We create addictions because society requires us to conform to a near-dead status. Show that you enjoy something beyond what society demands and you are deemed and “addict” requiring intervention, therapy (of the medical variety), shunning and….in some cases….imprisonment.

As well written as this is, we have to realize that a fundamental change in our sex-negative attitudes must change. This attaching to the notion of ‘sex addiction” is a prime example.

polybi
http://twitter.com/polybi2

Read with great interest your essay “Sinful” Sex Addiction: The Newest Way to Demonize Sexuality as posted in CounterPunch… a fine statement on the damaging effects of sexual puritanism that distorts our sexuality. The equating of sexual functions with “sin” is a monstrosity in itself that has created its own sexual pathology.

I have been led to believe that “sex addiction” is a misnomer, where “sexual addictions” should be called “sexual obsessive-compulsive disorders; and other mislabeled “behavioral addictions” are “obsessive-compulsive” disorders. We are not likely to escape this classification anytime soon. Our battles continue.

In Peace,

Jim

James W. Prescott, Ph.D.

you are a brilliant, brilliant writer and your intellect is superb. it is beautiful to read your words and i am glad that you are on this earth.

i hope you know how much i value your (and max’s) friendship.

john

I enjoyed your very lively Counterpunch piece on addictions. However, you’re quite, quite wrong to class exercise addiction with workaholism. They couldn’t be more different. Exercise is much closer to sex, drugs, and booze; it delivers an almost immediate rush. My current fix is walking to the top of Buena Vista, a hill here in San Francisco. The twenty minute walk up always makes me high. Like booze and drugs and some sex, vigorous exercise can be a solitary vice. Like sex, but unlike booze and drugs, it’s an addiction we share with animals — well, certain animals, anyway. Watch a dog chasing or being chased and tell me it’s not getting high.

Work, on the other hand, delivers something much more abstract, no? Money in the bank. “Security.” The quieting of idling-guilt. More ominously, the numbing of obscure urges to do something else.

I’d be tempted to put workaholism in a class of its own, a kind of bastardized addiction. But then that’s coming from someone who likes sex, drugs, booze, and exercise, but who never could stick with a job. . . .

I enjoyed your very lively Counterpunch piece on addictions. However, you’re quite, quite wrong to class exercise addiction with workaholism. They couldn’t be more different. Exercise is much closer to sex, drugs, and booze; it delivers an almost immediate rush. My current fix is walking to the top of Buena Vista, a hill here in San Francisco. The twenty minute walk up always makes me high. Like booze and drugs and some sex, vigorous exercise can be a solitary vice. Like sex, but unlike booze and drugs, it’s an addiction we share with animals — well, certain animals, anyway. Watch a dog chasing or being chased and tell me it’s not getting high.

Work, on the other hand, delivers something much more abstract, no? Money in the bank. “Security.” The quieting of idling-guilt. More ominously, the numbing of obscure urges to do something else.

I’d be tempted to put workaholism in a class of its own, a kind of bastardized addiction. But then that’s coming from someone who likes sex, drugs, booze, and exercise, but who never could stick with a job. . . .

I have a adrenal disorder and through my research on adrenal exhaustion I found a eye-opening video on youtube. The video, as you would guess, is on adrenal exhaustion but at about 4:30 into it the doctor explains how you can tell a woman is a nymphomania (by looking at her tongue.) This is no joke just as my life-long adrenal problem is not anything to laugh at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTyP7KlefhQ

When I figure out which of my addictions are my favorite I will let you know.

I have a adrenal disorder and through my research on adrenal exhaustion I found a eye-opening video on youtube. The video, as you would guess, is on adrenal exhaustion but at about 4:30 into it the doctor explains how you can tell a woman is a nymphomania (by looking at her tongue.) This is no joke just as my life-long adrenal problem is not anything to laugh at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTyP7KlefhQ

When I figure out which of my addictions are my favorite I will let you know.