Cybersex: The Dark Side of the Force: A Special Issue of the Journal Sexual Addiction and Compulsion

Description

The exponential growth of the Internet in recent years has given individuals immediate and virtually anonymous access to all types of information, including explicit sexual content. While many celebrate the personal freedoms made possible by the Internet, others consider unfettered access to online sexual material to be an unhealthy, if not dangerous phenomenon. Expanding this debate, this book presents an empirical foundation for the discussion of cybersex compulsivity and its effect on the mental health of individuals, couples, teens, and young children. While pornographic material has long been available to the consumer in print and video form, these purchases are inherently limited by the individual's degree of comfort with the public exposure (however minimal) that they they require. In contrast, the Internet provides a forum where children can access unsuitable material without parental supervision, and where individuals with existing sexual compulsions can access material that can exacerbate their struggle to maintain control over their desire. Even among individuals who are not as susceptible to such material, cybersex can create distorted associations or compound negative or unrealistic expectations about sexuality. This examination of cybersex was originally published as a special issue of the journal "Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity." It is a resource for sex therapists and should also be of interest to general marriage and family therapists who find themselves dealing with this issue with their clients, as well as others who are interested in the Internet as a social phenomenon.

Al Cooper, Director, San Jose Marital and Sexuality Center and Stanford University