Cheyenne
Ms. Smarty Pantsless
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2000
- Posts
- 59,553
If so, a lot of us here are in trouble!
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MEN WHO use online sex as a stress-buster are about twice as likely to be addicted to cybersex as other men, the survey found.
Similarly, men who engage in sexual activities online that they would normally steer clear of in the real world are at double the risk for sexual compulsivity, says survey author Alvin Cooper, director of the San Jose Marital Services and Sexuality Centre in San Jose, Calif., and a staff psychologist at Stanford University.
Nevertheless, the Internet’s vast sexual offerings appear to offer most men — and women — an outlet in which they can safely fantasize, flirt and (virtually) get intimate, says Cooper, who is also an MSNBC.com Sexploration columnist.
In fact, the MSNBC.com survey, believed by Cooper to be the largest study of online sexuality to date, found that distraction is by far the No. 1 reason for respondents’ dalliances. And education, be it to learn a new sexual position or to find out how to prevent sexually transmitted diseases, was the second most cited reason for online sex travels.
As a sex therapist, though, Cooper says it’s the people who are addicted and in need of help that concern him.
So his team combed through the completed surveys of over 7,000 random users and found that nearly 400 men — or 6.5 percent of male respondents —
were addicted to cybersex.
So just what does it mean to be addicted to cybersex? For the purposes of this survey, Cooper used two acceptable indicators: whether respondents felt online sex had caused problems in their life and whether their online sexual dalliances felt out of control.
Are you sexually compulsive?
Not surprisingly, addicted men engaged in online sex about twice as much as other respondents: an average of about 6 hours a week vs. 3 hours per week.
“This doesn’t mean that someone who spends just two hours a week in online sexual activities does not have a problem, or that a man who spends over 6 hours a week necessarily does have one,” Cooper says. “But like the other risk factors, spending more and more time online in cybersex is creating a bigger and bigger split between online and offline life.”
The analysis appears in the current issue of Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity: Journal of Treatment and Prevention. (MSNBC.com always notes that by their very nature, surveys posted on its Web site are self-selected, not the random samples utilized by polling organizations.)
CLICK AND TELL
The new survey — an expanded, improved version of one posted on MSNBC.com in 1998 — asked MSNBC users ages 18 and over to answer 76 questions about what kind of sex sites they visited, how long they spent in such pursuits and what they got out of it.
A “pop-up” menu appeared on the screen of every 1,000th visitor to the site, inviting them to fill out the survey. Over 7,000 people randomly completed the pop-up survey over a four-week period in June 2000; of them, 384 men and 17 women met the criteria for cybersex addiction. Due to the small sample size of female group, the researchers analyzed only the male responses.
Among the findings:
Distraction was the No. 1 reason both cybersex addicts and those with no problems engaged in online sex: 81 percent vs. 82 percent, not a statistical difference.
Fifty-seven percent of those in the additive group cited stress relief as a reason for their dalliances, compared with just 30 percent of the “normal” group.
Forty-three percent of cybersex addicts said they went online to explore sexual fantasies, compared with 20 percent of the others.
Those who did not have a problem were significantly more likely to use online sex for education (31 percent vs. 25 percent) or to buy sexual materials (12 percent vs. 6 percent) than those with a problem.
Those with online sexual problems were about three times as likely to have sexual problems in real life (36 percent vs. 13 percent).
The addicted group was also somewhat more likely than the others to be in therapy or on medication, to have suicidal thoughts and to overeat.
The team who analyzed the research, which was partially underwritten by a grant from the American Foundation of Addiction Research, included University of Oxford statistician Robin Mathy and Eric Griffin Shelley and Dave Delmonico of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh.
A PATTERN OF ESCAPISM
Taken together, the results show a pattern in which the addict uses cybersex as escapism, Cooper says.
“Instead of working out a problem with a partner, these men fantasize in a chat room. Instead of exercising to relieve stress, they view online erotica,” Cooper says. “As a result, issues in real life are never resolved.”
Los Angeles therapist Rob Weiss, who specializes in treating sexual addiction, points out that the consequences can be far-reaching. While cyber-infidelities don’t involve out-of-town hotel room trysts or blotted lipstick on the collar, they are all too real to the people who feel they’ve been cheated on, says Weiss, author of “Cybersex Exposed,” an exploration of the potential destructiveness of cybersex addiction.
So what should you do if you find your cyber-affairs are spinning out of control or if you find yourself, like one of the survey respondents, spending more and more time online, “losing hours of sleep, constantly craving for one more orgasm?”
Seek out a person you trust and confide your fears, Cooper advises. If you still think you may be on the road to self-destruction, he says there are a number of avenues open to you: 12-step groups such as Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous, therapy or even self-help evaluations online.
Additionally, the high-tech industry needs to be more proactive in educating users about the risk of visiting online sex sites, according to Cooper.
Alcohol and cigarettes both carry health warnings on their labels,” he says. “But no one warns the visitor to cybersex sites about its potential consequences.”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
MEN WHO use online sex as a stress-buster are about twice as likely to be addicted to cybersex as other men, the survey found.
Similarly, men who engage in sexual activities online that they would normally steer clear of in the real world are at double the risk for sexual compulsivity, says survey author Alvin Cooper, director of the San Jose Marital Services and Sexuality Centre in San Jose, Calif., and a staff psychologist at Stanford University.
Nevertheless, the Internet’s vast sexual offerings appear to offer most men — and women — an outlet in which they can safely fantasize, flirt and (virtually) get intimate, says Cooper, who is also an MSNBC.com Sexploration columnist.
In fact, the MSNBC.com survey, believed by Cooper to be the largest study of online sexuality to date, found that distraction is by far the No. 1 reason for respondents’ dalliances. And education, be it to learn a new sexual position or to find out how to prevent sexually transmitted diseases, was the second most cited reason for online sex travels.
As a sex therapist, though, Cooper says it’s the people who are addicted and in need of help that concern him.
So his team combed through the completed surveys of over 7,000 random users and found that nearly 400 men — or 6.5 percent of male respondents —
were addicted to cybersex.
So just what does it mean to be addicted to cybersex? For the purposes of this survey, Cooper used two acceptable indicators: whether respondents felt online sex had caused problems in their life and whether their online sexual dalliances felt out of control.
Are you sexually compulsive?
Not surprisingly, addicted men engaged in online sex about twice as much as other respondents: an average of about 6 hours a week vs. 3 hours per week.
“This doesn’t mean that someone who spends just two hours a week in online sexual activities does not have a problem, or that a man who spends over 6 hours a week necessarily does have one,” Cooper says. “But like the other risk factors, spending more and more time online in cybersex is creating a bigger and bigger split between online and offline life.”
The analysis appears in the current issue of Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity: Journal of Treatment and Prevention. (MSNBC.com always notes that by their very nature, surveys posted on its Web site are self-selected, not the random samples utilized by polling organizations.)
CLICK AND TELL
The new survey — an expanded, improved version of one posted on MSNBC.com in 1998 — asked MSNBC users ages 18 and over to answer 76 questions about what kind of sex sites they visited, how long they spent in such pursuits and what they got out of it.
A “pop-up” menu appeared on the screen of every 1,000th visitor to the site, inviting them to fill out the survey. Over 7,000 people randomly completed the pop-up survey over a four-week period in June 2000; of them, 384 men and 17 women met the criteria for cybersex addiction. Due to the small sample size of female group, the researchers analyzed only the male responses.
Among the findings:
Distraction was the No. 1 reason both cybersex addicts and those with no problems engaged in online sex: 81 percent vs. 82 percent, not a statistical difference.
Fifty-seven percent of those in the additive group cited stress relief as a reason for their dalliances, compared with just 30 percent of the “normal” group.
Forty-three percent of cybersex addicts said they went online to explore sexual fantasies, compared with 20 percent of the others.
Those who did not have a problem were significantly more likely to use online sex for education (31 percent vs. 25 percent) or to buy sexual materials (12 percent vs. 6 percent) than those with a problem.
Those with online sexual problems were about three times as likely to have sexual problems in real life (36 percent vs. 13 percent).
The addicted group was also somewhat more likely than the others to be in therapy or on medication, to have suicidal thoughts and to overeat.
The team who analyzed the research, which was partially underwritten by a grant from the American Foundation of Addiction Research, included University of Oxford statistician Robin Mathy and Eric Griffin Shelley and Dave Delmonico of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh.
A PATTERN OF ESCAPISM
Taken together, the results show a pattern in which the addict uses cybersex as escapism, Cooper says.
“Instead of working out a problem with a partner, these men fantasize in a chat room. Instead of exercising to relieve stress, they view online erotica,” Cooper says. “As a result, issues in real life are never resolved.”
Los Angeles therapist Rob Weiss, who specializes in treating sexual addiction, points out that the consequences can be far-reaching. While cyber-infidelities don’t involve out-of-town hotel room trysts or blotted lipstick on the collar, they are all too real to the people who feel they’ve been cheated on, says Weiss, author of “Cybersex Exposed,” an exploration of the potential destructiveness of cybersex addiction.
So what should you do if you find your cyber-affairs are spinning out of control or if you find yourself, like one of the survey respondents, spending more and more time online, “losing hours of sleep, constantly craving for one more orgasm?”
Seek out a person you trust and confide your fears, Cooper advises. If you still think you may be on the road to self-destruction, he says there are a number of avenues open to you: 12-step groups such as Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous, therapy or even self-help evaluations online.
Additionally, the high-tech industry needs to be more proactive in educating users about the risk of visiting online sex sites, according to Cooper.
Alcohol and cigarettes both carry health warnings on their labels,” he says. “But no one warns the visitor to cybersex sites about its potential consequences.”
