…At times, the long list of types of sex addiction can read like an excerpt from a 19th-century catalogue of sexual deviance. Cheating, swinging and BDSM? All symptoms of sex addiction. Having sex with someone of your own sex when you think you’re straight? Sex addiction. Rape and paedophilia? They’re often a manifestation of severe sex addiction, too, says Robert Mittiga. Even telling sexual jokes or hugging too much can be a sign that you’re a secret sex addict, according to some sources.
“If you look at how sex addiction is defined, there is a focus on activities that take away from the couple: affairs, promiscuity, masturbation, pornography,” argues ANU sociologist Dr Helen Keane.
The underlying message? That partnered, heterosexual, monogamous sex is “good” and everything else is “bad”. Sex-addiction discourse may claim to absolve the addict, but it’s difficult to see how people who enjoy BDSM, swinging or casual sex could feel “de-stigmatised” by a framework that compares them to a rapist.
The giveaway, says Ley, is in the title of the movie. “It’s called Shame,” he says. “They say they’re doing it to remove the stigma, but the treatment they provide is based on stigmatising what are in many cases normal sexual practices, like masturbation.” There is no question that Brandon’s sexual encounters are not about enjoyment. But is every person who uses sex to feel better about themselves in some way an addict? It seems unlikely.
via The naked truth – National News – National – General – Camden Advertiser.
