Is there an asexual in the House?

A recent episode of House featured a married couple who identified as asexuals, people who lack a sexual orientation towards women or towards men (or towards anyone/anything else).  As the character explained to Dr. Wilson: They were not celibate—they were not choosing to supress their sexual attractions. Rather, they did not experience sexual attractions.  Asexuality was their sexual identity.  House doesn't buy asexality as an identity and bet he could find a medical reason that would explain their lack of sexual desire.  The asexual community (yep; there is one) greatly anticipated the episode: It would be the first time their identity would be described to such a large audience, addressing the big question: Is asexuality a sexual orientation?

How realistic was the sex addiction in Shame?

I went to the theatre already pretty cynical about big-screen depictions of hypersexuality (my preferred term for the phenomenon). On the one hand, I've seen very many people in my clinic seeking help in controlling some aspect of their sex life. On the other hand, I have read very many commentaries about what hypersexuality means, usually based on hypotheticals or tid-bits from celebrity cases. None of those discussions, however, ever seem to describe the actual people I see.

So, popcorn in hand, I was expecting a re-telling of a daytime, self-help cliché: abuse in childhood, causing addiction in adulthood, hitting rock bottom, resolved by confronting past abuse.  (Probably followed by falling in love for the first time, after finally completing some period of sexual abstinence.)  Instead, I saw situations very close to what I do see in therapy.

[Letters]

Is there a professional term for one who derives sexual pleasure from watching himself masturbate in the mirror?  I assume I’m not the only one who sees cases like this (albeit only 2 over the last 5 years—both with totally different personality disorders and sex crimes). Does anyone have a reference for literature on the phenomenon?

Thanks, David

[Letters]

I am a professional Canadian woman aged 33 with a high awareness of issues relating to addiction and pedophilia, due to an alcoholic mother and father who was convicted of inappropriately touching his girlfriend’s young boy.

My problem is that I have a long list of ‘suggested traits’ of a pedophile written down on my notepad that appear to be present in my current boyfriend. My boyfriend hasn’t shown any overt signs of being a pedophile or having been abused himself, but he is only 30 and I guess I fear that something will emerge later, as it did with my dad later in his life.

Depathologize! A follow-up

If I had to pick the top theme that sexologists and sexuality interest groups were discussing in the lead up to the proposed DSM changes, that would be it: Depathologize, depathologize, depathologize.  From blogs to letters to editors of research journals, there have been demands that the DSM declare as officially normal various sexual phenomena, ranging from purely consensual situations (like transsexualism and BDSM) to those that motivate sexual offenses (such as pedophilia and hebephilia). With the release of the DSM5 proposals from their various workgroups, I thought it was worth revisiting.  I was actually quite surprised by which of the DSM committees did and did not remove the label mental illness and from whom:

It’s easy to forget how little we know about paraphilias

On a listserv I belong to, mostly of psychologists, someone described a man who was sexually aroused by touching the plaster cast of persons with a broken limb. The psychologist wondered whether the patient’s behavior should be called toucherism (sexual interest in touching an unsuspecting stranger), whereas other psychologists in the discussion argued for acrotomophilia (sexual preference for amputees). Similar debates are

often had for the boundaries of other paraphilias.  I find most such debates to be uninformative, however.  With only few exceptions, such as pedophilia, the state of the scientific literatures on the paraphilias is not sufficiently advanced for making any clear demarcations around them.

A Bill of Transsexual Rights

Statements like these are long overdue. People choose whether to transition, but one does not choose to be dysphoric about the sex they were born into. In this Bill of Rights, I refer specifically to people who are transsexual, rather than use the broader terms, such as transgender or gender variant. Although everyone has the right to respect in my view, I assembled these rights to pertain mostly to the process of transition (either male-to-female or female-to-male), which is a feature of transsexuality specifically.  I hope other individuals and groups modify this Bill or suggest alternative ones, suitable for employers and legislators to adopt and enact.

[Letters]

Dr. Cantor--

I'm a Licensed Psychologist and Psychiatric Examiner for my state.  My job is to evaluate recidivistic sex offenders, usually before they are released from prison, and to give the courts guidance as to whether the individual should be confined to a psychiatric hospital upon release, or be involved with "Strict and Intensive Supervision and Treatment (SIST)" in the community. 

Lately, attorneys have tried to put forth legal arguments involving individuals acting out sexually against small children.  They suggest that such was caused by the individuals having “repressed homosexuality” issues, and as such they may not be a threat to recidivate since they no longer “repress.”

Are you aware of any scientific research to back this up, or to refute this claim?  A case of mine is in trial this week and next, and the Assistant Attorney General handling this civil management the case is looking for some guidance.  He and I would appreciate any insight you could give in this matter.

P. E.

Charles Silverstein on the origin of the 10% are gay statistics

Open letter to the government of Alberta