http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/8772A New Clinical Diagnosis: Political Suppression of Sexuality Syndrome
by RJ Eskow | Jul 17 2007
Observers keep wondering how the Republican Party, the Christian Right, and "values voters" can continue to support politicians like David Vitter. After all, he's violated the same moral code he and his allies would forcibly impose through the power of the state. While the left understandably rages about hypocrisy - and that's the right word for partisans like the GOP and Tucker Carlson - rank-and-file Christian voters continue to support a motley assemblage of Republican "sinners," no matter how glaring their personal dishonesty or how unorthodox their sexual behavior. What gives?
The answer may lie in an as-yet undiscovered medical condition I call "Political Suppression of Sexuality Disorder," or PSSS. When conservatives are caught in compromising positions in the future, it's possible that they'll plead PSSS and check themselves into the nearest rehab (although some angry and defiant types like Vitter may very well echo that new hit song by saying "no, no, no.")
PSSS should be added to next edition of the the DSM Manual of Mental Disorders, with the following general criteria:
Political Suppression of Sexuality Disorder
Description
A condition in which the individual believes the human body and personality are hostile zones which must be forcibly subdued through external forces, especially state action.
Diagnostic Criteria
Two or more of the following must be present for a diagnosis of PSSS:
* Intense fear of the patient's own sexual desires and impulses.
* Belief that only external forces such as military or police personnel can successfully suppress the human reproductive instinct, coupled with the belief that it must be suppressed.
* Intermittent periods of sexual indulgence, regardless of the potential risk to career, social standing, or family relations; interspersed with (or concurrent with) periods of intense political activity designed to suppress the same sexual behavior the patient is unable to resist.
* A desire to subordinate one's own freedom of choice to political and religious authority figures who disapprove of the behavior to which the patient is attracted.
* The formation of political alliances with those who disapprove of the behavior to which the patient is attracted, coupled with he urge to advocate against one's own sexual predilections publicly and forcefully.
Political leaders can, of course, suffer from PSSS and be hypocrites at the same time. Some otherwise inexplicable outbursts are best explained using this mixed diagnosis. (Think about all those conservative images of group sex and pedophilia in response to gay marriage proposals, for example. Better yet - don't.)
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