Attraction rather than Promotion

SCA’s primary purpose and tradition is to carry it’s message to the sexual compulsive who still suffers. We are looking for help from anyone that may have internet experience with ways to ATTRACT those that may be interested or affected by CSBD (Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder) to our websites: SCAnneronline.org, https://www.youtube.com/@SCA-Recovery, SCA-recovery.org and our various Intergroups and WhatsApp meetings.

Please feel free to contact the SCAnner’s editor with any thoughts, ideas and suggestions.

The Problem of Porn Addiction

To take the test, simply answer yes or no to each of the following questions.

Do you ever feel overly distracted by, preoccupied with, or obsessed with pornography?
When you start to use pornography, do you sometimes have trouble stopping, consistently looking at it for longer periods than intended?
Do you ever use porn as a way to avoid stress, anxiety, loneliness, boredom, or other forms of emotional discomfort?
After you use porn, do you sometimes regret it or feel depressed?
Have you ever promised yourself or another person that you would stop using porn, only to break that promise later?
Do you ever look forward to events with family/friends ending so you can look at porn?
Have you ever kept secrets about or lied about your porn use?
Have you ever experienced negative consequences related to your porn use, such as relationship trouble, social/emotional isolation, issues at work/school, etc.?
Does your porn use potentially offend others, violate community standards, or place you in danger of arrest?
Do you feel restless, irritable, or discontent when you are unable to use porn?

A ‘yes’ response to three or more of the ten questions listed above indicates that porn addiction may be an issue.

For a long time people with porn-related issues were thought to have a history of early-life trauma. Recently, however there is a new and rapidly growing subcategory of people struggling with pornography. These individuals meet the basic criteria used to identify addiction but lack the underlying early-life trauma that typically drives addictive behavior. Rather than qualifying as traditional trauma-driven porn addicts, it appears these non-trauma-driven individuals have developed a “conditioned” addiction to pornography.

Typically, conditioned porn addicts start viewing porn at a young age, often before puberty hits. And then they fail to move beyond this easily accessed sexual outlet. For these individuals, porn serves as both sex education and sexual fulfillment. The unfortunate result of this is that the user’s emotional and psychological development in terms of sexuality and relationships can be stunted – beginning and ending with what they learn from porn. As such, their ability to form and maintain meaningful real-world romantic and sexual attachments may not develop or may not fully develop in the usual ways.

Initial treatment for conditioned porn addicts mirrors treatment for traditional addicts. In other words, early work is focused on stopping addictive behavior, breaking through denial, managing the crisis or crises that precipitated treatment, and developing tactics to combat triggers and relapse. At that point, because conditioned porn addiction is not driven by trauma, the treatment approach diverges. Rather than working to resolve early-life trauma, treatment transitions toward social development – learning how to develop and maintain real-world romantic and sexual connections. Admittedly, not all conditioned porn addicts are entirely bereft when it comes to real-world relationships. In fact, some are quite adept socially. But the majority need to be walked through the adolescent and early adult stages of social development to some degree, and that, rather than trauma resolution, is the second-level treatment focus for this population.

In SCA we not only learn how to stop the addictive behaviors but also how to grow spiritually to live a more fulfilling life.

Each SCA Meeting can have a vote?

At the 2023 SCA ISO Conference the following updates to the By-laws were made:

Article I. Delegates, Section 2. Voting Rights and Proxies

As indicated in Section 1. above, each Intergroup delegation has as many votes as the number of meetings
they represent. An individual meeting can choose to withdraw their vote from the local intergroup and send
their elected or selected representative instead. All delegates may participate in the ISO conference in
person, or by electronic means, including internet conferencing software, telephone, or other digital
methods that ISO may employ in the future. Intergroups or meetings that do not participate in the
proceedings using any of these methods may select a proxy to represent them and cast their votes. This
proxy may be another participating Intergroup, meeting, officer, or another member of SCA. A proxy
designation must be made known to the ISO Chair at least one (1) week before the scheduled conference.
Groups not participating in the ISO conference discussions will be counted as absent in any vote unless
their proxy votes on their behalf

“I want my RTV (Recovery Television).”

SCA New York is pleased to announce its Spring Show “I want my RTV (Recovery Television).”

Performances will be held on Saturday, May 2nd, at 7pm and Sunday, May 3rd, at 3pm at the TADA! theater, 15 West 28th Street, near Madison Square Park.

Tickets are $35 plus online transaction fee.

To buy tickets, click this link:

Events Box Office • SCA Commerce

sca-newyork.org

Hitting Bottom?

There’s a common belief in addiction recovery that keeps people stuck longer than they need to be: the idea that you have to hit “rock bottom” before things can change. It sounds convincing—but it’s not true.

Waiting for things to fall apart often leads to more loss, more disconnection, and more pain. It can quietly reinforce the idea that help is only justified after irreparable damage is done. In reality, recovery doesn’t begin at rock bottom. It begins with awareness.

That moment might look like:

Realizing you can’t stop, even when you’ve tried
Noticing patterns you’ve seen before starting to repeat
Experiencing a rupture in your relationship
Or simply recognizing something doesn’t feel right anymore

It doesn’t have to be catastrophic to matter. You don’t need to lose your family, your career, or your sense of self to take this seriously. In many cases, choosing to seek support early reflects clarity, insight, and a willingness to do something different.

Awareness of Addiction can raise your “Bottom” and help you to change direction before things escalate.

Sexual Sobriety

Various definitions

Many people who come to this website are struggling with some aspect of sexual behavior that could be called addictive, compulsive, obsessive, dependent, or otherwise out-of-control (all various ways of saying basically the same thing, which is that a person is powerless over some aspect of his or her sexual behavior and that his or her life has become unmanageable).

Sexual Sobriety Definitions Vary

The definition of what constitutes sexual “sobriety” is not the same among the five different fellowships. Knowing these differences can be helpful in deciding which fellowship best suits the individual needs of each person seeking sexual recovery. There are at least five different 12-Step fellowships that address a person’s sexual behavior. They are all based on the original 12-step fellowship, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). From the time of its founding in the 1930’s. A.A. has been so successful in helping people recover from alcohol dependence that its format has been adapted to many other behaviors. Several different fellowships for achieving sexual sobriety originated in different parts of the country within a few years of each other.

SCA states that: “Members are encouraged to develop their own sexual recovery plan, and to define sexual sobriety for themselves. We are not here to repress our God-given sexuality, but to learn how to express it in ways that will not make unreasonable demands on our time and energy, place us in legal jeopardy — or endanger our mental, physical or spiritual health.”

Although the SCA fellowship originally sought to address issues of sexual compulsion among gay and bisexual men, it has always been open to all sexual genders and orientations, and there is an increasing number of women and heterosexual men participating.

(posted from the SCA Atlanta’s website: https://atlantasexaddicts.com/gasca)

Time Change

Please note there is a time change and Daylight Saving Time ends in most of Europe and certain other areas this Sunday, October 26, 2025. Clocks in the affected areas go back one hour. The telephone meetings will still be at 4:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. New York Time as usual, but the time in other places may be different than usual. The meetings will be one hour earlier in much of Europe that week for instance, depending on your location:

https://www.timeanddate.com/news/time/europe-dst-end-2025.html

Daylight Saving Time ends and the clocks go back one hour in most of North America the following weekend, and the meetings will be back in the usual alignment with most other time zones on Sunday, November 2, 2025:

https://www.timeanddate.com/news/time/usa-end-dst-2025.html

https://www.timeanddate.com/news/time/canada-end-dst-2025.html

For Women and Non-Binary People

An SCA Outreach Weekend

Thanks to the efforts of Gordon B., Gary S., Robert A., and Brian V., SCA has reached out in new ways to hundreds of individuals in the addiction community trying to help those that may be suffering from SCBD (Sexual Compulsive Behavior Disorder).

SCA presented it’s first ever workshop and meeting at the AA Florida Roundup in Ft. Lauderdale. The session focused on the Characteristics – which were somewhat unfamiliar to many of the attendees – and the Tools of Recovery. At the same time across the country in Phoenix, AZ, SCA was a first time exhibitor at the annual IITAP (International Institute for Trauma and Addiction Professionals) Symposium. This event was well attended by the most influential therapists and treatment facilities in this field. Most of those that stopped by our both were not familiar with SCA and this was a great opportunity to enlighten them of all the good work that we do. Those that knew of us, said that they refer many of their clients to our meetings and were happy to see us at this event.

We hope that SCA’s outreach will help grow our program, and in doing so will help our members recovery.

The Deadly Subculture of Internet Video Vigilantes by J.L.Flatley (edited for the SCAnner)

Predator catchers are social media influencers conducting amateur sting operations to expose alleged child predators. I first learned of the death of Craig Gertz when an activist in San Diego told me about a YouTube livestream he had witnessed in 2021. In the video the vigilante chased Gertz down the street to his house and waited outside until Gertz killed himself inside the residence. The gunshot could be heard on the livestream. The video was then removed from YouTube. These tragedies highlight the potential consequences and harm to addicts from the actions of predator-catcher vigilantes.

These vigilantes pretend to be minors looking for sex online. Once they’ve made contact with a “suspected “predator, they arrange a meeting, videotape the encounter, and then post the video online to shame them publicly. They think they know more about stopping sexual assaults than law enforcement, public health professionals and the courts. They can become very aggressive, seeking financial incentives for making videos registering over 300,000 views.

Suicide is a real possibility anytime you publicly shame, or threaten to publicly shame, an alleged predator. There have been many other predator catcher suicides around the world. Few of these sting operations lead to arrests; even fewer result in convictions. One issue is that the evidence obtained rarely stands up in court. Another is that many of the targets have serious addiction issues that allow them to be enticed into meeting with the vigilantes. Many police departments will not work with civilians acting as undercover operatives and do not condone such activities.

Alleged predators often face harassment, with some committing suicide, as seen in the case of Craig Gertz. However, a significant portion of those targeted seem to be guilty of nothing more than being catfished. This entrapment is usually initiated on “dating or hook-up” apps. And their anonymous nature makes it easy for real minors to put themselves in harm’s way. There is no real way to keep minors off these platforms. It’s also an ideal place for homophobes to create false profiles to dox, harass and entrap people that have not committed any crimes. Usually when a complaint is filed against these vigilantes their attorneys file an anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) motion to have the charges dismissed to protect their right for free speech, so they can speak out and participate in public discourse without fear of reprisal. Is harassing protected under the First Amendment?

What often happens is the victim may be cruising a “dating” app and may get a message from an anti-pedophile vigilante posing as a minor in order to lure the adult into a real-life confrontation. When finally meeting it is patently obvious he is not a minor and that they are being videoed. The target is then given a choice to help create content (for social media) by appearing in their video, or have all the evidence (texts, calls, pictures, etc.) turned over to the police. Often the police are called anyway while they film the target’s confession or story and possibly their arrest. Once the information is leaked, it becomes the news of the day. The media does not seem to be interested in the problematic nature of the predator catcher community or how it conducts its sting operations.

Whether they are fueled by social media and the drive for viral content or because they believe the justice system isn’t acting quickly or effectively enough, vigilante justice involves individuals or groups taking the law enforcement into their own hands without legal authority. We are not condoning these activities or those targeting under-age adolescence/children. Both have serious problems and my be breaking our laws. We do support the SCA (Sexual Compulsives Anonymous) Program as a means to help those that may be suffering from Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder (CSBD).