General sexual profile in individuals with problematic cybersex consumption
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Abstract
Introduction: Cybersex addiction is a term that lacks consensus regarding its classification and diagnostic criteria. The lack of knowledge about this disorder leads to stigmatizing people who suffer from it, considering, at best, that their addiction would be generalized to all their sexuality. Objective: Analyze the sexual profile of a group of men with problematic cybersex use. Methodology: 30 men aged 25-67 years (M=36.43; SD=8.28) who presented a profile of risk or addiction to cybersex measured through the ISST (Internet Sex Screening Test, Delmonico, 1997) and the CISEX Diagnostic Interview (Castro-Calvo et al., in preparation) who were seeking help for treatment participated. In addition, they completed other questionnaires on sociodemographic information and general sexuality. Results: 70% were heterosexualand 80% had astable partner. A 53.3% masturbated weekly without using internet, dedicating 1.86 hours/week (SD=1.64) and 73.3% had sexual relations with their stable partner (M=1.77 hours/week; SD=1.80). Other sexual behaviors such as relations with sporadic partners (13.3%), contact with sex workers (6.7%) or relations considered infidelity (0%) were infrequent among these individuals. In addition, they presented low discomfort with their offline sexual activities and high perceived control over these activities. Regarding paraphilic sexual preferences, between 80% and 36.7% were aroused to some extent by voyeurism, exhibitionism, or sadomasochism. Conclusions: In general, people with a problematic cybersex profile are heterosexual, with a stable partner and present non-pathological offline sexual behavior. However, sexual arousal in situations that can be considered paraphilic is frequent, which may be a sign of tolerance, characteristic of this disorder. These data show that there are people whose addiction is focused on cybersex, without affecting other areas of their sexuality.
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