Acknowledgments
Introduction
1: How Many Definitions Do You Need? The History of the Sexual
Addiction Concept
2: Distinguishing Sex from Drugs
3: Valley Girl Science
4: Eric Sevareid’s Law
5: Sexual Healing
6: Feeling Sexy
7: Culture and Sexuality
8: Morality and Law
9: Gender and Libido
10: Men and Women: Separated before Birth
11: Watching It
12: The Expression of Male Sexual Desire
13: The Ignored Aspects of Masculinity
14: Reclaiming Our Sexuality
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
About the Author
David J. Ley is a clinical psychologist in practice in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He provides clinical and consultative services in numerous other states. Dr. Ley currently serves as Executive Director of a large outpatient behavioral health agency in Albuquerque and maintains a current caseload of clients. He is the author of Insatiable Wives: Women Who Stray and the Men Who Love Them (Rowman & Littlefield, 2009).
Dr. David Ley raises crucial questions in his latest
book--questions that demand serious consideration before we allow
American society to drift even further toward declaring all
pleasure potentially dangerous and pathological. Ley shows that the
puritanism underlying our politics may also be distorting our
medical sciences. This book is well informed, well argued, and well
worth your time.--Christopher Ryan Ph.D, Co-author of Sex at Dawn:
The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality
Sex addiction and its attendant diagnosed celebrities and reality
TV shows may have been wholeheartedly embraced by the media, but
this work of pop psychology takes issue with what clinical
psychologist Ley (Insatiable Wives: Women Who Stray and the Men Who
Love Them) deems a dubious disorder. Here, Ley asks whether sexual
addiction is really a bona fide ailment or merely a "culturally
bound concept reflecting changing social views of sexuality rather
than medicine or scientific research." Ley suggests that the label
of "addiction" removes the issue of morality from the conversation,
whereas in fact--whether we like it or not--he asserts that "sexual
behaviors involve choice." However, Ley acknowledges the appeal of
calling it an addiction, quoting an anonymous ex-spouse of a
so-called sex addict, who affirmed that it would've been easier to
cope with her husband's serial infidelity had it been the product
of impulses literally beyond his control. Ley makes a thoughtful
and persuasive argument, using case studies and ample references to
the work of other psychologists to flesh out his case. While
serving as an excellent resource on sex addiction, Ley's study also
sheds light on the myriad cultural and sociological factors that
influence relationships.
-- "Publishers Weekly"
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