Understanding the role of shame and its consequences in female hypersexual behaviours: A pilot study

Abstract

Background and aims: Hypersexuality and sexual addiction among females is a little understudied phenomenon. Shame is thought to be intrinsic to hypersexual behaviours, especially in women. Therefore, the aim of this study was to understand both hypersexual behaviours and consequences of hypersexual behaviours and their respective contributions to shame in a British sample of females (n = 102). Methods: Data were collected online via Survey Monkey. Results: Results showed the Sexual Behaviour History (SBH) and the Hypersexual Disorder Questionnaire (HDQ) had significant positive correlation with scores on the Shame Inventory. The results indicated that hypersexual behaviours were able to predict a small percentage of the variability in shame once sexual orientation (heterosexual vs. non-heterosexual) and religious beliefs (belief vs. no belief) were controlled for. Results also showed there was no evidence that religious affiliation and/or religious beliefs had an influence on the levels of hypersexuality and consequences of sexual behaviours as predictors of shame. Conclusions: While women in the UK are rapidly shifting to a feminist way of thinking with or without technology, hypersexual disorder may often be misdiagnosed and misunderstood because of the lack of understanding and how it is conceptualised. The implications of these findings are discussed.

The Psychometric Properties of the Hypersexual Behavior Inventory Using a Large-Scale Nonclinical Sample

“…Nevertheless, the assessment of hypersexuality is diverse and mainly focuses on males with hypersexuality (e.g., Montgomery-Graham, 2016;Reid, Garos, & Carpenter, 2011;Yeagley, Hickok, & Bauermeister, 2014), although recent studies have started to examine hypersexuality in female samples (e.g., Dhuffar & Griffiths, 2014Kelly, Bimbi, Nanin, Izienicki, & Parsons, 2009;. Clinical interviews and self-reported scales are currently the two predominant approaches to assessing hypersexuality, both with advantages and disadvantages.…”

Religiosity, Developmental Context, and Sexual Shame in Pornography Users: A Serial Mediation Model

“…Consequences, such as self-hostility, that come from engaging in sexual behaviors become predictors of even greater sexual shame (Reid, 2010). Sexual shame is related to numerous clinically relevant issues such as narcissism (Kinston, 1983;Schwartz, 1991), relational dysfunction (Mollon, 2005;Tangney, 2007), aggression and violence (Brown, 2004), body-shaming (Calogero & Thompson, 2009;Shadbolt, 2009), dissociation (Dubrow-Eichel, 1993Kaufman, 1985), impaired development (Schwartz, 1991), sexual dysfunction (Hastings, 1998;Shadbolt, 2009), hypersexuality and paraphilias (Dearing, Stuewig, & Tangney, 2005;Dhuffar & Griffiths, 2014;Gilliland et al, 2011;Reid et al, 2009), sexual addiction (Carnes & Adams, 2013;Laaser, 1991), and low self-esteem (Baum & Fishman, 1994;Morin, 1995;Tillotson, 1997).…”

Barriers to female sex addiction treatment in the UK

“…While there are some clear research gaps [e.g., the true prevalence rates of SA among males and females and that the knowledge based on female SA is limited to very small samples and clinical case reports (e.g., Dhuffar & Griffiths, 2014, 2015b; Dhuffar, Pontes, & Griffiths, 2015)], such barriers remain mostly speculative and they provide only limited information about many of the possible causes of non-treatment seeking among female sex addicts. Further research is needed to either confirm or disconfirm the identified barriers that female sex addicts face when seeking treatment, and if conformation is found, interested stakeholders (researchers in the SA field, practitioners who treat SA, addiction service providers, etc.)…”