Moth,

I wonder if a distinction should be made between being addicted to something and having the 'collector's impulse'. (I'm not talking here specifically about porn, but about the concept of collecting in general). If you collect stamps, you might spend each evening flicking through your collection, admiring it; you're not addicted to extending it, but you want to because you like stamps, you like organising and listing them, and you feel the same thrill at filling in a gap in the collection as you did when you were a kid collecting stickers for the World Cup.

I would imagine that any kind of collecting has a similar basis - though in the case of something connected to sexuality, there will probably be an emotional investment in the collection over and above that of something like stamps, butterflies or footie stickers. But I think the word 'addiction' is bandied around too much these days - people seem to claim an addiction to pretty much anything!

Mesmerised