On Becoming A Eunuch

[Senjougahara (imported)]

Sexual addiction does not exist. It's a made up disorder to make people feel guilty about being sexual creatures. It's promoted by religious counselors as the reason for every problem in the world.

Some people have very strong sex drives and they may feel that their libido causes them to compulsively seek out sex. It's not entirely unreasonable to liken this behaviour to an addict's compulsion to (smoke, drink, whatever). Personally I struggle to empathize as my sex drive is almost non-existent and I've never been addicted to anything. I even tried to get myself hooked on nicotine, just as an experiment. Didn't work.

Sexologists have not reached any consensus regarding whether sexual addiction exists or, if it does, how to describe the phenomenon. Some experts believe that sexual addiction is literally an addiction, directly analogous to alcohol and drug addictions. Other experts believe that sexual addiction is actually a form of obsessive compulsive disorder and refer to it as sexual compulsivity. Still other experts believe that sex addiction is itself a myth, a by-product of cultural and other influences.

"Nymphomania" and "satyriasis" are not listed as disorders in the DSM-IV, though they remain a part of ICD-10, each listed as a subtype of "hypersexuality."

The American Psychiatric Association publishes and periodically updates the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), a widely recognized compendium of acknowledged mental disorders and their diagnostic criteria. The most recent version of that manual, DSM-IV-TR, was published in 2000 and does not recognize sexual addiction as a diagnosis. Some experts have expressed that excluding sexual addiction from the DSM represents a problem. The DSM does, however, include a miscellaneous diagnosis called Sexual Disorders Not Otherwise Specified, and includes as one of the examples of it: "distress about a pattern of repeated sexual relationships involving a succession of lovers who are experienced by the individual only as things to be used." Other examples include: compulsive fixation on an unattainable partner, compulsive masturbation, compulsive love relationships, and compulsive sexuality in a relationship. Hypersexuality, by itself, is a criterion symptom of hypomania and mania in bipolar disorder and mania in schizoaffective disorder as they are currently defined in the DSM.

The World Health Organization produces the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), which is used globally and is not limited to mental disorders. The most recent version of that document, ICD-10, includes "Excessive sexual drive" as a diagnosis (code F52.7), subdividing it into satyriasis (for males) and nymphomania (for females).

[kristoff]

Sexual addiction does not exist. It's a made up disorder to make people feel guilty about being sexual creatures. It's promoted by religious counselors as the reason for every problem in the world.

The truth is that we are sexual creatures. It's a spectrum from those who have very strong drives to those who have very little sexual drive. The notion that anyone over "average" is a sexual addict is like saying that people are "air" addicts if they breath hard.

The problem is not the sex drive. It's the guilt and shame that accompany it due to opprobrium coming from religion. People with high sex drives do not choose it any more than people choose to breath a lot of air.

Go look up the "Diagnostics and Service Manual", the holy grail of Psychiatry. There is no such mental disorder as sexual addiction. It's propaganda.

Elizabeth

While I doubt that an addiction exists here, there definitely can be issues of sexual compulsivity. Perhaps there is a fine line. Most non-judgmental psychologists and therapists acknowledge that the concept has utility in helping select clients and patients, and therefor do not spurn it, in much the same manner as AA or NA.

The whole conception of sexual addiction was hardly a manifestation of the religious establishment. In fact, it was started by a fella named Patrick Carnes, when he was a PhD student at the University of Minnesota, and couldn't keep his pants zipped up, and got caught. While he was finishing his probation, he finished his dissertation on sexual addiction, and wrote a book on the subject. He started Sexual Addicts Anonymous.

Believe in it or not, it has helped many. That in itself allows for some credibility.

[tugon (imported)]

Sexual addiction does not exist. It's a made up disorder to make people feel guilty about being sexual creatures. It's promoted by religious counselors as the reason for every problem in the world.

Elizabeth

If the disorder is made up I sure suffered from it. The compulsive drive for sex was ruining my life. I can not explain why with all my bad behaviors I did not destroy my health. I was on a downward spiral searching for riskier sex. I became very good at manipulating others to satisfy my addiction without concern for them other than what they bring to my addiction. A good day off from work was when I had been with 4 or 5 men. These acts were not loving affectionate acts but just the contact needed for me to please yet another man.

The addiction drove me to have sex at various jobs or speak too often about sex. My humor was almost completely sex based. Unless you were oversexed I was not a lot of fun to be around. The addiction became very costly. If I was not able to meet anyone or be with a regular I spent hours on gay phone chat lines. I would buy porn and pay for professional phone chat services because I could tell them my kink. I would pay men for sex or buy what they wanted to add another to the list.

Looking at my behaviors and the lengths I was willing to go to satisfy my wants looks like other addictions to me. Like an alcoholic my need for more kept growing. Sex like alcohol became the most important thing to me. Again not the person I was doing it with but the act. Castration was the help for me. I still have many of those thoughts and they are what I rely on for masturbation. I fear T because I believe my behaviors would revert to those dark days. Like an alcoholic who stays away from alcohol to have control over his life I need to avoid T to have control over my life.

[SplitDik (imported)]

If the disorder is made up I sure suffered from it. The compulsive drive for sex was ruining my life. I can not explain why with all my bad behaviors I did not destroy my health. I was on a downward spiral searching for riskier sex. I became very good at manipulating others to satisfy my addiction without concern for them other than what they bring to my addiction. A good day off from work was when I had been with 4 or 5 men. These acts were not loving affectionate acts but just the contact needed for me to please yet another man.

The addiction drove me to have sex at various jobs or speak too often about sex. My humor was almost completely sex based. Unless you were oversexed I was not a lot of fun to be around. The addiction became very costly. If I was not able to meet anyone or be with a regular I spent hours on gay phone chat lines. I would buy porn and pay for professional phone chat services because I could tell them my kink. I would pay men for sex or buy what they wanted to add another to the list.

Looking at my behaviors and the lengths I was willing to go to satisfy my wants looks like other addictions to me. Like an alcoholic my need for more kept growing. Sex like alcohol became the most important thing to me. Again not the person I was doing it with but the act. Castration was the help for me. I still have many of those thoughts and they are what I rely on for masturbation. I fear T because I believe my behaviors would revert to those dark days. Like an alcoholic who stays away from alcohol to have control over his life I need to avoid T to have control over my life.

I agree. I had very similar experience. I'm hetero, but was finally barely doing work and instead spending lots of money (up to $5k per week) on prostitutes. I basically had to have about 10 orgasms per day or would be intensely consumed by sexual desire.

It is definitely an addiction in the sense that you know it is hurting your life in many ways (financially, health risk, losing job, losing family, losing friends, ruining marriage) and you still continue with the behavior.

I guess the only point about there being no such thing as sex addiction is that perhaps society could be more accepting of the need for some segment of the population to get frequent sex. So there is that argument.

But for potential for compulsive urges, sex is way up there with other drugs.

[spankey2 (imported)]

Have got to weigh in here. The people that recognize that there is a thing called sex addiction win!!!! In fact those describing their addiction have done a great job in describing the compulsion and the results of that compulsion. Sex Addiction, howerver, is more like Over Eaters Anonomys as we all have a libido, as we all have an appitite. When we look at pleasure as something that has us, rather than us having it, it becomes a problem. As a therapist I can assure you that Addictions destroy more than they can ever do to please us as human beings. Even Eunuchs can get caught up in the HEAT of the castration, the phantasy, and just the compulsion to throw personal saftey and health out for a moment of pleasure should signal a problem. Some people can turn off a compulsion or compulsive behaviors, but some can not. Once started down the road, you may find that there is no return from that trip. Sexual addiction has many tentacles and disgusies. It is not "made up" or some shrinks imagination. It is very real and the problems that it creates can ruin families, friendships, jobs, health, and more. I welcome questions and comments. spankey2

[Visionary (imported)]

Well, it doesn't surprise me that it only took 20 minutes to read since the book is only 47 pages long. It is only his story in quick format, and was probably meant to be a quick read. If it was intended to be a novel than I would say something about its' length, but I haven' read it so I could not tell you. He had a story to tell and he said it over the course of 47 pages. Short and to the point without the useless filler content.

[DavidB (imported)]

i have to agree with the idea that what ever you want to call it sexual addiction/compulsion exist. Someone may have 10 times the libdo and sexual activity that i used to have before chemical castration, and be able to have a healthy life, but for me i was way out of control and was endangering myself, my carrer and my home life.

[bobberlove (imported)]

dear split dick: thanks for the post. i just ordered the book as one of my best friends is a messianic jewess i have known since 1984. i will be thrilled to read the book then ask her to read it while discussing my decision to be a eunuch.

bobberlove

[Christopher1999 (imported)]

I can let you know that for me, it really does exist. And for some people, it could be so bad that it scares them.

[YodaNell (imported)]

That nom de plume seems a bit suspect.

Shad(rach), Meshach, and Abednigo? (See: The Holy Bible. In fact, we all should...Torah available for those of the Hebrew persuasion at no extra cost...Ok, OK, ten percent off, just for you, Bubelah!)

Yoli

Ecumenical Type

If memory serves, these guys were also Eunuchs...Daniel as well.