychological differences between the sexes – I don’t think many women would approach the problem of say, erectile dysfunction, by building a sex machine.

At first the feminist inside me felt a little queasy at the thought of these machines. The museum had a collection of them set up so that you could press a red button and watch them move. While I found this both hilarious and fascinating, I couldn’t help thinking that I wouldn’t want one of these things anywhere near my bedroom, but rather in my living room perhaps, red button and all.

Other students’ reactions were similar to mine. People expressed concerns that the machines weren’t “warm” enough or intimate enough; while they might be willing to try one out, they would never use it to replace “real” sex.

However, when I talked to Ken, an inventor of such devices and owner of a Web site dedicated to them, he told me that the machines weren’t really meant to give orgasms. “They’re more for fantasy reasons,” he said.

This seemed a little strange to me, since when I think of fantasies they usually include orgasms. But perhaps it’s a result of the fantasy that the orgasm is that much better.

Often, people’s first reaction to my explanation of these machines was to ask about their use in the queer community, specifically within the gay male community. Archibald told me he’d had the same thought when he began researching the subject.

He said while these machines are sold to heterosexual and homosexual couples alike, the gay aspect “didn’t bubble to the surface.” If these machines are popular with the queer community, people haven’t yet been forthcoming with information.

Probably one of the most intriguing characters at the exhibit was John Traven, sex-machine inventor and divorced Christian. He invented the machine partially in an attempt to save his marriage; his wife pushed him for a divorce before he got the chance to finish and give it to her.

In order to purchase a sex machine from Traven, he requires that you provide him with a marriage certificate and a signed form guaranteeing that you will only use the machine within that marriage (though marriage isn’t the first thing that comes to my mind when I think of sex machines).

When Archibald described his experience interviewing Traven, he said it had been one of those moments when you have to re-evaluate your preconceptions of people.

Traven is a faithful Christian who believes that sex within marriage is a healthy part of the relationship, and he wants to spread this philosophy with his machine.

Archibald called this project his attempt at The Great American Novel. “It had all the components: American ingenuity, domestic suburbia as the theatre, and real average Joe ... The fact that it had a sexual bend to it helped me get attention, and helped to make the project alluring to the masses, but it was really the people who were at the heart of the project.”

From my experience of the exhibit, I have to say I agree.

A few people have also honored me by sharing their own personal sexual fantasies with me. While some are “normal” enough for me to think they will eventually be naturally fulfilled, others – just like some of my own – disturbed me.

What worries me is that while fulfilling one’s fantasy is a natural desire, there are certain fantasies that I feel are better left as just that. Either they would be harmful to other people involved, or harmful to the fantasizer.

Sometimes this drive to fulfill one’s fantasy leads to a creative creation, such as a sex machine. But I can imagine situations in which people could be hurt, disappointed, or worse.

For example, that guy in Seattle who died from having sex with a horse. Some fantasies need to stay that way – as fantasies – but otherwise, let the creative juices flow.

E-mail Lara at lloewenstein@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.