Morrow and Hawxhurst

Battering" (Lobel, 1986). For that reason, much of what is being said, including information in this article, is hypothetical. To be advocates for lesbians in battering relationships, it is crucial that counselors follow the lead of those activists (abuse survivors and those on the front lines of experience with battered lesbians) who have contributed most to our understanding of battering in the past and who provide us with an understanding of lesbian partner abuse grounded in practice. The battered women's movement has contributed a considerable amount of information to our understanding of lesbian battering; much that we have learned, however, comes from work with heterosexual survivors of abuse. It is important that counselors working with lesbians use caution in adaption of heterosexually generated concepts about battering (such as gender-oriented analyses of power, control, and dominance) to lesbians. Resources on domestic violence and lesbian battering may be obtained from the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, P.O. Box 15127, Washington, D.C. 20003-0127 (202) 293-8860.

REFERENCES

Beattie, M. (1987). Codependent no more: How to stop controlling others and start caring for yourself. New York: Harper/Hazelden.

Brand, P.A., & Kidd, A.H. (1986). Frequency of physical aggression in heterosexual and female homosexual dyads. Psychological Reports, 59,

1307-1313.

Brown, L.S. (1985, August). Sexual issues in the development of lesbian couples. Paper presented at the American Psychological Association National Convention, Los Angeles.

Buck, M.T. (1988, July). Dynamics of the batterer. Maricopa County Task Force Against Domestic Abuse Newsletter, pp. 1-2. Phoenix, AZ. Chrystos (1986). "What did he hit you with?" The doctor said. In K. Lobel (Ed.), Naming the violence: Speaking out about lesbian battering (pp. 19-20). Seattle: Seal Press.

Enos, D., & Rollins, C. (1988). Lesbian battering: A political analysis. In E. Baldwin, L.B. Fogel, M. Furtado, C. McKenzie, N. Steinberg, & A. Strong (Eds.), Voices that haven't been heard: Women and violence [Special issue] Matrix Women's Magazine, 13(10), 8. Geraci, L. (1986). Making shelters safe for lesbians. In K. Lobel (Ed.), Naming the violence: Speaking out about lesbian battering (pp. 77-79). Seattle: Seal Press.

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Guilford Press.

Giles-Sims, J. (1983). Wife-battering: A systems theory approach. New York: Hammond, N. (1986). Lesbian victims and the reluctance to identify abuse. In K. Lobel (Ed.), Naming the violence: Speaking out about lesbian battering (pp. 190-197). Seattle: Seal Press.

Hart, B.J. (1986). Lesbian battering: An examination. In K. Lobel (Ed.), Naming the violence: Speaking out about lesbian battering (pp. 173--189). Seattle: Seal Press.

Iman, H. (1987). Serving battered women with a history of mental health problems. In S. Schechter (Ed.), Guidelines for mental health practitioners in domestic violence cases (pp. 14-15). Washington, DC: National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

Kelly, L. (1986). NCADV Conference. Off Our Backs, 16(10), 1, 4-5. Kelly, C.E., & Warshafsky, L. (1987, July). Partner abuse in gay male and lesbian couples. Paper presented at the 3rd National Conference for Family Violence Researchers, Durham, NH.

Leeder, E. (1988). Enmeshed in pain: Counseling the lesbian battering couple. Women and Therapy, 7(1), 81-99.

Lobel, K. (1986). Naming the violence: Speaking out about lesbian battering. Seattle: Seal Press.

Norwood, R. (1985). Women who love too much: When you keep wishing and hoping he'll change. Los Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher.

Powers, R.J., & Kutash, I.L. (1982). Alcohol, drugs and partner abuse. In M. Roy (Ed.), The abusive partner: An analysis of domestic battering (pp. 39-75). New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. Russell, D.E.H. (1984). Sexual exploitation. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. Santa Cruz Women's Self Defense Teaching Cooperative (Undated). Some myths and facts about lesbian battering. Santa Cruz: Author. Schechter, S. (1987). Guidelines for mental health practitioners in domestic violence cases. Washington, DC: National Coalition Against Domestic

Violence.

Waldo, M. (1987). Also victims: Understanding and treating men arrested for spouse abuse. Journal of Counseling and Development, 65, 385-388.

Walker, L.E. (1979). The battered woman. New York: Harper & Row. Walker, L.E. (1984). The battered woman syndrome. New York: Springer. Woititz, J.G. (1983). Adult children of alcoholics. Hollywood, FL: Health Communications.

Susan L. Morrow is a doctoral candidate in the counseling psychology program, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona. Donna M. Hawxhurst is a counseling psychologist at Fourth World, Tempe. Correspondence regarding this article should be sent to Susan L. Morrow, 110 West Geneva Drive, Tempe, AZ 85282.

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Sexual Compulsivity in Gay Men: Controversy and Treatment

LESTER PINCU

Compulsive sex among some gay men has been made a more significant issue by the AIDS epidemic. There is controversy as to whether or not compulsive sex is a disorder or if it should be thought of as addiction. The clinical usefulness of the addictive model is discussed, along with the commonalities between the two most prevalent and successful approaches used to treat this disorder: namely, group treatment and the self-help Twelve Step addictive model.

here has been much written (Bell & Weinberg, 1978; Freedman, 1971; Humphreys, 1970; Weinberg & Wil-

encounters of some gay men, and some attempts have been made to link this behavior with the notion of compulsive or addictive sex. This phenomenon, however, can also be seen in the nongay environment in heterosexually oriented singles bars on Friday nights. The frantic search in both cases for sexual partnership often results in little more than a succession of one-night stands. Although the bar is similarly the locale of choice for meeting sexual partners among gay men, other more public locales, such as public restrooms (Humphreys, 1970), parks, beaches, bath houses, movie theaters, and highway rest stops, have been described and studied (Bell & Weinberg, 1978). The phenomenon of public sex has been prevalent among a segment of the gay male population.

The adverse public reaction to homosexual sex, both public and private, points to deep-seated cultural homophobia. Weeks (1985) believed that erotically based social interacting of gay men cuts across conventional forms of partnership and that given the perceived threat to conventional norms, it"... is not surprising that the social regulation of homosexuality often took the form of attempts to outlaw its expression altogether, both in public and private" (p. 220). In a society such as ours, where homosexuality itself is perceived as a threat, it is easy to understand why general courting behavior can become difficult and sexuality can become for some a major focus. It may be indeed that the more sexually repressed and/or homophobic a culture is, the stronger is the tendency for persons to engage in anonymous sex as a substitute for denied intimacy. There seems to be a direct relationship between repression and the choice of anonymous sex. In a study of Mexican public gay life, Taylor (1985) described a highly closeted repressed homosexual culture, in which sex in public places is a common phenomenon. In some gay-repressed cultures, public anonymous sex can become so routine as to be quite commonplace and even somewhat ritualized.

Sex in public places is not necessarily synonymous with compulsive sex, but for many persons engaging in public sex, their continued public sexual activity is compulsive. In my clinical experience, I have observed that where same-sex intimacy is not acceptable, narrowly focused fixations can easily

emerge. The excitement, which is not unlike that of a child discovering something new or forbidden, is a strong motivating force in the continued search for gratification and temporary self-esteem in the arena of a public location. For these men, the behavior may well become compulsive. There is evidence that there are still gay men who continue to engage in unsafe and, what might be termed, compulsive sexual behavior even during the AIDS epidemic (Richwald, Morisky, Kyle, Kristal, Gerger, & Friedland, 1988).

It is, however, in this labeling of compulsive or addictive sex that some recent writers see a grave political danger. Levine and Troiden (1988) emphatically warned that the term sexual addiction or compulsion and the very act of labeling this syndrome as such "threatens the civil liberties of sexually variant peoples" (p. 361). They conclude that there is no such thing as sexual addiction or even sexual compulsivity because, in their view, these constructs rest in a dependence upon a specific chemical substance. Sexual drives do not meet their narrow definition.

Kyle (1988) in a column in Frontiers, a gay Los Angeles newspaper, affirmed the beliefs of Levine and Troiden about this danger and stated that the mere labeling of sexual addiction in this age of AIDS places gay men in danger of being accused of societal criminality"... whose every sexual act is considered a threat not only to themselves but to the society as a whole" (p. 20).

Although Kyle, and Levine and Troiden, may have correctly identified the dangers in connecting homosexuality with a disease model in the public's mind, counselors must also recognize the possible usefulness of the addiction notion in the treatment of clients for whom sexual behavior threatens careers, relationships, and lives. It is clinical and not political or public relations judgments that we must make as counselors. It is specifically in this age of AIDS that we must be concerned with the individual who continues to engage in high-risk behavior, and this compulsivity must be addressed bluntly. Quadland and Shattls (1988) saw this issue as a problem with sexual control. They viewed this behavior as compulsive, driven, and irrational, for they stated"... most rational people do not choose to put their lives in jeopardy simply to satisfy a genital urge" (p. 282).

ELEMENTS OF SEXUAL ADDICTION

The issue of whether dysfunctional sexual behavior is a compulsion, an addiction, or both, or whether these are just stigmatizing labels as Levine and Troiden (1988) asserted, is not merely a theoretical argument. The issue has broad implications for the treatment of this complex problem. Because compulsive sexual behaviors have many of the same clinical characteristics of classical addictive behavior, the addiction model may be able

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