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Shadowy Addiction: Cyberporn Is Having Damaging Effects on Users Who Can't Stop Clicking
ABC News ^ | 8-27-04 | Lynn Sherr

Posted on 08/30/2004 6:40:40 AM PDT by Caleb1411

The ads are all over the Web. Between spam cluttering e-mail boxes and pop-up notices springing up on browsers, all the sex anyone might desire is just a mouse click away.

"The number of fetish sites on the Web would astonish you," said New York-based sex therapist Dorothy Hayden. "Women with body hair … bestiality … it staggers the imagination."

Most of us navigate quickly past the come-ons. But for some who are enticed to open these cyber doors, one click can ruin their lives.

"I thought it was just a recreational thing that I could do on my own, but it cost me everything," said Michael Leahy.

He told 20/20 that he kept his habit a secret from his wife, Patti Onorato, for 14 years. But eventually his life came crashing down, just like that of an alcoholic hitting rock bottom. In this case, though, the drug of choice was cyberporn.

Leahy and Onorato were still newlyweds when his computer sales job sent him on the road. That gave him the freedom to explore an erotic new world.

"I would take time out of my day instead of making calls from, you know, 8 to 5," said Leahy. "I would hook up to the Internet and start looking at porn sites. … It was pretty lurid stuff."

As time went on, his new passion took over. He lost job after job. It was an addiction without clear signs, a drug that left no track marks.

"I was definitely living a double life," said Leahy.

At home, he was a father to two handsome, healthy sons. He earned a six-figure salary and his wife was a respected schoolteacher.

But behind closed doors there was something missing: sex. . . .

(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: addiction; disorders; internet; pornography
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1 posted on 08/30/2004 6:40:41 AM PDT by Caleb1411
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To: Caleb1411
Porn addicts themselves often wind up posing for lurid or pornographic photos.


2 posted on 08/30/2004 6:46:23 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
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To: Caleb1411

Rather scary isn't it? Our former county sheriff was convicted for having child porn on his personal PC. Of course there's a healthy alternative right here at Freerepublic. I can't seem to get away from this dang 'puter!


3 posted on 08/30/2004 6:49:07 AM PDT by Horatio Gates (Kerry Koolaid. Official drink of the DNC. Hard to swallow but it ain't Bush!)
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To: Caleb1411
There is a place to go for Freedom from this addiction:

60-Day interactive course which WILL SET YOU FREE.

4 posted on 08/30/2004 6:52:08 AM PDT by Skooz (My Biography: Psalm 40:1-3)
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To: governsleastgovernsbest
Kitty porn


5 posted on 08/30/2004 6:52:52 AM PDT by al baby (please only one screen name per person)
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To: Caleb1411
Number of scientific studies cited in this article: 0.

Next.
6 posted on 08/30/2004 6:56:36 AM PDT by Quick1
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To: Caleb1411

""The number of fetish sites on the Web would astonish you," said New York-based sex therapist Dorothy Hayden. "Women with body hair … bestiality … it staggers the imagination." "

I'm sure it does, and I"m sure Ms. Hayden had a terrific time finding all this stuff. I've been using the web since the mid 80's. You know what? I've never been to a single porn site.

All that stuff I've been missing! Wow!

Could it be that all these folks who are "addicted" to porn were creeps in the first place?


7 posted on 08/30/2004 6:58:43 AM PDT by MineralMan (godless atheist)
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To: shotokan

Is it really healthy for me to mix with other "evil" conservatives who oppose the slaughter of unborn children, the feeding of people who refuse to work, the overtaxing of those who put people to work, the free medical treatment and feeding of criminally residing immigrants, the legitimizing of queer marriage, the abolition of free speech for conservative politics but preservation of pornography...?

I guess this IS an obsession!


8 posted on 08/30/2004 7:07:22 AM PDT by Blue Collar Christian (So "F'n" means "flip-flopping"? ><BCC>)
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To: Caleb1411

Hey, I'm in sympathy. I understand addiction.

My Ode to FR

The dog is in the garbage,
The kids are in the car.
The doorbell it is ringing,
And me? I'm on FR.

The car keys are now missing,
I don't know where they are.
That really doesn't matter,
It's better on FR.

The sink is overflowing,
The boys have broke a jar.
The dryer it is buzzing,
But I'm still on FR.

Heck, who needs print and TV,
Drugs, gambling, or a bar?
We know the more addicting
Habit is FR.

One day I'll really lose it,
One day I'll go too far,
One day they'll haul me out of here,
Screaming for FR.


9 posted on 08/30/2004 7:10:16 AM PDT by I still care (Have you heard about the Democrat cocktail? It's ketchup with a chaser.)
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To: Quick1

This article is better than a scientific study. It is real world and cyberporn is having a devastasting impact on our society.


10 posted on 08/30/2004 7:16:40 AM PDT by truthandlife ("Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God." (Ps 20:7))
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To: Caleb1411

There's porn on the internet?


11 posted on 08/30/2004 7:19:47 AM PDT by bk1000 ("We will take things away from you for the common good.": -HRC)
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To: truthandlife
cyberporn is having a devastasting impact on our society

Got any data to back that assertion? The article cites one loser who could just as well have become addicted to Home Shopping Network.

12 posted on 08/30/2004 7:21:00 AM PDT by eno_ (Freedom Lite, it's almost worth defending.)
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To: truthandlife

"It is real world and cyberporn is having a devastasting impact on our society."

Is it? Do you have any evidence for that statement? I'm sure it can have a devastating impact on individuals who do nothing but look at porn, but I've seen no evidence that it has much impact on society at large. Porn has always been with us, and icky people have always been addicted to porn.

It's just easier to find now online. As I said, I've been using the net for almost 20 years now, and have never been to a porn site. Am I missing something?


13 posted on 08/30/2004 7:23:51 AM PDT by MineralMan (godless atheist)
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To: Quick1
If we study this problem scientifically and it is then proven to be a "disease" instead of a human fault, gov't money will flow into treatment centers, we will applaud the addicts who are overcoming the disease, and find fault with the providers that cause their disease...
14 posted on 08/30/2004 7:25:39 AM PDT by Blue Collar Christian (So "F'n" means "flip-flopping"? ><BCC>)
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To: eno_
Research is ongoing, but studies are not yet completed because of the age of the internet. However, many psychologists accept sexual addictions as a pathology, but the matter is controversial. If it turns out in time that porn is addictive to the extent that it affects daily behavioral efficiency, it will simply be another aspect of contemporary liberalism revealed to be bad for the individual and for society.

Sex, drugs, and rock and roll: we know that drugs are bad, and that libertine sex causes STD epidemics and, in some cases, death (an AIDS epidemic would not exist in a monogamous society). Porn is a subset of libertine sex and sexuality. The likelihood of unbridled porn having harmful effects upon individuals intuitively seems high, but I know that is not scientific.

15 posted on 08/30/2004 7:32:02 AM PDT by TheGeezer (If only I had skin as thick as Ann Coulter, and but half her intelligence...)
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To: TheGeezer
The likelihood of unbridled porn having harmful effects upon individuals intuitively seems high, but I know that is not scientific.

Yep. But, of course, the anecdotal evidence is overwhelming.

16 posted on 08/30/2004 7:33:44 AM PDT by Skooz (My Biography: Psalm 40:1-3)
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To: Caleb1411

17 posted on 08/30/2004 7:33:50 AM PDT by Petronski (Sometimes I'm just too damned cranky.)
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To: I still care

Amen... lol


18 posted on 08/30/2004 7:38:06 AM PDT by codyjacksmom
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To: Caleb1411
"You could have a different woman every day," said John. "You're never rejected."

That is one sentiment I'll never understand. As a man, sure, pornography is tempting. But it just doesn't compare to an actual roll in the hay with a woman.

If these guys are finding porn more satisfying, something is wrong with them.

19 posted on 08/30/2004 7:46:01 AM PDT by hopespringseternal
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To: hopespringseternal
If these guys are finding porn more satisfying, something is wrong with them.

Exactly. It's called addiction.

20 posted on 08/30/2004 7:47:54 AM PDT by Skooz (My Biography: Psalm 40:1-3)
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