5/10/2014 Is Sex Addiction Real?

| Psychology Today
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/philosophy-stirred-not-shaken/201405/is-sex-addiction-real 1/3
Many sex addicts and therapists will appeal to the behavioral criteria that
define substance use disorder and addictive behavior such as gambling.
These behaviors must recur over a specified time period and comprise a
pattern. Self-identified sex addicts will claim that sexual behavior or
thinking/fantasizing about sex dominates their lives and that they
experience alterations in their moods as a consequence. Furthermore,
they develop a tolerance such that it takes more for them to reach a
pleasure or release threshold. They become far less able to control or cut
down on their impulses to engage in these behaviors. Sexual behavior
becomes the axis around which their lives turn.
I imagine neuroscience will more fully enter the fray at some point, and
provide further evidence. Perhaps that will prompt reconsideration of the
reality of sex addiction.
Ive avoided using pronouns so far. Did you notice? Theres a reason for
this. The vast majority of people who identify as sex addicts are male.
This prompts me to wonder if the characteristics of sex addiction presently
skew significantly towards men and more stereotypical male behaviors.
It also makes me wonder if the terms hypersexuality and sex addiction
are really code for hypermasculinity. Sex addiction and hypersexuality
may be consequences of a very rigid gender system. This is deeply
worrisome for many reasons.
There are not many studies about sex addiction available, so I need to be
Is Sex Addiction Real?
Sex addiction as a consequence of a rigid gender system
Published on May 1, 2014 by Peg O'Connor, Ph.D. in Philosophy Stirred, Not Shaken
When a famous athlete or Hollywood actor or politician has been caught cheating or is rumored to have
been serially cheating or has been arrested on solicitation charges, there is usually a media feeding
frenzy. Theres nothing more satisfying than a juicy sex scandal. Many project an attitude of disapproval
with a candy coating of prudishness, yet they keep following the developing story.
I always wonder how long it will take before the cheater plays the sex addiction card. Making such a
claim twenty years ago would have been unthinkable but now it has become a go-to maneuver. Some
wonder if it isnt just an excuse for bad behavior.
Since neither sex addiction nor hypersexuality appears in the DSM-5, some might be tempted to claim
that neither is real. Neither even made it into the section three holding pen of disorders needing further
research. Some of the experts of the American Psychiatric Association have spoken. But many people
who do identify as sex addicts or as having hypersexual disorder and the people who treat them beg to
differ. Theirs are important voices.
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5/10/2014 Is Sex Addiction Real? | Psychology Today
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careful about the scope of my claims. The evidence suggests that 3%
6% of the US population have a sexual addiction. Of that, 80%-85% are
adult males. Furthermore, males seek treatment at a much higher rate
than women.
That males seek treatment at a much higher rate than women means that
the descriptions of the behaviors of sex addiction will reflect male
experiences and be more directly tied to masculine traits or behaviors.
These behaviors include heightened sexual activity, masturbation,
viewingpornography, having multiple partners, engaging in sexual risk
taking, visiting strip clubs, and using the internet for cybersex.
Rigid gender roles make it difficult if not impossible to draw the line
between what is normally expected for male sexuality and what is
disordered. We live in a culture that glorifies masculinity and expects men
to be real men who constantly think about beer and babes and who try
to score as often as they can. There's very much an "Atta boy!" kind of
attitude.
Hypermasculinity is becoming the norm, which means that men are
encouraged to act in ways that toe right up to if not cross the line into
hypersexuality or sex addiction. Many men will not want to do this while
others will feel pressured to do so. They know their masculinity will be
called into question if they do not behave in certain ways.
What about women? Women are as subject to the rigidity of femininity as
men to masculinity. Some powerful expectations of femininity are that
women should be male-identified, seek male approval, and not feel
complete unless they have a man. Women are also taught to subsume
their interests to the men in her life.
Sex has been a way for a woman to get and hold onto a man. Given all
this, it doesnt seem outrageous to say that some women are engaging in
all sorts of sexual behaviors that perhaps they would not in the absence
of sexism and rigid gender roles.
Thus, womens sexuality is as informed by rigid gender roles as mens.
The forms that sex addiction takes for women may differ in some
significant ways from male sex addiction though these will be harder to
identify for a variety of reasons.
Shame surrounds womens sexuality in ways that it doesnt male sexuality.
Only women have the walk of shame. Shame is a powerful weapon in
silencing.
Womens sexuality is also subject to greater judgment and sanction than
mens. Both men and women level judgments against women who appear
to violate any sexual norms. The problem is that many of those norms are
double standards. A man who has many female partners may be
regarded as a player. A woman with the same number of male partners
may be called a slut. Even having one partner may earn a woman that
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5/10/2014 Is Sex Addiction Real? | Psychology Today
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label.
This is a harsh reality of sexism.
May there be much research on the reality and complexities of sex
addiction. But such research must attend to the dynamics of these rigid
gender roles and the system of sexism that undergirds them.

Karila L , Wry A , Weinstein A , Cottencin O , Reynaud M , Billieux
J Sexual Addiction or Hypersexual Disorder: Different Terms for the
Same Problem? A Review of the Literature.Curr Pharm Des. 2013 Aug
29.
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