What is a sexual addict?
What behaviors are typical of a true sexual addict?
Why can a sexual not control himself?
Sex is a biological necessity for millions of species on our planet.
And in the context of a loving, monogamous, caring relationship, sexual intimacy is a beautiful connection between two people, an emotional and spiritual bonding of two souls.
But for the sexual addict, sex serves a vastly different and decidedly non-intimate and non-spiritual purpose.
The sex addict is unable to control his sexual behavior despite the problems it causes him in his life.
The sex addict engages in extreme lewd sexual acts, often perverted or against the standard cultural norms.
Normal sexual interplay in the context of a caring, loving and monogamous relationship simply does not quench the insatiable drive he feels.
Despite his often frequent attempts to regulate or control behavior which he himself recognizes on some level as destructive, he is driven to give up normal social interactions in order to continually increase the intensity and riskiness of his sexually perverse acts.
This includes complete ignorance of his primary partner, and often degradation of her as she cannot satisfy his every-increasing need for riskier and more perverted acts. Even his one-off partners are treated as objects. Love is not the goal of his sexual addiction; even sexual intercourse per se is not the objective.
Typical behaviors include:
* Excessive consumption of pornographic material (including printed matter, photos, videos, and internet). Usage is not limited to adolescent years, but continues unabated – and often with increasing frequency and addictive dependency – into adulthood.
* Compulsive masturbation, also continuing into adulthood.
* Inability to commit to one monogamous sexual relationship at a time. Simultaneous relationships, affairs, “quickies”, etc, to offset the emotional pain.
* Desire for anonymous sex. The less is known about the partner, the better. Treatment of sex partners as objects rather than people.
* Resorting to prostitution, often even when sexual opportunities with his primary partner are available.
* Need to increase the riskiness of sexual behavior. As sexual intercourse per se is not the goal, the sex addict must constantly push the limits of his sex acts in order to feel any thrill and to numb the empty pain from which he suffers.
* Inability to associate sex with love. Inability to recognize that sex involves feelings.