Nymphomania a mental disorder that is exhibited through excessive sexual behavior in woman. Whether or not nymphomania is a true mental disorder is argued over in medical society, but there is evidence to indicate that the compulsive sexual behaviors are a serious mental illness. Nymphomania may begin as a “result of environment, heredity, and life events. It may also be linked to a chemical imbalance in the brain” (Majumdar, S. R).
History
Throughout history there has been a stigma with women revealing an interest in their sexuality. “To the Victorians, "nymphomania" was a clear-cut concept: the "nymphomaniac" was a diseased woman as her excessive interest in sex” (White.K). Since nymphomania was seen as a disease, like hysteria when a woman …show more content…
Women who were accusing men of rape were called nymphomaniacs to discredit their claim of being raped and that it was part of a rape fantasy that they had. “So-called nymphomaniac woman could identify lascivious or sexual thoughts or fantasies and was apparently aware of subjective feelings of sexual excitement” (Leiblum, S. R.). When Freud and his followers began to rise in the early 20th century a shift happened and nymphomania shifted to being a disorder connected to the mind and the problem was that the troubled woman would not be able to achieve "vaginal orgasm" that indicated sexual adulthood. Since these woman could not achieve sexual maturity they could turn sexually frigid and this concept now applied to women who wanted to vote and get an education. “Nymphomania represented a much broader cultural projection, connecting fear of social change and emerging threats to the patriarchal order to the potentially wayward bodies of women” (Temple, G. M.) Alfred Kinsey offered another view of female sexuality in
History
Throughout history there has been a stigma with women revealing an interest in their sexuality. “To the Victorians, "nymphomania" was a clear-cut concept: the "nymphomaniac" was a diseased woman as her excessive interest in sex” (White.K). Since nymphomania was seen as a disease, like hysteria when a woman …show more content…
Women who were accusing men of rape were called nymphomaniacs to discredit their claim of being raped and that it was part of a rape fantasy that they had. “So-called nymphomaniac woman could identify lascivious or sexual thoughts or fantasies and was apparently aware of subjective feelings of sexual excitement” (Leiblum, S. R.). When Freud and his followers began to rise in the early 20th century a shift happened and nymphomania shifted to being a disorder connected to the mind and the problem was that the troubled woman would not be able to achieve "vaginal orgasm" that indicated sexual adulthood. Since these woman could not achieve sexual maturity they could turn sexually frigid and this concept now applied to women who wanted to vote and get an education. “Nymphomania represented a much broader cultural projection, connecting fear of social change and emerging threats to the patriarchal order to the potentially wayward bodies of women” (Temple, G. M.) Alfred Kinsey offered another view of female sexuality in