Harvey Weinstein: The Rise Of Sex Addiction

516 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Sex addiction research paper

Imagine going to rehab for a condition that doesn’t exist. It does far more harm than good, not for you, but for society.

Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein is in rehab for “sex addiction” after dozens of women have come forward alleging sexual harassment and assault. The rise of the “sex addict” in popular culture started in the 90s with the first publicized cases seen among rich and famous men.

Weinstein follows the lead of Charlie Sheen, Tiger Woods and other male celebrities who paid for expensive therapy after their bad behavior was exposed.

However, there is no such thing as sex addiction.

Mental health medical professionals have two bibles (the DSM and ICD), but neither of them lists sex addiction as a disease. While it’s still being researched as a possible form of mental distress, it is not accepted by …show more content…

Studies show that the brains of supposed sex addicts do not react to sexual stimuli the same way as other addicts’ brains react to their demons.

“Sex addiction” doesn’t have the characteristics of other addictions. When an addict quits alcohol or heroin, they experience withdrawal symptoms like sweating, muscle spasms, vomiting and even death. However, abstaining from sex doesn’t come with these withdrawal symptoms. Also, “sex addicts” don’t need larger doses over time like actual addicts do.

Calling it sex is harmful.

What Weinstein allegedly did was not sex. Without consent, sex is rape, caressing is assault, and sexual attention is harassment. Calling it sex denies that women have autonomy over their bodies.

If the allegations against Weinstein are true, the lack of consent makes him a sex offender and predator.

Calling it an addiction is harmful.

Consensual sex is a normal human behavior. Calling people who engage in a lot of sex “addicts” perpetuates slut-shaming. It’s based on society’s subconscious moral value that sex is dangerous, and enjoying it too much creates an imbalance in a person’s

Show More
Related

  • Addiction In Chasing The Scream

    1408 Words  | 3 Pages

    Once these individuals in rehab serve there sentence the majority of them, won’t look straight to the next opportunity to get high, but the next opportunity for a better future after being encouraged in rehab to accomplish something in life, compared to someone’s attitude coming out of prison. One story involved a man named Richard with his wife Marcia. She was an addict who was often jailed for it, but Anthony believed like many others that “addiction can be overcome with proper help. He believed that the solution was to get her into a mental hospital [and] get her whatever she needs – Xanax, morphine, to get her chemical imbalance right. Show her some respect. (114)” Give her some working skills, so once she gets out she is capable of being successful but instead she kept getting “kicked down the steps” by the criminal justice system. The jailing and torture of addicts is routine to people serving cases for drug related offenses, who are often not built to endure prison, let alone jail. “The Justice Department estimates that 216,000 people are raped in these prisons every year. (This is the number of rapes, not the number of rapes – that is much higher.) (109)” This is ultimately shows the simple fact that many people are not built to endure

    Read More

  • Book Review Of Gerald May's Addiction And Grace

    1101 Words  | 3 Pages

    There are many different definitions in which people provide regarding addiction. May (1988) describes that addiction “is a state of compulsion, obsession, or preoccupation that enslaves a person’s will and desire” (p. 14). Individuals who suffer from addiction provide their time and energy toward other things that are not healthy and safe. The book

    Read More

  • Drug Addiction: A Brain Disease?

    746 Words  | 2 Pages

    George F. Koob defines addiction as a compulsion to take a drug without control over the intake and a chronic relapse disorder (1). The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders of the American Psychiatric Association defined "substance dependence" as a syndrome basically equivalent to addiction, and the diagnostic criteria used to describe the symptoms of substance dependence to a large extent define compulsion and loss of control of drug intake (1). Considering drug addiction as a disorder implies that there are some biological factors as well as social factors.

    Read More

  • Hyper Sexual Addiction Research Paper

    1611 Words  | 4 Pages

    For example, Charlie Sheen admitted and spoke about his reputation as a womanizer and the love for prostitutes. Even though he has not admitted to being a sex addict, he has admitted to paying for the services of prostitutes. He has had failed marriages and his current relationship has ended because of infidelity issues. His actions have caused him to acquire HIV. Magic Johnson was also considered a sex addict and because of his actions, he too developed HIV. Instead of his marriage ending, his wife made the decision to work through their issues and stay together. Tiger Woods, Kayne West, and the list can go on naming people with the diagnosis of Hyper Sexual Addiction. Some individuals do not think of themselves as sex addicts. Some may say they love having sex. However, what is the reasoning behind the urges and the desires for sex? It may be fun to some, but for others, they do suffer from some kind of psychological issue, such as a chemical imbalance. If it were not for some celebrities and actor’s infidelity situation made public, some would continue with their lifestyles. It is very hard for someone to admit they have a problem, but in order for sex addicts to do this, they must come to terms with the fact that they do suffer from this

    Read More

  • Substance Abuse: Compaing the Medical/Disease Model and the Social Model

    1790 Words  | 4 Pages

    The two models for this paper sit on opposite sides of an argument to whether addiction is a choice. This is a common argument in the media, and even amongst professionals. It is also one which seems to flare when a person in the spotlight succumbs to an overdose. The latest, Philip Seymour Hoffman, reignited this debate recently in the media, Manejwala (2014) states that deaths of a famous person from addiction results in the methods behind treatment being reviewed and debated and this can be seen anecdotally in news across all media ...

    Read More

  • Revenge Pornography: The Relationship Scandal?

    1025 Words  | 3 Pages

    Over the past few decades, there has been an abundance of people faced with being a victim of blackmail or a threat that will ruin their reputation. If someone personally hasn’t dealt with this, they at least know someone that has experienced the harassment of a former lover through the sharing and exposure of inappropriate videos and images. These people are at fault to Revenge Pornography, also known as the Relationship Privacy Act. Revenge Pornography is the uploading, and or distribution of sexually explicit content of an individual without their permission or consent.

    Read More

  • Medicalization of Sex Addiction: Society's Obsession with Medical Diagnosis

    1257 Words  | 3 Pages

    While alleged sex addictions have existed for many years, they have only recently been accepted as valid excuses for sexual deviancy. Attitudes toward sex addiction in the past offer a stark contrast to how it is viewed today, as the constantly medicalizing society insists on putting everything under the technical microscope. Sex addiction is commonly associated with a person’s inability to control his sexual behavior, implying an abnormally high sex drive and obsession with sex which have negative effects on his personal life (MedicineNet 2007, 1). Rather than breaking down the science behind the disorder, a customary practice in today’s medicalized society, older attitudes towards sex addiction placed it under the same light as alcoholism, where a lack of control and unwillin...

    Read More

  • Harvey Weinstein's Abuse Of Woman

    711 Words  | 2 Pages

    In a story line straight out of some worn out Hollywood script, longtime movie producer, Harvey Weinstein has been accused of being a serial abuser of women for decades. Weinstein, who produced numerous Oscar-winners, was fired by the board of his company after a New York Times story revealed he made financial settlements to eight women following allegations of sexual misconduct. Since then, many more have surfaced. Weinstein has achieved the full-Cosby.

    Read More

  • The Sociological Issues Of Pornography

    1848 Words  | 4 Pages

    The issue of pornography has been debated and argued among many about its effects on morality and society. The questions most raised are is pornography moral or immoral and what defines it as such. Also, what makes something be seen as pornographic and therefore immoral. Often when someone brings up the subject of pornography they often envision something dark and seedy which in no way could ever be justified as virtuous. However, there are others who see it’s as being a healthy outlet and without harm to others. When applying the sociological theories of utilitarianism and deontology we can understand the different ideas of pornography. We can also use the perspectives of Emotivism and ethical egoism to make a rational argument about

    Read More

  • Analysis Of David Foster Wallace's Essay About The Porn Industry

    1276 Words  | 3 Pages

    Every week, in the David Foster Wallace course, there was something that I could use to enhance my writing. Nevertheless, with the course often feeling more like a literature course than a writing course it did create some challenges. Even with Wallace’s essay about the porn industry, which was the most difficult for me, one take away was important. Wallace words, "Because porn films’ worlds are so sexualized, with everybody seemingly teetering right on the edge of coitus all the time and it taking only the slightest nudge or excuse— a stalled elevator, an unlocked door, a cocked eyebrow, a firm handshake— to send everyone tumbling into a tangled mass of limbs and orifices, there’s a bizarre unconscious expectation/ dread/ hope that this is what might happen in Max Hardcore’s hotel room. Yr. corresps. here find it impossible to overemphasize the fact that this is a delusion" (Wallace ch. 1), made me laugh. Wallace’s humor made me laugh, and allowed me the opportunity to how to use my sense of humor while writing. When people are laughing, it is easier to

    Read More

  • Informative Speech Outline On Addiction

    1008 Words  | 3 Pages

    Main Point: What defines an addiction? According to Psychology Today, “Addiction is a condition that results when a person ingests a substance…. or engages in an activity….that can be pleasurable but the continued use/act of which becomes compulsive and interferes with ordinary life responsibilities, such as work, relationships, or health.” This can range anywhere from drug use to eating disorders, to gambling, to even texting in today’s generation. Shocking to say the least, especially when most people do not even know they are addicted or are an addict until they realize this definition.

    Read More

  • Definition Essay On Addiction

    722 Words  | 2 Pages

    Addiction is a very strong word that brings along many negative connotations. When we think of an addiction we imagine someone who depends on a certain substance, most likely alcohol to have their needs met. Addiction is defined by the Webster dictionary as, "a compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance (as heroin, nicotine, or alcohol) characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal." Even though our society sees addiction and only applies the word to drug addicts and alcoholics, there is a much wider range of subjects that fall under the umbrella of what an addiction truly is. An addiction is a dependency on any kind of materialistic object that you use on a day to day basis that brings

    Read More

  • Pavlovian Conditioning And Classical Conditioning

    2264 Words  | 5 Pages

    Addiction is defined simply as a strong and harmful need to regularly have something (such as drugs) or do something like gambling (Addiction, 2016). Addiction can be crippling and can control all aspects of your life to the point of not being able to function as a productive member of society. Addicts can have a life long struggle, even once sober, or clean, from the addiction.

    Read More

  • Sex Addiction

    1385 Words  | 3 Pages

    Patrick Carnes, Ph.D., the first person to identify and treat this affliction, hypothesized sex addiction results from a person needing certain neuro-chemical changes (4). Everybody experiences certain neuro-chemical changes that make the physical act of sex feel pleasurable. A normal person produces this stimulus, attains the natural high, and is satisfied. An addict, however, uses this chemical to escape pain or seek relief from stress (4). This theory supports a nature argument because there is nothing a person can do about it. Their body creates an altered response to a completely normal act and fosters an uncontrollable need to experience sex. It is comparable to an alcoholic's reaction to alcohol (4). The sex addict needs this chemical to be released in order to desensitize themselves from their problems. This is not healthy, but i...

    Read More

  • What Is God 's View Of Sexuality

    1940 Words  | 4 Pages

    Sexual addictions of any kind can continue to progress in stages that may include child pornography, violence and pain, prostitution, rape and even serial killing. The overexposure of sexual imagery is creating a tolerance not only to the images presented but also to the crimes that go along the continuous craving for more and more extreme pornographic material to satisfy a sexual need. The key here is that people are after more and more sex, not a sexual relationship. The relationship part is gone and sadly, people just want to live the moment, satisfy a sexual need and walk away without any regard to the damage they might cause.

    Read More

More about Harvey Weinstein: The Rise Of Sex Addiction

Open Document