Award-winning French-Moroccan author Leila Slimani has a new book out, and it addresses a thorny topic: sex addiction. In Morocco, Adèle won Slimani a literary award (La Mamounia), instigating conversations about lust, addiction and female sexuality in France. Is sex addiction even a thing? How does it play out? Is it gendered? “I think we would understand it from a man, or at least, people would be less surprised,” says Slimani.
“Sex addiction is stigmatised – it’s rarely a topic of polite conversation, and there’s debate among experts as to whether or not it’s possible to be addicted to sex,” says Natalie Gil for Refinery 29. “When it is discussed, it’s usually through a male lens: celebrity confessions (from the likes of Russell Brand, David Duchovny, Tiger Woods… I could go on) and sexual harassment scandals in which ‘sex addiction’ is mentioned by male perpetrators ex post facto. The Dominique Strauss-Kahn sex scandal in 2011 piqued Slimani’s interest in the topic, but she wanted to take a different tack. Female sex addiction is shrouded in even greater mystery and confusion.”
Learn more about the author and her book:
Check out Gary Wilson’s “Your Brain On Porn” for a similar phenomenon.
Or check out Stefan Molyneux‘s YouTube interview with Wilson if you’re too busy to read the book and want a 1hr TL;DR version