Still other skeptics point out that in order to define what's sexually "addictive," you have to define what's not, and sexual normalcy is very much a function of our culture. On the South Pacific island of Magaia, for instance, "casual sex with different partners and frequent intercourse with multiple orgasms (as many as three climaxes nightly) are perceived as sexually normal," according to one anthropologist.

In our culture, that would no doubt be considered an addiction of the highest order (although perhaps an enviable one). Or is the reason so many people are now desperately trying to "kick the habit" of promiscuity simply that they're afraid of AIDS?

Well, let's just skip all these dainty intellectual arguments. The fact remains that there are people out there whose sexual appetites have gotten desperately out of control. The most immediate question for you is, Am lone of them? How do you tell if a merely lusty libido has slipped over some indefinable line and turned into a sick, compulsive craving? And what can you do about it if it has?