How Much is Too Much?
Sex Addiction Anonymous interviewed Lisa Marie, psychologist at John Abbott College in Montreal, Quebec. She specializes in
trauma and knows a lot about sex offenders.
She does not believe that hyper sexuality is an addiction due to the
lack of proof. Sex addicts’ brains do not
react the same way to their drug as other addicts for example cocaine or
alcohol. Therefore, many believe that people who claim to have a sex addiction use it as an excuse to be sexually risky. Marie has heard this excuse from many sex offenders.
A form of sex addiction she does believe in is porn addiction. Porn viewing has increased due to our sexualized society. Many men are taught that porn is normal and will teach them about sex. They believe that masturbating to porn will give them sexual release but really gives no emotional pleasure. Many men have erectile dysfunction from masturbating to porn. Many people are so used to the graphicness and range of porn that they are no longer interested in real life sexual situations.
Lisa Marie agreed that childhood trauma can affect future sexual relationships. She explained that after trauma many men and women feel worthless and will have sex with anyone, not because they want to but because they believe that they should not say no. They also may not understand what parts of their bodies are inappropriate for others to touch because they were not taught this earlier in life. However, she said that there was no way to determine whether these people will later become addicted to sex. An important question to reflect on is: How would we diagnose sex addiction? How many sexual encounters is an addictive amount? If a person sleeps with 50 people a day but is happy and safe is that an addiction? Or is it the consequences of the sexual behavior that makes it an addiction rather than the amount of partners? |
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