Aren’t you getting sick of hearing about all these politicians and other powerful people who can’t control themselves? Are you wondering if they are all just sociopaths? Are all sex addicts also sociopaths?
In the wake of my own dismay at the sheer number of sex crazed politicians, I wanted to share some thoughts with you.
First of all, one of the psychopathy researchers I respect the most is Dr. Grant Harris. He has written a seminal paper COERCIVE AND PRECOCIOUS SEXUALITY AS A FUNDAMENTAL ASPECT OF PSYCHOPATHY He says that promiscuous, coercive and precocious sex is central to the psychopathy syndrome. However, if you look at the statistics on the PCL-R the most studied method of assessing psychopathy, the two items related to sex have the lowest item correlations with the total score and do not even seem to be related strongly to Factor 2 of that test which is a measure of impulsivity. So there doesn’t seem to be a particularly strong relationship between psychopathy and sex addiction. By that I mean not every sociopath/psychopath is obviously a sex addict.
In his book The Mask of Sanity, Hervey Cleckley commented that “impersonal sex” is part of the syndrome. He also noted though that psychopaths didn’t seem to like sex all that much. Many victims I have interviewed have mentioned that. Sociopaths seem to view sex as a weapon to be used on another person or withheld from another person to hurt them.
As Donna pointed out earlier in the week, there is a strong link between sex motivation and the perception of power; there is also a link between a person’s drive for power and their drive for sex that may be related to testosterone.
When I think about Arnold, Anthony, Elliott and Bill, what I find most striking is their ability to do what I would call dissociate because I can’t think of another word for it. In the moment they are conceiving, tweeting, meeting in the hotel or messing on a dress, thoughts about their families and all of us seem to be completely gone from their minds.
Another great thinker about psychopathy is Robert Reiber, Ph.D. who I had the good fortune to chat with about this very topic in person several years ago. He thinks that this ability to dissociate is what makes a psychopath. When I asked him what he thought about the idea that psychopaths are “without conscience.” He replied, “Of course they have a conscience.” He thinks though they have an uncanny ability to dissociate from their conscience and their memories.
Neither the ideas of Harris nor Reiber bode well for our politicians. But I have learned a lesson from my dogs that might be useful here.
My daughter and I have three Ibizan Hounds, they are sight hounds who also have this uncanny ability to dissociate. When they are hunting small prey they become so focused on the moment they forget we are there and run off. We have been able to prevent this from happening through the use of training collars. We very much wanted them to be able to run free in the woods, so we had to figure out a safe way to get them to come back. They easily learned to come to us to avoid a mild shock that the collars deliver via a remote that has a one mile range. There is also a vibrate button, so after the dogs were trained, the warning vibration is all that is needed. But I have noticed that when they wear the collars they do not become as engrossed in the hunt and they readily come back to my voice. Without the collars, I can be shouting right next to them and they don’t hear me.
So the answer is simple, politicians should wear the collar, and their spouses can keep the remote!
For more discussion about sociopaths and sex see:
Oxy,
LOL-1000 fleas lolol…I can’t even stand to look at him on tv-he makes me sick. He tries to look like a decent man, with that digusting hair cut and smile…ugh. I hope he goes to jail!
Although Elizabeth passed away, at least she can see her son who passed away also. I think she said that before she passed..I’ll get to see my son.
But you are right about the kids suffering the most…it’s sad.
Skylar,
That is an exellent example: Hidden Malice!
Is BF all excited about the Bilderberg Group meeting tomorrow in Switzerland??
oxy – oh my~! you sure dont like that mr.edwards…
Hi all,
Wonder if any of you have this happen to you…I seem to think that all guys are pervs. Yep, I see them around every corner, probably thanks to the spath, but I think many men are perverted.
The older ones oogling teenaged girls and I think child molester. I am trying to not be focused on this stupid way of looking at men but they constantly prove me right!
I think I’m in a downer mood, feeling a bit like the world is a bad place. Every time I hear an Amber alert I listen for the description of the perp and see if it fits the spath.
All these high profile men who have deviant sex lives and lie to their wives about it fit the description of the spath perfectly! It keeps the hurt alive and well in my psyche because it was what I lived through.
I asked daughter if she wanted to do anything for father’s day (get a card or call him) and she said “What father?”
Oh, my new nickname for spath is Norman Bates. I just can’t seem to be nice about him anymore.
Hope;
Yes…..I remember that time….and it does fade. I remember thinking….dang,is there ANY good people in this world? And this is where LF helped and the fact I have good friends who have good marriages and behaviors etc…..It kept me in check.
The world IS a bad place…….but there are some good people left here with you darlen!
Hang in there…..I actually forgot it was FD on Sunday. I don’t remind the kids anymore, I used to out of obligation and it was what I always did (habit)….and I certainly don’t have a father to thank! So it’s a redundant day for me these days. Besides, spath used to say on Mothers Day….’YOUR NOT MY MOTHER”……
Your kids are old enough to know these holidays, and you’ve taught them by your actions how to respond……it’s their choice whether or not they choose to recognize him on ANY day of the year or not! Step away.
BTW….my kids always responded the same way…..
What Father?
Keep your head up girl……
“I wish John the FLEAS OF 1,000 camels under his arm pits and the crabs of 100 ho’s in his groin! Head lice and scabies”jock itch and fungus under his toe nails””
Spoken like a true farmerette!
btw….is any of that treatable, Nurse Ratchette?
Ana LOL! how’d you know?
Actually what he said was that, isn’t it interesting, how this “secret meeting” which had never been addressed by the main stream media, is now a common topic in the news?
The original meeting was held in 1954, yet most people, other than the tin-foil hat crowd, had never heard of it and dismissed the entire existence of the meeting as being a conspiracy theory. Now suddenly, it’s common knowledge, due to the internet.
My reply was, “it’s probably become a red herring now, to distract from some other agenda.”
Hope, I was discussing that subject today with a couple of friends, there are so many bad people and not a lot of good people in the world. Then we realized that none of those bad people are spaths, because they don’t hide it. A spath is someone whom you’d never know was a spath until you get up close and personal.
hopeforjoy – bad people and bad people acting badly scare me. am getting to a place where i can at least form the question: is this a bad person, or a person acting badly, or a good person on a bad day?
i went out last night (yay one joy!) to a fundraising dance for a group of folks who need some legal support after being involved in civil disobedience – a political action for a cause i am behind. i met 7 new people. First, were the folks i asked for a ride who I know through my job, and have talked to on the phone, but never met. liked one of them very much – she had a nice bright spark to her. i met a gentleman who was in his 70’s, an artist (he was my fave), who was a pleasure to talk to, and who had interesting things to say. I met the husband of a woman (who i had been secretly hoping was lesbian. damn.) i know through my gardening work and my job – he also is an artist and very humourous, but i think their is something a bit off about him. not sure what it is. boundaries? I met another woman, who I sparked with immediately . she was sitting with i someone i know from a 12 step program – took me a bit to figure out that that they know each other from yet another 12 step program. and then this morning i realized why she was so inviting and then kinda ignored me after the first few minutes – she is a charmer (i know her freind is in sex addicts anon. and i suspect she is, from her behavior). It was funny, there was a little snack and they asked me what it was and the one i knew from program immediately turned to her friend and said, ‘my rule is i don’t eat after dinner…’ Now having been in a food related program I understand the context, but, i also saw her lack of social skills, how everything was about her – so not a horrible action by any account, but a red flag to me.
I had a good time despite the fact that my mind was doing all these calculations. i got to be out and around people in a fairly relaxed atmosphere, where not much was asked of me; support a cause i want to; and it was an antidote to the time i had spent looking at online platforms for registration during the day. nothing makes me want to poke forks in my eyes as much as researching online applications. I know that even a month ago this might have been a bad night for me, but it wasn’t. I felt safer within myself.
The people – well, I would like to talk to the old gent again. He was really interesting.
Aren’t all of the stories in the National Inquirer, Fiction?
If it’s true…Great. It just sounds a bit sensationalized and over the top, to me.
E
Eden I generally don’t read it but there seemed to be threads about this story on the regular media too, I didn’t check. Enquirer does over sensationalize.