UPDATE 02/02/2010
Jacob Zuma andTiger Woods – what do these men have in common? Some would say – an addiction to sex.
Both Mark and Ros have posted about it (see below). And then there’s the 
John Terry story currently occupying much of Britain.
A theme that has appeared in this latest rash of high profile cases is the issue of leadership and morality.
Nora posted on this blog:
Why put a golfer and a politician in the same spotlight? What is a Tiger Woods indiscretion going to cost us? He isn’t preparing to host the Olympics or approving a shoot to kill order to police.
Do our leaders – politicians, heads of state, sports personalities – need to lead by example? Who sets the moral benchmarks?
Christian Democrat the Reverend Kenneth Meshoe says South African President Jacob Zuma is a “sex addict” and should go into rehab like Tiger Woods.
Mr Zuma – who has three wives – has just fathered his 20th child with various wives and girlfriends.
Below is a post we wrote a couple of weeks ago on addiction…
Is sex addiction real ?
Tiger Woods – remember him? He’s been pictured for the first time since the scandal over his private life exploded.
The photo appears to corroborate reports that the golfer is being treated for a sex addiction at a clinic in Mississippi.
But, hang on, says this columnist and author writing in a UK newspaper before the Tiger story – is labelling cheating on your partner an ‘addiction’ just “shifting the blame”?
There are some sceptics who question whether you really can be addicted, ie completely lose your self-control, to substances like heroin or alcohol – although it’s fair to say that’s a minority view.
There are more who find it hard to believe that people can’t stop gambling, shopping, eating, playing computer games, using the internet, having sex, reading … by using some willpower.
But all of these things are now also classed as addictions and people get treatment for them. On another BBC phone-in on this topic this morning, one contributor stated — “the internet is like crack cocaine“.
Can it be comparable? Or is finding a medical excuse for bad habits merely surrendering responsibility for our actions?
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BBC World Have Your Say 
Yes, I think it can be addiction because i myself is trying to get rid of one very thing that iam doing, which i cannot say it here but iam tring very hard to see that i stop it, cause i know it is not a good thing that is why i wanted to stop, cause it been long i have been doing that thing, even seeking a spiritual help, cause i am muslim i been praying over it.
I dare say pheromones have a lot to do with addiction. It really doesn’t matter what the criteria are, as long as through passion, excitement and dogmatism, you’re turning on these pheromones, any visual image the brain can connect with that passion subsequently, will immediately trigger those pheromones and draw you like a magnet to entertaining that passion in a bid to keeping those pheromones switched on and increasing the brains level of pleasure. Therefore creating a cycle that requires more and more images, passion…. to reach higher levels of excitement and eventually reaching a point of over kill in connection to triggering these pheromones.
This can be found in any sphere of human image recognition, from obesity, workaholics, sex, porn, money, power. etc
My mama said life is like a box of choclates, you never know when to stop.?
Everything in moderation I guess is the order of the day. And that is simply discipline.
The Oracle
Addiction is part of all human life, but some took good channels while some bad channels. So i seems nothing bad when somebody been addicted with anything, am engaged internet,watching series TV drama like prison break and 24hrs while sex is part me as a human being, because am married with kid.
If it gives you pleasure, it can be addictive. Sugar, Sex, Cannabis, Gambling, Extreme sport, whatever. I don’t know if that’s the case with this Tiger Woods individual.. I don’t know him and can’t comment, but yes, sex, the pursuit of sex, the anticipation of sex, the power of knowing sex is available at your convenience or pretty much anything else related to sex can of course be addictive.
Information too can be addictive. The internet allows us to gorge on information. We haven’t evolved to deal with this much information. Or food, for those of us in the developed world.
It’s easy to get addicted to things that we need (food, sex, knowledge, etc.) that we have in abundance that we didn’t have in abundance in our evolutionary past.
Cool, well said and i totally agree addication is very much part of human life some good and then some may be bad or harmful in order for us humans to live we must adapt,it requires consistancy that’s why it’s sooo easy to fall into a loop.
What about smoking; despite imposition of all kind of restrictions, the people are smoking as much if not more; also, the factories are rolling out as many cigarettes cigarettes and the governments are earning as much revenue (if not more!). In the case of Tiger Woods, the only difference is that the government doesn’t stand to gain anything from his escapades or addiction.
When you cannot have enough of something and as a consequence you are prepared to sacrifice your family and loving home, then you have lost all sense of proportion. In short you have become thoroughly addicted. Tiger could be in that phase but we cannot be sure. There are two or more sides to a story. Of course we have to respect the privacy of Tiger and his family and not succumb to gossip and rumour mongering. Whatever happens the children’s welfare should be paramount.
There seems to be a lot of celebrities going to sex addiction clinics lately. I don’t know a whole lot about sex addiction, but my cynical side wonders if celebrities go to these clinics to save face. In any case, the human mind being the dark labyrinth that it is, I do think you can be addicted to anything, but I think there has to be a clear criteria to consider something an addiction.
People become addicted to a number of things and many aren’t even that pleasurable. Caring about the antics of attractive celebrities is very low on my list, while Tiger Woods is right off the bottom. I guess this topic must be someone else’s addiction.
g
Upon further consideration and somewhat to my chagrin, the fact that I responded to a question about this definitely unappealing topic indicates possible addiction to WHYS. Hmmm, perhaps a search for a support group is in order.
g
Please, no Tiger Woods talk again on WHYS!!!
I would rather discuss the birds and the bees 🙂
They are. 😉
I love it when random columnists take a superficial look at some celebrity’s situation and decide to play doctor. It amazes me how a few inches of newsprint allow the writer to skip the years of intense study and certification and decide that no, this person isn’t sick – they just don’t try hard enough. They’re making excuses. They just don’t have enough morals and values.
I never hear a columnist tell someone with a broken leg to “walk it off” yet if someone is depressed or addicted to something, it’s a different story. I say we leave the diagnoses to the doctors, and perhaps the columnists can write about something they have some experience with.
What do you want from this man?? do you enjoy spreading his news this way? because you gain money?? just leave him alone,, it’s his life and he is free to do what he wants!!!
if i could have a strong english I’d say alot but.. anyway.. leave the man alone
Yes you can. How many people will admit that if you need lots of caffeine every day, you’re a drug addict? That’s not as exciting as continuing to hype the Tiger Woods sex story. Yet that illustrates the double standard at work here.
yes,as a human it is likely that i will be addicted to one thing or the other.i engaged on the internet,watching football matches,eating groundnuts every minute of the day,so i will say tiger isn`t alone on addiction,am among some other person are there.
Another aspect of this? Treating addictions is a huge business. And while reputable centers should protect their client’s identities, we all know that being called “the clinic of the stars” isn’t exaclty bad for business.
Can you be addicted to anything?
YE !
The mans life in often a contest between His brain and His Glands.
However, up to you as well ‘PRIAPUS’, one might say.
bjay
Any persistent compulsive behavior that has a negative affect on your life can be called an addiction.
Some can be controlled and some require treatment, but in any case, once a behavior has been identified as an addiction or the result of a condition, such as a mood disorder, it cannot be used an excuse – if you’re aware of it you have the responsibility to deal with it.
Yeah, I also think that these days, we give every bad behavior a name in order to make excuses for it. There is also something called “discipline.” Use it.
Life itself is an addiction. Each of us is addicted to staying alive and so benchmark is set from birth.
I believe there are many types of addictions and that clinics try to provide help for people that are not in denial. I don’t know if Tiger Woods has a sex addiction. It appears that the clinic thinks his behavior warrants their attention, based on statements provided by other people involved.
Tiger Woods is known as a great golfer, but his celebrity status took a nose dive when these indiscretions were revealed. With his personal life and professional life joined at the hip, he disappears. Where’s Tiger? At a sex addiction clinic in Mississippi. Now that he has been located–now what?
Since this is not ” Where’s Waldo”, there is no prize or reward points for locating Tiger Woods. This game has come to an end. The purpose of being alone is to use the down time to reflect.
There was a phrase: “the best things in life, aren’t things”
I’m not taking sides–i’m just saying…..
I don’t NEED to eat the food I do, I could eat pastes and take pills, and that would probably be better for me, but I’M ADDICTED to good tasting foods.
I’ve had trouble quitting the following at some point in my life:
-Tasty food
-Video Games
-Sex
-Computer / internet (especially social networking sites)
Those things have had me thinking about them at work, and kept me up at night if I didn’t get my “fix”. I’ve missed school, work, even social events for these things.
-Anthony, LA, CA
Sex addiction is very real. It is not necessarily curable, but one can learn to manage it. I would think that many people who gain fame fall into this – there are too many offers and temptations. I also know that others fall into it because sex is the only way they know to get affection or “love” missing from their lives – or to make up for a huge lack of self-esteem
Howeve4r, this does not, in any way, excuse the behavior. There are always consequences, Even a sex addict must gtake them, stop blaming others and bear responsibility for hi,/her self.
I know this from personal experience.
Judge not. Someday, you, too, may have similar problems.
Addictions are often a masking agent for people not behaving in an acceptable fashion…..
-Dennis Junior-
No you cannot be addicted to anything unless there is a physical need for something like sleep, food, and water you are not addicted you are just mentally weak. Grow up stop making excuses and start making decisions
No you cannot be addicted to anything. The only things people can become addicted to are things that are physically needed to live. Otherwise they are weak mentally and should make better decisions with more backbone.
Don’t make yourself confused addiction is more-than physical contact with anything because so many people has natural addiction by imaging things in their mind or feelings of unseen activities as real thing before they make contact with anything, imaginary to them.
Wine ,woman and song are all great pleasures in moderation.Balance is the great trick in life and that includes work as well.Addiction is an over used term in the US and the rehab concept formerly used for serious treatment for alcoholic and latterly for drug users has been turned into a Hollywood hype publicity stunt.But does ot really matter that Tiger can’t keep his fly zipped or that an ageing wife of an Irish pol has fling with a young buck, not really.Part of life passing pageantry ,spice but small potatoes.
There are two identifiers for addiction. a physical withdrawal sympotoms and the willingness to knowingly compromise your well being. Based on this, anything can be addictive. I enjoy my caffeine addiction because it does not harm me. But I do get headaches after a day and a half without.
People CAN get or be addicted to a lot of things.
Gambling, sex, TV, gaming, conventional drugs, drinking, karaoke, chocolates, etc.
Regular repetitive action of one kind can be or lead to addiction.
When ur young seems like ur tough and nothing can touch u but when ur older u see back what can be harmful and u know anything is possible and being addicted to coffee or needing it is called an addiction or needing drugs or sex is an addiction
but to sumone thats never addicted and never needed anything other than love or humane love its a place people are stuck in with addictions cause its not what a human really needs is just like a mental problem or a power trip problem more imortant things are more addictive just to find that one love or trust or anyhting that would make you human as possible
i think money makes or brakes you from being human
then everyone is involved in this trade of news or talk of breakind rules and they forget the human feel of that want and desire to find true love that need for love
i used to be addicted to drugs i was found in the streets and no memory of where i got the drugs from or who gave em to me
i was wondering for seven yrs
when i was rehabilitated my mind was so messed up to talk to me took many yrs for my brain to be reached
i was taught all over from grade 2 maths and spelling and reading
they taught me how to shop for meat and veges just the basics
when i saw these strange foods later in life i couldnt believe they been here for yrs and was a basic food to me things were new
so being addicted i was kinda getting smart jsut to get me hands of sumthing i never knew what i needed
couldnt understand my problem cause i never took the drugs willing
but i do and did have a problem then
and people with problems dont need to be punished for them they need help in understanding their needs and go from there not what the fellow that plays golf is copping
Addiction is due to inclination of mind. Every one is addicted to some things as it becomes necessity.
Of course someone can be addicted to anything!!!
it has been noticed that what you do evryday becomes part of you and as a result, you become addicted to that thing. this can be so seriouse to an extent that you cannot do anything else without doing that thing……
I think this entire Tiger Woods story is ridiculous. Sex addiction? Please. Would he be at a sex addiction clinic if the public weren’t privy to all his personal life? Can anyone on here answer “yes” to that question without lying to us and themselves? I say “no”.
People need to own up to their mistakes and be an adult about what they have done, not blame it on a fictitious condition and go to therapy to be “cured”.
Golf is an old persons’ game. It always has been and it always will be. Tiger has acquired the characteristics of the oldster.
Are you saying all older people are sex crazy?
I’m addicted to lifting weights and running.
Yes you can! If it controls you, you are addicted to it! If you think about it all the time at the wrong time & place & if you cant do without it then you are additcted. I couldnt do without sweets so I am addicted to sweets!
I was addicted to several anit-depressants (that were incorrecly prescribed for me). My doctor at that time said, who’s the doctor here? I decide what you take and changes to be made. So basically shut up and take your meds.
I went to several hospital treatment programs for help. And nobody would help me. Finally I said, I do it myself. I made up my own 30-day withdrawl program. And I had all kinds of symptoms (hallucinations, severe OCD and others). Finally I detoxed.
Having said that, now tell me that there’s no biological basis for addiction.
i really think Zuma is a sex maniac needs a rehab he is not fit to be a leader.
Yes, sex is addicted and everything also is addicted. I knew that traditionally that most people were not statisfied with one woman because they have abnormal sex character. So in my opion sex is normal.
Some people may ask, just how much reality are we suppose to be able to handle. IN most cases, we use substitutes to get us through the day and to enrich our lives in either fact or perception. I agree that when a preference becomes an addiction it is bad for you, your health, and your family. Regardless of what the addiction is.
Being addicted to sex requires others sharing the same addiction otherwise you would be a loner that nobody noticed.
The internet has given many like minded people the chance to gather together and sex sites are some of the most visited on the internet.
Surely this is a sign that a great many people share this so called addiction and therefore is it really an addiction or perhaps just the norm, now made more public by a media addicted to sensationalism. Perhaps it’s the media that actually needs counseling!
Is sex addictive…it is good for arthritis, so it must be addictive. I have heard lots of jokes about sex addicts going to sex addicts anonymous meetings to hook up.
Zuma was elected as Zuma. If he made a pledge to monogamy, I missed it. Ask why it was the right choice or the wrong choice at the time for SA. Why grab only one of the tabloid elements of the Zuma years? Throw us to links from your political reporters…does his time in the sack interfere with the running of government? Do conflicts with women pose a national security threat?
Why put a golfer and a politician in the same spotlight? What is a Tiger Woods indiscretion going to cost us? He isn’t preparing to host the Olympics or approving a shoot to kill order to police.
Individuals like Mr. Zuma and Mr. Clinton, who are not capable of controling their sexual appetite would have never become leaders of their respective countries. Leaders should be capable of having this primitve and animalistic nature of mankind under control.
Yes. Because if celebs are “allegedly” addicted to it, almost everyone else wants to know about it. So in the broader sense we all are.
I came across this article some time back (no, I was not browsing in the addicted mode)http://www.cfdp.ca/roots.pdf
Titled ‘The Roots of Addiction in the Free Market Society’.
It lists workoholism, and addiction to power and money. It points out that functioning as individuals and being integrated into the society are both needed for people to stay out of addictive behavior.
I thnk the social factor is important. It is easy to resist addiction when society rewards you with approbation and punishes you with censure. This comes with a cost, depending on the degree of censure. It needs an exceptionally (and may be unrealistically)strong will power to stay clear of the addictive activities when they are other wise perceived as ‘cool’.
instead of calling zuma,woods,terry as sex perverts classifying them under a medicalterm of sex addicts is indeed so paradox ?and another foolish way of dealing is with treatment of so called sex addicts which will make the world believe that indeed its a diesease like any other and there is remedies for it even if its indulged in ..its for the world medical association to come up with a clear statement about this sexual frenzy mostly by rich and powerful whether to classify it as perversion or addiction.
It’s impossible to become physiologically addicted to sex – that’s a big distinction from alcohol or drugs dependency. And the same applies to watching porn, gambling, video games.
But sex ‘addiction’ is still a real issue. If seeking, planning and anticipating sex is your way of managing your emotions, and numbing yourself from other aspects of your life, you have an addiction problem.
Countless people lose themselves in internet porn as an avoidance mechanism. They might be distracting themselves from stress, anger, fear, depression, boredom, loss of direction, low self-esteem… the list goes on. The underlying reasons may be nothing to do with sex at all.
So I see sex addiction as a manifestation of underlying issues. In order to turn things around, both the habitual behaviour AND the issues need to be acknowledged and resolved.
DOPAMIN
If your brain does not produce enough, you seek compensation. That can be casual sex, trading on the stock market or doing anything else that gives you a kick – including blogging on WHYS!
I am addicted to life therefore whatever gets me through my life I am addicted to. Life to me is not meant for suffereing as a lot of people seem to think and propagate. Except in order to hone my desire as all abstinance can.
I am addicted to good food, sex, comfort and all that gives me pleasure. If the society I live in does not approve of it, I am forced to enjoy that particular aspect clandestinely. I will not accept anybody else’s opinion on that count. For it may be true to them. My truth lies only in me.
Maybe in some cases it’s an addiction (in the sense of the thrill of getting away with it). There are many well-known NBA players (playing and retired) who were and are well-known on the groupie circuit in major cities. Some would have sex in an office next door to a board meeting. Some would have six partners in one night.
How many healthy normal males would turn down six beautiful women?
Zuma means Horney in Hausa language,so he is sweetener but the problem is that 3 wivies would not enough for him because he is horney. Let him play his as nornal to him but abnormal to other.
If only more people were interested in sex than in war, the planet would be a better place. The illogical term “sex addiction” is anathema to mother nature and I regret the need for invoking tautology.
QUESTION: If for whatever reason you can’t or don’t have a partner, so you masturbate a lot, or have sex of the mechanical kind, are you still considered a sex addict?
ANOTHER QUESTION: Does it count as a sex addiction if you only want to have sex with one person, or does the nature of sex addiction mean you have to have it with whomever?
I have been involuntarily celibate for about four years, so I am proof that you can live without sex, but it’s not much of a life!
As long as your not spreading an STD on purpose, whats the harm of having lots of sex. I do think it is total stupid for someone like Tiger to even get married. You’ll notice it’s usually men that get caught cheating.
How many super models get married as they are becoming famous. Few! They know they can have anyone they want. Why be stuck with a ball and chain in your life. Women have known they have that power since the oldest profession came to be. Men just have this stupid need to be with someone until something better comes along. Then the trouble starts!
As far as I’m concerned! If your married, keep it in your pants. If your not, who cares what you do.
I don’t have a problem with promiscuous politicians, but I do have a problem with lying and cheating politicians, and most of all with hypocritical politicians. I don’t mind them sleeping around, as long as they are honest about it (especially to their partners) and don’t condemn others for doing the same thing.
Was Tiger Wood’s phalandering or suffering from an addiction?
Philander: the habit of making love without serious content.
Addiction: a compulsion and can be a medical condition.
I suspect he needs either moral or medical help.
I Zuma’s case. it is a culture thing and, no doubt, many men envy him.
Of course. What a stupid question. It is designed to be addictive…or is one orgasm enough for you?
I agree sex can be addictive. But that can be a lame excuse to have extra affairs outside relationships. As an addict smoker stops to smoke, so can a sex addict. I feel that allowing sex to guide you can lead to great side effect not only health wise but whatever goes around you. Have a sex free day!!
“I agree sex can be addictive. But that can be a lame excuse to have extra affairs outside relationships.”
Exactly, stick to your partner and have sex with him/her, and if that’s not enough for you be honest about it, instead of being a lying cheat.
Once a King always a King .Once a night is enough! Good advice
¿Sex addiction? Surely it is a silly question. And the people who manage sex clinics are a fraud. Money is the addiction. Sex is in the human nature. The only difference is the grade of energy. It is an error to call a woman a nymphomaniac. That doesn´t exist. It is energy of the human body. King Salomon it is said, had 700 wives. Netzahualcoyotl a Texcocan king of the Valley of Mexico had 600 children. The tenet is that monogamy is the best thing. But it depends on whom share this marriage of two. John Kennedy had the fame of being “sex addict”. The story says that he had hundreds of girl friends. Then it is the nature of each human that tells the story.
Lack of self control and a belief that every conquest is a victory for himself as a “man”. Nothing to do with addiction. Pure ego and low self esteem in the case of Woods and the conquest syndrome supported by many years of cultural acceptance/agreement for Zuma.
you people can sometimes annoy me,surely we all grew up pleasing our parents and guardians hiding our true selves.when will we stop pleasing others and start pleasing our selves?the love for sex is natural and you can do it whenever you can becoz we have feelings,we just hide them okey
Not only are many people addicted to sex. But the MSM is as well.
Tell me with a straight face that any news outlet in the States or the U.K. will pass up a story involving a celeb or politician that involves sex. Legally you have to say “allegedly”. But despite that, the MSM beats it to death for maximum hits and profit.
If the John Terry story didn’t “allegedly” involve sex, would anybody care? No.
You can get addicted to anything, ESPECIALLY something as instantly gratifying as sex.
-Anthony, LA, CA
Last week the BBC world news service had their program on OPB and interviewed a British woman who wrote a book about footballers wives and girlfriends, and she talked about how predatory the women are who chase those guys. She mentioned that when one wife went to the “loo”, a group of young women came over and sat on his lap, exposed their breasts and did other things she couldn’t say on the radio.
So just who is “addicted”? And what is the real addiction?
Every Presidental candidates should tell us what their addictions are before we vote. Some we can tolerate, some we cant. Jesus too knew about addictions and he said, ‘ if your right eye will cause you to sin, take it out.’