David Duchovney in rehab for sex addiction

In Friday’s class we viewed clips from the popular TV show “Californication.” But also yesterday, in a real-life twist, the show’s star, Duchovney, checked into rehab for sex addiction. The Reuters news story likens sex addiction to alcoholism:

Duchovny’s announcement on Thursday that he was voluntarily going into rehab for sex addiction after years of denying he had a problem, threw a spotlight on a disorder that few celebrities, and even fewer ordinary men and women, admit to.

Often likened to alcoholism, drug addiction or gambling, sex addiction is a form of compulsive behavior which is sending growing numbers of people into therapy but which is not formally recognized as a “diagnosable disorder” by the American Psychiatric Association. “The concept of sexual addiction is a controversial one and that’s because it is difficult to define,” said Dr. Steve Eichel, an addiction specialist who works in Delaware. “There are a lot of people who are critical of the concept because we live in a society that tends to over medicalize and which makes every behavior, which deviates from the norm, an addiction or a disorder,” Eichel said. Sexual health experts estimate that about 3-5 percent of Americans have the disorder, including women.

The full report from Reuters raises several important issues we will cover later in the semester. What are your initial thoughts about sex addiction? Do you consider it a serious disorder similar to alcoholism or gambling addiction? When does enjoyment become addiction? And what do you think the expert quoted in the story meant by the suggestion that our society tends to treat deviations from the norm as medical disorders?

Sexy Song of the Week: “I Want Your Sex”

Released in 1987, the album “Faith” was George Michael’s killer solo release following the break-up of the British pop duo Wham! The title track begins, “Well I guess it would be nice, if I could touch your body….” and was Michael’s first solo Billboard #1. The very sexy album sold over 7 million copies in the USA, produced 6 chart toppers, and inspired some of the most memorable and controversial music videos ever played on MTV.

The vibey R&B track “I want your sex” unleashed an extreme storm of criticism for Michael. On the one hand, the song is an exploration of the human need for sex. (“It’s natural, It’s chemical…”) And Michael begs for it. (“Every man’s got his patience, and here’s where mine ends…” The song was banned on many radio stations and the video could only be played after- hours on MTV. The video features celebrity make-up artist Kathy Jeung scantily clad in lingerie and a crimson blindfold. Michael, however, was adamant that the controversy was misplaced. In a spoken addendum to the video he states that the song is not about promiscuity and casual sex. Rather the song is intended to be about the beauty of monogamy. In a steamy video scene, Michael writes the word monogamy on Jeung’s back and the video ends with “Explore Monogamy” on the screen. The original liner notes for a 9-minute version of the song are titled “Monogamy Mix.”

Arguably, the controversy and popularity surrounding “I want your sex” was a sign of the times. By the 1980s, the sexual revolution in the popular media had been a raging battle for over two decades. Liberal movers and shakers raged against the anxiety and loathing associated with overt sexuality. This song and video resurfaced the (often moral) debate about what counts as pornography and obscenity. More importantly, the late 1980’s marked the time when the world was just beginning to understand what HIV/AIDS was, how it was contracted, and its magnitude. Prejudice in the media was rampant. In 1985, the AIDS related death of iconic actor Rock Hudson spurred the Reagan White House out of silence. In 1987, AZT became the first FDA approved drug for treatment. By 1988, our first national campaign against HIV was launched.

At the time, Michael’s own homosexuality was not so publicly known. As a friend of mine remembers, the song fueled talk that Michael was overcompensating, being “over-sexualized for his inability to come out of the closet.” The song erupted in night clubs at a moment when casual sex was frightening. However, it was overwhelmingly popular in gay bars for years to come. My friend comments, “It became a caricatured way for people, at least in the gay bar scene, to sexualize their bodies through dance and music and not necessarily sex, but made the body sexy again, instead of a disease vector…I tell you, when that song came on, the boys went absolutely crazy. It was a whole choreography of simulated sex.”

Questions for discussion

Sources: Amazon, Wikipedia, Avert.org, VH1’s Sex: The Revolution.

Blog Feature: Sexy Song of the Week

Attention super students of Human Sexuality and Culture: Rachel Harvey (one of your TAs) here. As a feature on our class blog, each week we will post about the life and times of some very sexy songs. Let’s face it, R&B, rock & roll, hip-hop, jazz—there’s sex in all of it. You cannot deny the innuendo in the heavy drum lines of popular artists from Led Zeppelin to Britney Spears to Prince, not to mention the lyrics, the choreography, the album art, and on and on.

We invite your responses and participation. Each post will offer information on the song, artist, and historical time period as well as some questions for discussion. We will endeavor to touch on as many decades and genres as possible. Over the course of the semester we look forward to exciting debates on why music is so evocative. Why is sexuality such a common theme in so many genres of music? When does music carry the sexual metaphor too far and when it is just for fun?

Accessing assigned readings

Several students have written to me with questions about accessing the required readings from the weekly schedule. I suspect many of you have similar questions, so here are some tips to get you started.

First, I may have confused you in class yesterday by referring to the readings as a “course pack.” In fact, you are not required to purchase a printed course pack (in past semesters, students were). All the readings you need (aside from your textbook) are now available through the course website as PDF files. Just go to the schedule and follow the links for the required readings each week. If you would prefer to purchase a printed course pack of these articles, you can do so from Orange and Blue Textbooks—but you have free access to all the articles online.

Second, most readings, including this week’s chapter by Haviland et al., are available through the UF Libraries’ electronic course reserves, also known as ARES (automating reserves). If you have never used ARES before, you will have to sign up first, using your UFID. Then, once you log on to the system, search for ANT 2301, add it to your personal page, and click on readings to access them as PDFs. If you are off campus, you will have to log on to the UF network either through the library proxy or VPN. Don’t worry if you don’t know what these things are: The library has step-by-step instructions on their website.

For more help on accessing articles through ARES, see the tutorial videos on the library website.

Last, some of the journal articles are available directly from the journal’s website. But to access the articles, you’ll need to be working on a campus computer or be connected to the university network through VPN or proxy remote logon. Learning how to use these tools for off-campus access to the library will save you a lot of time down the road.

If you have other questions or tips to share, please leave a comment below.

Welcome to Fall 2008

Welcome to the course web site for ANT 2301, Human Sexuality and Culture, at the University of Florida. This course is one of the largest at the University, enrolling some 650 students each term. The size of the course makes it difficult for me to get to know many of you personally. This semester, for the second time, we will use this course blog as a new way to communicate with each other.

This website will be an important part of the course. Some materials—including the syllabus, announcements, and details on assignments—will only be available here. The website will also host a blog for the course in order to encourage discussion on relevant news or events around campus, to share thoughts about how the themes of the course relate to current events as well as to share thoughts on the themes themselves, and to stimulate thinking about assigned readings and course material. I strongly encourage you to post comments on the blog to share your point of view or to pose questions that you’d like to raise for discussion with other students, the TAs, and me.

The easiest way to keep up with the web site is to subscribe to the course RSS feed. Just click on the link to “All Posts” on the right-hand side of the page. You’ll have the option of adding the course feed to your favorite feed reader (if you use one) or of receiving a daily email any time there’s new content on the site. Judging by last semester’s experience, most of you will probably want to subscribe by email.

You can also click on the subscribe to “Comments” using the link on the right. When you subscribe to comments, you’ll be notified any time someone adds a comment to a post on the blog. I hope this feature will encourage you to participate in the discussion with other students and with your instructors.

We look forward to a great semester and hope you do, too. What do you hope to learn about in this course? Leave a comment below to let us know.