Sexual addiction or dependence are controversial concepts. Since they are not included in the DSM-V, the main difficulty which surrounds them comes from the fact on the one hand of defining what is the limit between a so-called "normal" sexuality and an addictive behavior. On the other hand, the scientific community is divided on the terms to use between sexual disorders, paraphilias and addictive behaviors. Thus Mac Dougall evokes the notion of "neosexuality", Orford describes "hypersexuality" and Coleman prefers to speak of "compulsive sexual behavior". Some even go so far as to question the idea that sexual compulsivity is an addiction. According to international studies, sexual addiction affects between 3 and 13 % of the general population. The data shows a higher occurence in men, as well as an emergence of the disorder in late adolescence and early adulthood. It should be noted that the concept has been known for a long time but has been named differently throughout time and eras. We can think in particular of messalinism, nymphomania, satyriasis, don juanism, sexual perversion or more recently compulsive sexual behavior, hypersexuality or sexual addiction. It is in this context that we must be careful with the terms used, which do not necessarily refer to a medical reality but rather to a specific social context and therefore to socially and historically situated realities. For example, nymphomania and its pathologization made it possible to control the sexuality of women by showing how female desire was a danger to society. Sexual addiction can therefore potentially be the source of gendered representations and strongly influencedby sexism. If it can be a source of suffering for some people, it is regularly used for militant causes, especially antifeminist ones, to discredit anything that might have to do with sexuality.
Recension • Addiction and Sexual Compulsivity
27 October 2021
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