For certain people, particularly ones who may already have tendencies toward sexual compulsion, going online is like being an alcoholic in a liquor store. It can get out of control quickly. The computer itself can even become part of the sexual template. The Internet can provide an icy efficiency to these dark fixations. Men start posting pictures of their ex-wives in compromising positions.
Women assume new digital personas to trap their philandering husbands in online affairs.
And the Internet feeds them all. Carnes' talk came at a time when the academic and psychology communities are beginning to focus on online sex and its consequences. San Francisco State University recently began offering a university-level class on cybersex . The journal Sexual Addiction and Compulsion recently completed a wide-ranging survey on cybersex compulsives. And The American Psychological Association's APA Monitor examined Internet-fueled addictions in its April issue .