Article placed by phoney with no sex life (9)
I believe the answer is:
animation
'life' is the definition.
(I know that life can be written as animation)
'article placed by phoney with no sex' is the wordplay.
'article' becomes 'an' (English indefinite article).
'placed by' says to put letters next to each other.
'phoney' becomes 'imitation' (a fake).
'with no' indicates named letters should be taken away.
'sex' becomes 'it' (common euphemism).
'imitation' with 'it' taken out is 'imation'.
'an'+'imation'='ANIMATION'
(Other definitions for animation that I've seen before include "Cartoon technique" , "Art of cartoon making" , "(State of) being full of life" , "Liveliness and vigour" , "Making of cartoons" .)