Are you or have you ever been a sex addict? Has anyone ever called you one? What is sex addiction? Is it a real psychological illness or a myth concocted by professional addictionologists, inflated by the sensation-hungry media and perpetrated by desperate-for-redemption celebrity “sex addicts” like David Duchovny and Tiger Woods? What about John Travolta? What about us? What does it mean when we talk about problematic human sexuality as an “addiction,” i.e., an uncontrollable sickness? Perhaps equating sexual behavior with narcotic abuse by using the clinical label of “addiction” is actually more indicative of a mental illness in society than it is the individual. Maybe “sex addiction” is just the current craze of therapists and mainstream media attaching fear to recreational sex, much as it was with prior commonly held beliefs such as masturbation leading to blindness, or that women with high sex drives were victims of “nymphomania.” Despite the lack of scientific substance, people love to call themselves and others “sex addicts.” It’s like we’re addicted to seeing ourselves as addicts. And even though being called a “sex addict” tends to be pretty humiliating, it can also be kind of sexy, especially for the great number of people who find the idea of being helplessly “out of control” intensely erotic, not to mention a good excuse for bad behavior. So maybe the best option is just to wear the label like more of a badge of honor than a scarlet letter, much as people are already doing with labels like “slut” and “queer.” As more and more normal people say, “Yes, I’m a sex addict, and I’m not ashamed,” maybe so-called experts would stop using it to vilify people whose sexual tastes are simply different from the norm or, on the other hand, to exonerate selfish sexual conduct. We’re All Sex Addicts Now. This show’s scintillating discussion on these subjects with Dr. David Ley, author of the The Myth of Sex Addiction, is followed by a veritable Sex Addict Orgy on my bed! Well it is the second week of Masturbation Month, and it’s not enough for us to debunk masturbation addiction myths–we also need to masturbate! Thus ensues a wild shrieking romp of Sybian rides, fisting and giant black dildos, more Sybian rides, trapeze and naked hula-hooping in the after-party, a moment of trauma when I broke an art piece (which can be fixed!), more erotic escapades, followed by some particularly hot sex with the hubby in our private after-after-party. Yes indeed, we are sex addicts, and we are not ashamed.