Filed under: Psychology — posted by Chris @ 10:27 am
Ever since the Duchovny news broke, we here at breakupgirl.net have been addicted to sex addiction stories! Now, Lynn has written a review of two memoirs dealing with the subject — Desire: Where Sex Meets Addiction by Susan Cheever and Love Junkie: A Memoir by Rachel Resnick — posted this morning at Barnes & Noble.
Last August, in a remarkable example of art imitating sex life, it was revealed that David Duchovny — who stars as a randy writer on Showtime’s Californication — had checked into rehab for sex addiction. The former Fox Mulder’s disclosure opened up a psychological X-file: is “sex addiction” modern pop-psych folklore, complete with a handy excuse for caddishness? Or is it for real?
FOBG Rebecca Traister’s ode to Scully is more than worth a day pass to Salon.com’s premium offerings. After all, you’ll need something to last you till tomorrow.
Highlights:
Dana Scully was not standard television beautiful, but a diminutive pre-Raphaelite, pale of skin and red of hair, who could give equal amounts of soul to lines like “Nothing happens in contradiction to nature, just in contradiction to what we know of it” and “Well, seeing as how it’s Friday, I was thinking I could get some work done on that monograph I’m writing for the penology review: ‘Diminished Acetylcholine Production in Recidivist Offenders.'” A woman who, when asked by her pestering partner to examine a cadaver’s head just one more time for a set of horns, can snap on her gloves and mutter “Whatever” like she really means it.
And, about TV romance — or at least spooky chemistry:
The pairing, based mostly on the dynamic between actors Anderson and Duchovny, crackled, and the show had at its core a professional relationship that was not just sexually, but romantically, electric. Of course, back then, when we all walked a mile to school and programs started the season in September and finished them in May, slow-burn television relationships burned really slowly, especially in comparison with today’s short-attention-span theater, when an unrequited prime-time couple can maybe make it to sweeps before kicking off their panties. Not only did the sparks between Mulder and Scully fly fast and far, but the drawing out of their relationship allowed their audience to fall for them too, despite the irritating imperfections of both character and plot.
The truth is … coming soon to a theater near you! From the L.A. Times:
“They flew from Germany and England and Chicago to attend. They lined up at 5 a.m. outside the Moscone Center West in San Francisco fueled by contagious group excitement and caffeine. They sat through the boring ‘Shutter’ panel to make sure they got good seats. One attendee estimates that there were 5,000 people packed into the 4,000 capacity convention hall and that’s not including the spillover that ran down the various hallways.
But God, it was worth it!
Gillian Anderson, David Duchovny and ‘X-Files’ creator Chris Carter were at Wondercon last week…to promote the still-untitled new ‘X-Files’ film scheduled to come out July 25 and it was the first time the trio had appeared together at a convention since ‘X-Files’ first came on the air in 1993. The fans screamed throughout the whole 45 minutes.”
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