When I first looked at the title of this article, “Sex Addiction Epidemic” by Chris Lee, I thought to myself the only type of people who could have this addiction would be those who don’t have a family, job, or even a life. As soon as I read what came after the title, “It wrecks marriages, destroys careers, and saps self-worth. Yet Americans are being diagnosed as sex addicts in record numbers. Inside an epidemic” it got my interest and made me want to keep reading some more. I must say that at the beginning I thought to myself that people with a sex addiction just have no self-control and simply must put the word addiction after sex to make up some kind of excuse for their behavior. However while reading the article the authors style of writing and rhetorical strategies made me sympathize and feel sorry for sex addicts……well at least for only a short time.
Rhetorical Strategies:
Pathos (Emotional)- “ For Valerie, sex was a form of self-medication: to obliterate the anxiety,
despair, and crippling fear of emotional intimacy that had haunted her since
being abandoned as a child.” After
reading this quote I actually felt bad for Valerie. I felt like there was a whole other story
behind her sex addiction and not just that she is some sick sex addict. “Facing her second divorce as well as the end
of an affair, she grew despondent and attempted to take her life by overdosing
on prescription medication”, Lee’s point is that sex addiction is a serious
problem.
Description-
“However powerful and queasy Shame’s odyssey into full-frontal debasement may
be, the film only begins to tap into the dark realities connected with sex
addiction”. In other words Lee believes
that not only is this a reality but he describes it as a dark reality. By adding dark in front of the word reality
the author tries to prove a point that sex addicts are only trying to fill a an
empty space, that they are sad and depressed, simply that there is something
deeper in this reality.
Analogy- “Most
treatment programs are modeled on Alcoholics Anonymous, but rather than pushing cold-turkey
abstinence, they advocate something called “sexual sobriety.”” Lee is implicating that sex addiction is
similar to alcohol addiction.
Logos
(Logics)- “Reliable figures for the number of diagnosed sex addicts are
difficult to come by, but the Society for the Advancement of Sexual Health, an
education and sex-addiction treatment organization, estimates that between 3
and 5 percent of the U.S. population—or more than 9 million people—could meet
the criteria for addiction”. Lee brings
out facts that corroborate with the ideas in his article to make his ideas credible, and to support the article.
Tone- “He
also learned that his fixation on sex was a way of avoiding his insecurities
and tackling the emotional issues that first led to his addictive behavior.” Lee has a pleading tone, so that the audience
may start to better understand that this addiction is a problem.
7 comments:
I never thought that being a sex addict could be so serious and it's sad that it can actually ruin marriages. What I think is crazy is how sex-crazed America is in general and this might be a reason why to how many people become sex addicts. Young adults and everyone else have such an easy access to porn and other stuff that involves with sex which can be one of the reasons why sex addictions are becoming so serious.
I never thought that being a sex addict could be so serious and it's sad that it can actually ruin marriages. What I think is crazy is how sex-crazed America is in general and this might be a reason why to how many people become sex addicts. Young adults and everyone else have such an easy access to porn and other stuff that involves with sex which can be one of the reasons why sex addictions are becoming so serious.
This is going to sound down right ignorant, but honestly I am sick and tired of people claiming to have this so called sex addiction. Americans find a name for anything and everything and they never want to own up to what they've done so instead what happens let's tack a name onto it make it a medical diagnosis. I'm sorry I think that's just a bunch of "BS." There are more serious illnesses that exist and this to me is not one of them. If you know that you love to have sex with a lot of different people that's your business, but don't marry someone and ruin their lives because you can't be honest about who you are. It’s time we stop making excuses for ourselves and learn the word HONESTY.
I have no idea why I was driven to read this article or your post about it. Curious isn't it? Coincidentally, I am addicted to good times and relaxation!
Say it girl!
Very interesting article and review, I thought it was done very well. Its really hard to say if sex addiction is just like any other addiction, which is a re-enforced behavior because of the pleasure derived from that activity. We are all here because of sex, its how we are born, and so that instinct goes deep. I used to be married to someone I would now consider a sex addict. She would 'hook-up' with anyone she could whenever she could, regardless of gender, race, or age, and felt no guilt about lying and stealing money to cover her affairs, or ruining our family and constantly running away with our daughter to stay with people she just met . I believe sex addiction stems a bit deeper, and has something to do with an inability to truly be happy with what you have in life, and a feeling that someone new is needed to make you happy. True happiness cannot come from someone or something else. It can be brought out by something else, but it must exist in you first. Also I believe in most cases it comes from a low self esteem usually due to child hood trauma and constantly replaying out those patterns of behavior. The part that sex addicts don't always seem to get is that they hurt other people. Alot of them only focus on the pain they cause themselves, but the people who are victimized for your behavior end up being hurt just as bad, and most often don't get a second thought from the sex addict. It seems to me as though sex addiction is a moral deficiency, and that sex addicts are no more of a victim than an alcoholic is. In fact it is generally harder to find a sex partner than an alcoholic drink, so if anything, they are trying harder to engage in something they know is unsavory. I'm not saying that a single person who sleeps with alot of people is bad, but if you are married or in a relationship and must constantly find other partners to feel good about yourself then there is a problem. These are conscious choices they are making, and they must take responsibility for their actions.
Okay, so I'm a little behind on comments for Blog Post 2. Thread's fairly interesting, and obviously this one inspired some interest and engagement. Carry on, perhaps in the next blog . . .
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