The Discursive Construction of ‘Sex Addiction’: A Comparative Analysis of the Media Perspectives on ‘Sex Addiction’ in the U.S. Pre and Post the Case of Tiger Woods

Abstract

In a 2010 online Reuter’s news article, Andrew Stern claimed that Tiger Woods placed the condition known as ‘sex addiction’ in the spotlight. Accordingly, this article discusses the extent to which ‘sex addiction’ is discursively produced within, and by, the media and explores the extent to which Stern’s claim can be substantiated. This paper presents an analysis of articles retrieved from nytimes.com that were published between February 18th, 2009, and February 20th, 2011. It goes on to summarize four key findings: (1) ‘sex addiction’ was more directly and openly discussed as a concept in the year following Stern’s article than it was in the year prior; (2) ‘sex addiction’ was discursively constructed as a male problem and regarded as an underlying reason for them to commit extramarital affairs; (3) in the year before Stern’s article ‘sex addiction’ was discursively positioned as a social problem; and (4) in the year following Stern’s article, ‘sex addiction’ was also discursively positioned as a medical problem. The paper concludes that the concept of ‘sex addiction’ is discursively constructed, and that Tiger Woods did, indeed, place a spotlight on the topic. As a result, the author argues that the media has a significant impact on the production, interpretation, and understanding of what many consider to be a sexual problem.