Sincerely,What is sexual addiction? Does it really exist? Can it be a bad thing? What impact has the Internet had on people's relationships? What help can addicts receive? What is normal vs addictive sexual behaviour? These are some questions I will be looking into.
A healthy desire for sex and enjoyment is not an addiction. In the past, 'unchaste' women (who enjoyed sex and masturbation) were seen as sick and unstable - in need of strict medical attention. Times have changed since then, though our Western culture is still quick to medicalise and label the human condition.
Human beings also seem to be addictive creatures (some more so than others). What is the evolutionary benefits of addiction? It allows us to focus our attention, to complete tasks, to succeed. So a little bit of compulsivity can be a good thing (especially if you have positive addictions such as surfing, yoga, music).
However wonderful and glorious sex is, it is not everything (there are many other interesting subjects to think about - see top of page!). Healthy sexuality may become an addiction when sexual behaviour becomes obsessive, neurotic, harmful, isolated etc. I hope to gather more studies and research on this subject.
From the essay: 'The notions of 'sexual addiction' generally, including 'pornography addiction' as well as the recent concern with 'online cyber sex addiction' are highly questionable to most scientists.
... An addiction is commonly described as an experience of powerlessness, an unmanageable drive, and a basic out-of-control sexual behavior. Levine, Troiden (1988) in their article 'The Myth of Sexual Compulsivity' say that sex is not an addiction; it is an experience rather than a substance. 'By definition, sex is not a state of physiological dependence and it does not lead to distress upon abrupt withdrawal,' say Levine et al.
... In summary, before rushing to the judgment that pornography is addicting, we must take note of the following: So-called sex addiction may be nothing more than learned behavior that can be unlearned; labels such as 'sex addict' may tell us more about society’s prejudices and the therapist doing the labeling than the client; scientists who have undertaken scientifically rigorous studies of exposure to sex materials report that despite high levels of exposure to pornography in venues such as the Internet, few negative effects are observed. For the average person the message of violence against women must be present for negative effects to occur. For other forms of pornography the effects are an interaction between personality and exposure to pornography.'
http://www.freespeechcoalition.com/
Daniel Linz, Ph.D., Professor of Communication and Law and Society, University
of California, Santa Barbara. Response to Testimony before the United States
Senate.
'I have been concerned about my porn addict patients who use the Internet
to access pornography to feed their addiction / illness. I have boys in
their early teens getting into that stuff with really disastrous consequences.
They tell me they actively search for porn on the Internet keying in such
words as sex, nudity, pornography, obscenity, etc. Once they have found
how to access it they go back again and again - just like drug addicts.'
(Dr. Victor B. Cline, a clinical psychologist and Professor
Emeritus at the University of Utah)
Jane Brody reports in her New York Times article, 'Cybersex Gives Birth to a Psychological Disorder' (5/16/2000), about the problem of sexual addiction: 'Researchers writing in The Journal of Sex Addiction and Compulsivity report that many of the men and women who now spend dozens of hours each week seeking stimulation from their computers deny that they have a problem and refuse to seek help until their marriages, their jobs, or both, are in jeopardy.'
‘Sex on the Net is like heroin... It grabs them and takes over their
lives. And it’s very difficult to treat because the people affected
don’t want to give it up.’
(Dr. Mark Schwartz of the Masters and Johnson Institute
in St. Louis)
Dr. Al Cooper, a staff psychologist at Stanford who has conducted the largest and most detailed survey of online sex, calls the Net ‘the crack cocaine of sexual compulsivity.’
To those who say a behavioral compulsion is not a true addiction, Dr. Jennifer Schneider (associate editor of the Journal of Sex Addiction and Compulsivity) responded with a definition of addiction that would clearly apply to cyber sex abusers: ‘Loss of control, continuation of the behavior despite adverse consequences and preoccupation or obsession with obtaining the drug or pursuing the behavior.’
http://www.obscenitycrimes.org/espforparents/MinorsAndNetporn.cfm
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Page Title: 'Sexual Health Problems: Sex Addiction. Advice &
Information for Addicts. Cyber Sex, Online Chat & Games, Pornography'.
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Many thanks! Karene
Analyse
any human emotion, no matter how far it may be removed from the sphere of
sex, and you are sure to discover somewhere the primal impulse, to which
life owes its perpetuation. ... The primitive stages can always be re-established;
the primitive mind is, in the fullest meaning of the word, imperishable.
... Mans most disagreeable habits and idiosyncrasies, his deceit, his cowardice,
his lack of reverence, are engendered by his incomplete adjustment to a
complicated civilisation. It is the result of the conflict between our instincts
and our culture. (Sigmund Freud)
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