C YBER S EX AND THE P OTENTIAL FOR H ARM

Sexuality online is by far the biggest Internet-driven concern of parents, adults who work with kids, and couple’s therapists. Clinicians will eventually encounter a cybersex issue that pushes the limits of their current knowledge. The effects of cyber sex and sexuality online are just beginning to be discussed in the literature. This discourse tends to minimize the negative social constructions of sexuality offl ine and focus primarily on the cyber issue.

Mental health practitioners need to be conversant with the culture of sexuality rather than assume that all cyber sexual activities are problematic. However, the data suggests that three cyber sexual activities: cyber affairs, compulsive cybersexual behaviors, and consuming cyber child pornography online, have increased potential to acted out offl ine (Quayle & Taylor, 2003). Adults who engaged in compulsive cybersex activities were found to have weaker social affi liations and were more likely to engage in a deviant lifestyle offl ine, but it is not clear which came fi rst (Stack et al., 2004). Initially, more men viewed cybersex online and were more likely to engage in a cyber affair, but now gender differences are disappear- ing. However, there are differences in the kinds of cyber sex activities males and females choose to experience. Men tend to explore sexual activities online for arousal, while women engage in emotionally intimate cyber chat fi rst before pro- gressing to sexual intimacy (Boies et al., 2004; Subrahmanyam et al., 2004). Several investigators have determined that the cyber psychology constructs (Suller, 2005) of anonymity and disinhibition fuel cybersexual behaviors, including cyberstalking and online infi delity. Approximately 30% of these online sexual behaviors migrate offl ine (Begner, 2005; Bell, 2001; Cooper, 2002; Cooper et al., 2002).

Because the Internet has become the primary vehicle for both the produc- tion and worldwide transmission of child pornography (Bowker & Gray, 2004), fi le sharing and downloading these materials was found to contribute to an increased risk of offl ine sexual offending for adults with a sexual interest in children (Begner, 2005; Freeman-Longo, 2000; Quayle & Taylor, 2003; Thornberg & Lin, 2002). In addition, Internet technology itself increases the harm because it enables offenders to groom multiple victims. Massive distribution of sexually explicit materials depicting children appears to trigger, maintain, and reinforce sexual arousal, which contributes to offl ine offending (Nichols & Nicki, 2004). As many as 30% of sexual offenders at a California corrections reception center have the Internet as a

component of their offense (M.R., personal communication, June 2006). Mental health professionals today much expand their knowledge beyond harmful sexual activities online and realize how media use in general shapes sexuality, identity, affi liation, and behavior, especially with young people, before they help their patients with online issues (Lloyd, 2002). Adult cyber sexual issues are chal- lenging online and offl ine but mental health professional are especially chanllenged when it comes to adolescent sexuality. While we do have some data regarding the

252 Joanie Farley Gillispie

cyber sexual behaviors of adults, there is very little we understand about adolescent sexual behaviors either offl ine or online (Moser et al., 2004). In this country, there are political and attitudinal barriers to asking youngsters enough questions about their sexual habits. This makes it hard to assess how cyber sex activities may affect

a young person’s offl ine development. Unfortunately, few will describe the full range of their sexual behaviors unless specifi cally asked by clinicians (Bridges et al., 2003).

Today’s youth is saturated by surround-sound media sexuality. It has become so much a part of their discourse and culture, so embedded in everyday habits that online sex merges seamlessly into offl ine sex. Few adults really get this and clearly are not engaging in enough discourse with kids about sexuality. Byt kids are. They love to talk about sex, just not with most adults. Hooking up online, on cell phones, and on their iPods have made formerly private (and often secret) sexual acts public, shocking educators and parents. Covert (and subliminal) sexual and social messages, thousands of times more available online, appear to be shaping young people’s atti- tudes and changing some of their sexual behaviors even more than explicit sex sites online (Subrahmanyam et al., 2004).

While there is a dearth of information about adolescent sexuality in this country (Moser et al., 2004), there is data emerging from other parts of the world that can help clinicians understand the effects of cybersexual habits on young peo- ples’ offl ine behaviors. Swedish teens, ages 15–18, reported that they initiated more kinds of varied sexual behaviors offl ine as a result of cyber sex sites. Investigators also found that youth who consumed online pornography tended to use condoms during vaginal sexual intercourse only to prevent pregnancy. Unfortunately, these teens also reported a higher likelihood of engaging in unprotected anal sex as a result of viewing explicit anal sexual contact online because these scenarios did not emphasize safer sex practices in terms of prevention of sexually transmitted diseases (Haggstron-Nordin et al., 2005).

Hopefully, more studies concerning Internet sexual activities will include adolescents (Gross, 2004) and investigate both positive and pro-active online habits as well as the sensationalism that surrounds cyber sex. For example one of the most positive uses of the Internet for sexual purposes is for Sex Ed (Morahan-Martin, 2004). Clearinghouses like the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SEICUS,org) and radio sex guru Dr. Drew (drdrew.com) allow kids to ask questions and get answers about sex and their sexuality. At this point, it is tempting to generalize fi ndings from online sexuality research and assume that most Internet sex is harmful. However, investigators suggest that in the absence of compulsive, violent, or exploitative cyber habits, most Internet-driven behaviors, including sexual- and youth oriented ones, represent positive connections with others (Cooper & Griffi n-Shelley, 2002; Noonan, 1998).

10 Cyber Shrinks: Expanding the Paradigm

C YBER S EX AND THE P OTENTIAL FOR H ARM