Human identity versus gender identity: The perception of sexual addiction among Iranian women

ABSTRACT

This qualitative study was conducted to explore the images of personal identity from the perspective of women with sexual addiction. The data required for the study were collected through 31 in-depth interviews. Sensing a threat to personal identity, dissatisfaction with gender identity, dissociation with the continuum of identity, and identity reconstruction in response to threat were four of the experiences that were common among women with sexual addiction. Painful emotional experiences appear to have created a sense of gender and sexual conflict or weakness in these women and thus threatened their personal identity and led to their sexual addiction.

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to all women with sex addiction who participated in this research.

Funding

The authors would also like to acknowledge the University of Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences of Tehran for supporting this work.