Ensnared: Internet Creates New Group of Sexual Addicts

[kweerwolf]

FOR many people, a peek at an "adult" site offers merely a titillating glimpse into an illicit world.

For others, a peek becomes a moment of respite, a brief vacation from the demands of the real world. Then it becomes a habit. Soon, it is a compulsion that occupies hours and hours every day, shattering careers, marriages and lives.

The addictive nature of cruising the Internet and the obsessive allure of pornography combine to take over their existence. And although many who become addicted have had a history of acting out sexually with prostitutes, phone sex or pornographic magazines and movies, others are pulled in from outside such an orbit.

The Internet, more than any other type of mass medium, seems to be creating a new group of people engaged in compulsive sexual behavior, say psychologists and clinicians. The accessibility, anonymity and affordability — what one researcher calls the "triple A engine" — are reeling in people who would otherwise have never engaged in such behavior.

http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-internetsex26dec26,0,6105518.story?coll=la-home-health

Hmmmm ... I guess I'm not the typical male (or even the typical gay male), because pornography evokes two responses in me. It either grosses me out or bores me.

But I think there are plenty of us who are addicted to other features of the internet like posting to message boards (even DU!) or chatting on line. I'm not sure if these kinds of behaviors affect us like the "sexual addiction" described in the article, though.

[MichiganVote]

1. Its the anonymity that is enthralling to novices

[hwmnbn]

2. DU has turned me into a political addict......

that's even worse!

[Maat]

6. Me too.

I'm a political addict and a DU addict.

[undeterred]

3. I saw a news show where

they made a fake teen site to catch pedophiles- these men would chat with someone they thought was an underage boy or girl and then arrange to meet them. The men who did this included a rabbi, a doctor, a teacher, and other people a young person might trust. They were caught on tape but not apprehended by the police (till the tapes were turned over to police) and some of the men went right back to their computers and began searching the same site for another underage boy or girl. Really scary that there are so many people out there doing this.

[Danascot]

5. It was on NBC Dateline

it was really creepy. Link:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9927253/

[Selteri]

4. I have trouble believing the addiction could be that bad.

Me, I'm a horndog, if I'm like the rest of my family I'll be well into my 40s or 50s before my libido will begin to diminish.

I enjoy porn sometimes, but I also enjoy the RL just as much most of the time... To me Porn is like anything else, personal as long as it's used responsibly.

[transeo]

7. Sweet! I can blame the internet

Now none of my vices are my own fault! ;-)