by Jason Stotts
Here’s some interesting links that you should take a look at. If you only check out one, read Dr. Marty Klein’s essay about sex addiction. I am in whole-hearted agreement with him that sex addiction is not a real thing and will be writing more about it soon.
1. You’re Addicted to What? by Dr. Marty Klein
Periodically, some famous politician, athlete, or entertainer gets caught with his or her pants down, damaging or even destroying their reputation, livelihood, and marriage. Within hours, my email starts buzzing, as media vultures circle the fresh carcass and want my expert opinion: Is Tiger Woods a sex addict? Was Katharine Hepburn? How about Eliot Spitzer, David Duchovny, Charlie Sheen, John Edwards?
The twenty-four-hour cable/Internet news cycle doesn’t want experts to talk seriously about this—they simply want people (Maury! Tyra! The ladies on The View!) who will announce, with just the right mix of scorn, smirk, gravity, and total confidence that so-and-so is a sex addict.
The schadenfreude is so thick you can cut it with a knife. Moralism stands in for sympathy. High dudgeon stands in for nuanced understanding. From all corners, we hear a Greek chorus of voices linking someone’s extramarital affairs to feminism, testosterone, the Internet, sadomasochism, consumerism, or even 9/11. And then they inevitably wheel in the heavy gun: “sex addiction.”
Most importantly, these public thrashings are a chance for the audience to condemn sexual acting out while vicariously enjoying it. America loves an excuse to sneakily enjoy unauthorized sex. The fall of the rich and famous is a bonus.
2. The Porn Myth: Uncovering the Truth about Sex Stars
Porn stars aren’t particularly keen on being studied. But they are the focus of great public interest and moral debate, which may explain why one man’s in-depth analysis of adult film performers went viral last week.
The average adult film actress is a brunette with a B-cup named Nikki, at least according to blogger Jon Millward, who spent six months analyzing the demographics of 10,000 porn stars drawn from the Internet Adult Film Database. But what’s known about porn stars beyond their breast size? Remarkably little, thanks to practically zero research funding and a community wary of researchers.
3. Why do Some People Have Fetishes?
Fetishes refer to cases where an individual’s sexual desires and behaviors hinge upon a specific object, such as shoes or feet. To be clinically diagnosed with a fetish, desire for this object must occur persistently over a period of at least six months and it must create personal distress (in other words, a fetish isn’t considered a clinical “problem” unless the individual is bothered by it or finds that it interferes with their ability to develop and maintain relationships). People can have fetishes for virtually anything, from the conventional (e.g., silk panties and leather boots) to the unusual (e.g., dirt and cars). It is perhaps no surprise that the most common question people have about fetishes is how they develop in the first place.
4. My friend Alex Epstein is making news with his Center for Industrial Progress, which I enthusiastically endorse: Business Superstar: Interview with Alex Epstein
Alex Epstein is a man on a mission: a new industrial revolution. Yes, that’s quite a mission – and Epstein hopes to achieve this goal with the Center for Industrial Progress (CIP), a for-profit think-tank that he created in 2011.