Naked News: Facebook Divorces, Risky Love, and Sex Addicts
- Okay, so we know this article was written by a high schooler and all, but we can’t help being fascinated by the statistic she mentions that 20% of new divorce cases in the US include the word “Facebook” in them.
- Australian study shows that despite drugs that sharply reduce the concentration of HIV in someone’s blood, gay men’s risk of contracting the virus during a single act of anal sex has not changed.
- Psychiatrists are proposing that hypersexuality, or sex addiction, get official status as a mental disorder, though critics worry about misdiagnosis.
Aimee- we had no idea, so thanks for the heads up! We whole-heartedly withdraw our high-five for Abbott (having teen girls is no excuse for being sexist or anti-abortion for that matter… in fact, we would think it would be a very good reason to be pro-choice!), though we stand by our statement that Australia is an awesome place to live.
RE; “Sex Addiction”
I agree that in most cases “someone diagnosed with sex addiction or having hypersexuality is anyone having more sex than the therapist is having.”
Here’s the supposed symptoms:
To be diagnosed with the disorder, a patient would have to chronically experience four of the following five situations:
1)spending a “great deal of time” consumed by sexual fantasies and urges; (What is “a great deal of time?” Somewhere someone having sex more than 14 hours a week was “disordered” obviously THIS therapist has sex 2 hours a week or less. “Fantasies and Urges” A lot of people think about sex a good deal of their waking hours. Does this count?)
2) using sexual behaviour to deal with stressful life events (or anxiety, depression, boredom or irritability); (Who DOESN’T do this? Especially if you are partnered. Sex is a great tension defuser. It also CAN help alleviate depression and irritability. If the sex is consensual, WHY is this behavior disordered?)
3)disregarding the “physical and emotional harm” to those involved (Depends on what one sees as “physical and emotional harm.” Being turned down, even by your partner can be considered “emotional harm” but we still TRY, don’t we? Hell, I pulled a back muscle last Friday, executing a rather amusing move while restrained, does THAT count? (Physical harm?) My Man fell out of the bed not long ago, and injured himself, we didn’t stop. (We laughed.) Every woman, even if she is using a good form of birth control risks pregnancy and possibly death. Is THAT enough of a risk “physical harm?”
4) “Trying to curb the behavior.” What if one IS doing all this and not giving a damn to “curb the behavior?” What if one is having the time of his or her life? And the risks are perceived as relatively low? What if these conditions exist in a monogamous relationship? Is it still considered “disordered?” Probably, if one is still getting more than one’s therapist is….
5)As well, patients must have suffered distress and harm to their everyday life. (And if they haven’t, or the “distress” is minor? (Oh, you got a yeast infection? Or you felt bad because your partner said, “I don’t feel like it tonight.” and it put you in a bad mood until the next time.) Then it ISN’T “a disorder?”
Looks like someone is trying to find yet an OTHER reason to prescribe expensive, and possibly dangerous prescription drugs for what some see as otherwise normal behavior.
Either that, or rich, influential guys who “get caught” messing around want an excuse for cheating. One or the other, maybe both, is my guess. (That would get rich cheaters off the hook AND make money for pharmaceutical manufacturers. And make undersexed therapist feel better about their fate. Wow! What a Red Letter Day!)
My Man and I have erupted into laughter lately every time Tiger Woods appears on TV. One of us yells, “It wasn’t his fault! IT’S A DISEASE!” then dribble onto the floor into a puddle of amusement. In fact, we’ve been blaming EVERYTHING that one or the other of us does “wrong” lately as a disease. I didn’t do the dishes the other day. “I can’t help it, it’s a disease.” He left his enormous work boots in the middle of the bedroom, and, in the dark, I nearly broke my toe on them, “It wasn’t my fault. It’s a disease.” It was also a “disease” when I threw said work boots out on the deck without ceremony.
Really, do we need pharmaceuticals and expensive 30 day treatment centers for this, or is it just either human nature (for some) or for some, a serious lack of responsibility and not wanting be blamed when “caught” with someone other than one’s partner?
“Australia’s Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has described sex as “one of life’s great pleasures,” but says it is often difficult to find the time for intercourse on the campaign trail. Remind us again why we don’t all live there?”
Ladies, not that I disagree with your point that Australia is pretty awesome and that anyone would be lucky to live here, but I don’t know how much you know about Tony Abbott’s other recent quotations. He got in a bit of trouble recently by saying that in his opinion girls should remain virgins until marriage and give their husband that great “gift” (he didn’t mention boys, so I can only assume they are free to sleep with each other until they tie the knot with a nice pure young lady). To be fair, he was asked for his personal opinion, not a political policy, and I believe he had his teenage daughters in mind at the time, so he probably didn’t deserve the scrutiny he got for that comment – but just saying, with that and his anti-abortion stance, he is certainly not the poster-boy of sex positive politicians!
Also he did a photo-op wearing very tight speedoes at the beach, which was something nobody wanted to see.