{"product_id":"sex-addiction-a-critical-history-hardback-9780745670355","title":"Sex Addiction; A Critical History (Hardback) 9780745670355","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eSex Addiction\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eA Critical History\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eBarry Reay (Author), Nina Attwood (Author), Claire Gooder (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9780745670355, Polity Press\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eHardback, published 12 June 2015\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e200 pages\u003cbr\u003e22.4 x 14.5 x 2.5 cm, 0.425 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"An absorbing and in-depth history of the cultural epidemic we call sex addiction, that's both authoritative and accessible.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eErotic Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"This is an exquisitely researched, persuasive and often funny account of how, over the last thirty years, enjoying sex more publicly or enthusiastically than conservatives might have wished was turned into a phantasmic syndrome – sex addiction – that became real enough to support a small army of therapists and patients. But it is also a model study more generally of cultural epigenesis, of how the pains, pleasures and foibles of everyday life become pathologies that take a moral, political and financial toll on society.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eThomas Laqueur, University of California, Berkeley\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"As the sexual cultures of many Western nations have become more fluid, it is perhaps more than curious that the discourse of 'sexual addiction' has gained popular and medical legitimacy. Is it a form of regulating 'irregular' sexualities, a further instance of the medicalization of moral thinking and personal life, or a scientific advance? Reay, Attwood and Gooder provide a much needed critical-historical analysis of this cultural event.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eSteven Seidman, State University of New York at Albany\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eThe concept of sex addiction took hold in the 1980s as a product of cultural anxiety. Yet, despite being essentially mythical, sex addiction has to be taken seriously as a phenomenon. Its success as a purported malady lay with its medicalization, both as a self-help movement in terms of self-diagnosis, and as a rapidly growing industry of therapists treating the new disease. The media played a role in its history, first with TV, the tabloids and the case histories of claimed celebrity victims all helping to popularize the concept, and then with the impact of the Internet.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis book is a critical history of an archetypically modern sexual syndrome. Reay, Attwood and Gooder argue that this strange history of social opportunism, diagnostic amorphism, therapeutic self-interest and popular cultural endorsement is marked by an essential social conservatism: sex addiction has become a convenient term to describe disapproved sex. It is a label without explanatory force.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis book will be essential reading for those interested in sexuality studies, contemporary history, psychology, psychiatry, sociology, media studies and studies of the Internet. It will also be of interest to doctors and therapists currently working in this and related fields.\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e1. Introduction\u003cbr\u003e2. Beginnings\u003cbr\u003e3. Addictionology 101\u003cbr\u003e4. Cultural Impact\u003cbr\u003e5. Sexual Stories\u003cbr\u003e6. Diagnostic Disorder\u003cbr\u003e7. Sexual Conservatism\u003cbr\u003e8. Conclusion\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eSubject Areas: History [\u003ca title=\"See our other books on History\" href=\"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/search?q=%22History%20%5BHB%5D%22\"\u003eHB\u003c\/a\u003e]\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"Polity","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52407333126424,"sku":"9780745670355","price":42.35,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0730\/2037\/5320\/files\/9780745670355.jpg?v=1784162850","url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/sex-addiction-a-critical-history-hardback-9780745670355","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}