Pornography Addiction: What is Sex Addiction?

Pornography Addiction: What is Sex Addiction? Copyright © 2005 Pure Online, Inc. http://www.pureonline.com
Reprinted with permission.

Any Christian man who is engaging in sexual immorality of any kind is a man in conflict. He is a man who believes one thing and yet his actions are not matching up with his beliefs.

Often it starts by viewing pseudo-pornography--things like modeling sites, chat sites, personal homepages, and other sites that often contain seductive images, but may not be classified as pornography. Very quickly this kind of online behavior can spiral down to a place where these images don't cut it anymore--and the viewer begins to "need" more intense images to be stimulated.

Often you will hear someone who has gotten addicted say, "I have no idea how I got here--it started so innocently." Pornography is both very alluring and very addictive. The websites that are distributing the material are designed to draw in the viewer, dangle free content and easy sign-ups--in an attempt to capture a new user.

What is Sex Addiction?

There are good "sex addiction" tests all over the web that can help you determine if you are addicted to sex in some form. We are not going to attempt to reproduce those here, but will offer this simple definition and challenge: If your life is being controlled by your sexual desires and activities, instead of YOU being in control of them, then you have a sexual addiction.

Sex Addiction vs. Pornography Addiction:

Far and away the largest subset of men who are dealing with sexual addiction are dealing specifically with Internet pornography addiction. The Internet has brought many, many good things to our lives--but it has also enabled the anonymous, always-on, and affordable (often free) access to pornography. If you sent a bottle of vodka to every home in America every week for a year, you would no doubt have a whole wave of alcoholics. The Internet has created a wave of pornography addicts with its pervasive porn delivery mechanism. If you are a Christian man who is in this group, help yourself by starting the Pure Online program now and not putting it off another day.