ROBERT J. FILEWICH, PhD: Right. People talk about sexual addicts or people being obsessed with sex, and really they're obsessed with dysfunctional sex. Their everyday sex lives with their partners, if they have partners, are actually quite boring and mundane. They have a hard time maintaining an erection. They have a hard time maintaining intimacy, so they really don't suffer from too much sex, they just have too much bad sex or dysfunctional sex. By "bad," I'm not casting a judgment, I'm just saying for them it becomes a compulsion that interferes in their lives.
DAVID FOLK THOMAS: You said shy people might tend toward fetishism. It seems like you always hear about guys having fetishes. Do women have fetishes?
KEN ROSENBERG, MD: It is a male disorder.
DAVID FOLK THOMAS: Why is it a male disorder?
KEN ROSENBERG, MD: It's an interesting question. Nobody really knows the answer to that, but most of the time it is. Maybe it's a genetic component, maybe it's the testosterone, maybe it's various things, but really, research hasn't borne out what the real reason is.
DAVID FOLK THOMAS: I've heard before men are more visual. Would it come to that because they see and object and they are more fixated on it than a woman might be?
ROBERT J. FILEWICH, PhD: It could be that. It could be that men are less socialized. They have more difficult times in social situations than women. Women find social situations a lot easier. They talk with each other more. They experience emotions and feelings a lot more, so they're able to go ahead and develop more healthy, adult sexual relationships than men are, so men will turn to an object to go ahead and satisfy their sexual desire because they find it really difficult to connect with a person who they have a sexual desire for.
DAVID FOLK THOMAS: So it could be like a crutch to aid their sexual expression?
