Can Therapy Break The Taboo Of Hypersexuality?

Can therapy break the taboo of hypersexuality?

- Sonali Acharjee

“When I was a teen, I used to force myself to drink three litres of water every day and then not go to the toilet because the urge to urinate made me orgasm faster. But I never thought that there was anything wrong with me. All my friends masturbated all the time as well. I thought I was just like them,” says Riya, a 26-year-old fashion designer living in Delhi. She pauses to thumb through a stack of tarty red crotchless panties, resting her back against a dusty mannequin that displays a bra made of crystal beads and golden thread. We are at Tina Bazaar, an underground market in Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar that sells a vast variety of lingerie. With nothing priced above Rs 400, Riya happily fills her shopping bag with two animal print corsets, six lace bras and three thongs. “I grew up in Ranchi but attended college in Delhi. It’s tough to make ends meet in the city. I earn only Rs 22,000 as a design trainee. But I enjoy splurging a little now and then,” she admits with a sly grin and then quickly adds the flimsy crystal bra to her pile of purchases. As she’s paying the bill, she informs me in a low voice that she’s hoping the bra will help her seduce her boss later on in the evening. A 49-year-old man, her boss was the 84th man she had slept with and the first to help her realise that she had become a sex addict.

“I was engaged to the man of my dreams. No, I’m not joking,” she adds hastily before I can roll my eyes, then continues, “He was