SHRINK RAP

Do Tiger, Jesse Suffer from The Madonna/Whore Complex?

By Elizabeth C.

ARE TIGER WOODS AND JESSE JAMES afflicted with the Madonna/Whore complex?

As the marital dramas play out between Tiger and wife Elin Nordegren, and James and Sandra Bullock, similarities between the couples suggest that both men might have psychological problems being intimate with the women they love.

In the simplest language, men who suffer from the Madonna/whore complex are sexually incapable of sexually loving their "good" wives due to their underlying belief that sex is debasing. To meet their sexual needs, these men pursue the "whore" with whom, once they have sex, is never good enough for marriage.

"In the mind of the sufferer, love and sex cannot be mixed…" according to Wikipedia. "He will reserve sexuality for "bad" or "dirty" women, and will not develop "normal" feelings of love in these sexual relationships.

This introduces a dilemma where men may feel unable to love any women who can satisfy them sexually and are unable to be sexually satisfied by any women who they can love.”

Therapists believe that this dichotomy in a man’s psyche develops in childhood when he seeks -- unsuccessfully -- to win an emotionally distant mother’s love. In marriage, the problem is exacerbated by the arrival of children.

According to John A. Speyrer of the Primal Psychology Page, “Intimacy in the present triggers the repressed memory of the hurt and deprivation of the past. Sexual addiction can be used as an act out -- a way for avoiding anxieties of the repressed feelings, especially since such addictions are characterized by a fear of intimacy -- a hallmark of the sexual addict.

Both Woods and James married “good girls,’’ but choose to dally with porn stars and party girls.

Your thoughts? Is this too simple an idea? Or is it obviously true?

Comments

I am wondering what Sandra Bullock and Elin Nordegren will do about their cheating husbands? Will they or won’t they forgive them…or will they just leave? Who hasn’t made their minds up about what these women should do with their lives? Read more at Huffington Post approved blog, IMeanWhat?!? http://bit.ly/cEDa4u

Posted by: Ryan | March 23, 2010 10:42 AM

way too simple.....anything that may be an addiction is more complex, sexual addiction might have little to do with repressed feelings and more to do with feelings of entitlement and narcisistic personalities.

Posted by: chris | March 22, 2010 02:42 AM