Barry Reay holds the Keith Sinclair Chair in History at the University of Auckland.  Claire Gooder is Lecturer in History at the University of Auckland Nina Attwood is Lecturer in History at the University of Auckland

"An absorbing and in-depth history of the cultural epidemic we call sex addiction, that's both authoritative and accessible."—Erotic Review"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."—Thomas Laqueur, University of California, Berkeley"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."—Steven Seidman, State University of New York at Albany

• 1. Introduction2. Beginnings3. Addictionology 1014. Cultural Impact5. Sexual Stories6. Diagnostic Disorder7. Sexual Conservatism8. Conclusion

Barry Reay holds the Keith Sinclair Chair in History at the University of Auckland.  Claire Gooder is Lecturer in History at the University of Auckland Nina Attwood is Lecturer in History at the University of Auckland

"An absorbing and in-depth history of the cultural epidemic we call sex addiction, that's both authoritative and accessible."—Erotic Review"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."—Thomas Laqueur, University of California, Berkeley"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."—Steven Seidman, State University of New York at Albany

• 1. Introduction2. Beginnings3. Addictionology 1014. Cultural Impact5. Sexual Stories6. Diagnostic Disorder7. Sexual Conservatism8. Conclusion

Barry Reay holds the Keith Sinclair Chair in History at the University of Auckland.  Claire Gooder is Lecturer in History at the University of Auckland Nina Attwood is Lecturer in History at the University of Auckland

"An absorbing and in-depth history of the cultural epidemic we call sex addiction, that's both authoritative and accessible."—Erotic Review"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."—Thomas Laqueur, University of California, Berkeley"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."—Steven Seidman, State University of New York at Albany

• 1. Introduction2. Beginnings3. Addictionology 1014. Cultural Impact5. Sexual Stories6. Diagnostic Disorder7. Sexual Conservatism8. Conclusion