He40

HE40

Visit to an Addiction support Group

On Monday July 13th from 7:15 to 8:45pm I attended a male’s only sexual addiction meeting at the Bishop Molloy Retreat House located on Edgerton Blvd in Jamaica, Queens NY. It was an open to all seeking help but closed to visitors meeting. The meeting consisted of six males including myself. So I had to pretend I was seeking help. Or maybe I wasn’t pretending?

Some of the addictions that were spoken of in the meeting were masturbation addiction, pornographic addiction, sadomasochism addiction and sexual intercourse addiction. All these different forms of addiction fall under the general scope of sex addiction

I was surprised at how normal these men were. They did not give specific details about their identities it was first names only. Some of the men were married some single and we weren’t all heterosexual. There were differences in ages as well as professions and race. I realized how much an addiction can really take a toll and even take over someone’s life. How it can be so powerful that it causes you to put it before everything else that someone without an addiction may value and try to protect; things such as family, friends and careers. Some of the stories of how they tried to cope with their addiction on a daily basis were shocking; the struggle to make it through the day without succumbing to their addictions.

One thing that astonished me; well surprised me was the feeling that becoming one of these individuals isn’t as farfetched as one would think. We walk a tight rope everyday not knowing that with a slip we; me; you; her; him can easily become an addict. I left that meeting with questions about myself; reevaluating certain actions and decisions I’ve made in the past. Inhibitions that I may have had at one time or another when I was younger aren’t there anymore. As a society we characterize these individuals as perverts even going so far as to call them deviants. When in reality they are people just like...