Eroticized Rage in Sexual Addition

From the time she was 8 until she turned 12, Astrid had been abused by her mother’s husband. He was violent with every member of the household, and sexually abusive with the two girls—Astrid and her older sister. He held the family on lockdown for years, recording their phone conversations for “evidence” to use against them, and actively surveilled the girls and their mother. When she was 13, Astrid’s mom left her stepfather with the help of a community organization, and after the family got back on their feet, Astrid felt more secure and less vulnerable. Her mother never mentioned everything that had happened, but the girls were both grateful that she’d gotten them out.

During high school, Astrid began acting out sexually. She always had a boyfriend, someone older and already out of high school, but she cheated frequently. She became notorious among her peers and when labels like “slut” and “whore” descended, Astrid responded by increasing her sexual behavior and openly flaunting it. She wanted to appear defiant, as if she was in absolute control.

Recovering Sex Addicts and Digital Dating

A lot of sex addicts entering recovery, especially those who are not already in a long-term relationship, worry that they will never again be able to date or have sex. This is not the case. Unlike sobriety for alcoholism and drug addiction, “sexual sobriety” is not defined by ongoing abstinence. Instead, sex addicts in recovery (working with a sex addiction treatment specialist or their sponsor in a 12-step sexual recovery group) define which of their sexual behaviors are problematic and which are not, and agree, in a written “sexual sobriety contract,” to abstain from the problematic activities, while engaging moderately and appropriately in the non-problematic behaviors.

Sex Addict’s Partners: The Importance of Full Disclosure to Them

With sexual addiction it is usually the betrayal of relationship trust caused by consistent lying rather than any specific sexual act that causes the deepest pain to a betrayed spouse or partner. The trauma experienced by a spouse who is forced to live with a sex addict’s secrets and lies is usually quite significant. The sudden realization that a long-term intimate partner has been living a double-life filled with sexual infidelity can cause the cheated on partner to question literally everything about his or her relationship, regardless of whether the cheating has been in-person (affairs, prostitutes, sensual massage, anonymous sex, etc.) or online (porn, webcams, social media, dating/hookup websites and apps, etc.).

The Weiner Roast Continues…

Three Days = New Man?

A few weeks ago New York City mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner told reporters that in July 2011, shortly after his scandal-plagued departure from Congress, he spent three days at the Gabbard Center, a psychiatric evaluation facility in Houston, TX. As you may recall, the events precipitating Weiner’s congressional resignation involved the sending of sexual self-images to half a dozen (or more) women via Twitter and other forms of digital media. Some of the images were apparently snapped in the locker room of the Congressional gym. According to Weiner, he’d been engaging in this type of behavior for approximately three years. And now he has admitted that his sexual misdeeds continued even after he was caught and scandalized.

Teen Girl Addicted to Sex Has 200 Partners Before Seeking Help

Angie grew up in a close-knit Italian neighborhood just outside Chicago. Her working class family, which was always laughing, was bold and big. Angie had seven siblings – four of them stepsiblings. Her stepfather drank his spiced rum and played poker with his buddies every Wednesday night, which was a fun night because her mother cooked her best and biggest meal of the week. The wives and girlfriends came down the block and joined them, and the older kids got to have a glass of wine (although they usually snuck more). Angie’s mom had declared that since they could have the wine at church, she didn’t see why they couldn’t have one glass on Wednesday night too. It was a celebration.