Sex on the Internet: observations and implications for Internet sex addiction

Journal of Sex Research, Nov, 2001 by Mark Griffiths

Schwartz and Southern (2000) also constructed four self-explanatory subtypes of cybersex addiction (i.e., male cybersex addicts, female cybersex addicts, loner cybersex addicts, paraphiliac cybersex addicts). The first two subgroups were based on gender, while the latter two subgroups reflected lifestyle limitations. The loner and paraphiliac subgroups were not mutually exclusive, but were argued to be clinically meaningful. In general, Schwartz and Southern argued that cybersex abusers are heavy users of the Internet, generally married, college-educated, depressed, and the survivors of sexual abuse.

In conclusion, Schwartz and Southern (2000) argued that compulsive cybersex was a survival mechanism involving dissociative reenactment and affect regulation. Dissociation was present when a person engaged in secretive illicit sex on the computer and then went to bed with the spouse without dissonance or discomfort. They also claimed that cybersex had become the new tea room for meeting anonymous partners and engaging in a fantasy world. Anonymous persons engaged in easily accessible, ritualized, affordable behavior that led to an impersonal and detached sexual outlet. Furthermore, it provided an immediate powerful reinforcement afforded by variable schedule hits that made it potentially addictive for many users.

The empirical data of both Schwartz &Southern (2000) and Cooper et al. (2000) gives credence to Young et al.'s (2000) claim that men and women use cybersex differently. However, the differences were not in the way that Young et al. (2000) postulated. For instance, Cooper et al. (2000) found that females preferred chat rooms to other mediums whereas males preferred the Web. No female cybersex compulsives reported using newsgroups for sexual pursuits. Since newsgroups are primarily for the exchange of erotic pictures, this supported the finding that women tend to desire cybersex in the context of a "relationship" rather than simply viewing images or text (Cames, 1991; Cooper, Scherer, et al., 1999). The study by Schwartz and Southern reported that male cybersex abusers had characteristics similar to problem Internet users, and were more likely to engage in sexual compulsivity or be labeled a sex addict. Female cybersex abusers displayed similar behavior to nonproblematic Internet users, and male cybersex abusers were likely to be older than female cybersex abusers (i.e., middle-aged).

Internet Sex Addiction: Indirect Empirical Data

Indirect evidence of Internet sex addiction comes from a number of studies. For instance, Schneider (2000) carded out a brief survey with 91 females and 3 males. All of her participants had experienced serious adverse consequences of their partner's cybersex involvement. Interestingly, 31% of her participants volunteered that the partner's cybersex activities were a continuation of preexisting compulsive sexual behaviors. Furthermore, 16 respondents (18%) reported that their partner's cybersex activities progressed to offline encounters with other people. These were people they had met in online chatrooms, through e-mail, and so forth. It was also reported that cybersex was a major contributing factor to separation and divorce. The major problem with this study in evaluating the evidence for Internet sex addiction is that the term cybersex addict was used informally and the decision to use the term was not made using any screening instrument. The diagnosis was thus from the perception of the respondents. Schneider claims that most people who engage in online sexual behavior are recreational users analagous to recreational drinkers or gamblers. However, she claims that a significant proportion of online users have preexisting sexual compulsions or addictions that are now finding a new outlet. For others, with no such history, cybersex is the first expression of an addictive disorder--one that lends itself to rapid progression, similar to the increased crack cocaine use by the previously occasional cocaine user.