Shadowy Addiction
Cyberporn Is Having Damaging Effects on Users Who Can't Stop Clicking
By Lynn Sherr
Aug. 27, 2004 ? The ads are all over the Web. Between spam cluttering e-mail boxes and pop-up notices springing up on browsers, all the sex anyone might desire is just a mouse click away.
Watch Lynn Sherr's full report Friday on 20/20 at 10 p.m. ET
"The number of fetish sites on the Web would astonish you," said New York-based sex therapist Dorothy Hayden. "Women with body hair ? bestiality ? it staggers the imagination."
Most of us navigate quickly past the come-ons. But for some who are enticed to open these cyber doors, one click can ruin their lives.
"I thought it was just a recreational thing that I could do on my own, but it cost me everything," said Michael Leahy.
He told 20/20 that he kept his habit a secret from his wife, Patti Onorato, for 14 years. But eventually his life came crashing down, just like that of an alcoholic hitting rock bottom. In this case, though, the drug of choice was cyberporn.
Marital Secret
Leahy and Onorato were still newlyweds when his computer sales job sent him on the road. That gave him the freedom to explore an erotic new world.
"I would take time out of my day instead of making calls from, you know, 8 to 5," said Leahy. "I would hook up to the Internet and start looking at porn sites. ? It was pretty lurid stuff."
As time went on, his new passion took over. He lost job after job. It was an addiction without clear signs, a drug that left no track marks.
"I was definitely living a double life," said Leahy.
At home, he was a father to two handsome, healthy sons. He earned a six-figure salary and his wife was a respected schoolteacher.
But behind closed doors there was something missing: sex.
"When we were having sex once or twice a year, I was getting my needs met every day," said Leahy. "Patti was one woman. And on the Internet, I can have thousands and thousands of women."
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http://abcnews.go.com/sections/2020/..._040827-1.html
Cyberporn Is Having Damaging Effects on Users Who Can't Stop Clicking
By Lynn Sherr
Aug. 27, 2004 ? The ads are all over the Web. Between spam cluttering e-mail boxes and pop-up notices springing up on browsers, all the sex anyone might desire is just a mouse click away.
Watch Lynn Sherr's full report Friday on 20/20 at 10 p.m. ET
"The number of fetish sites on the Web would astonish you," said New York-based sex therapist Dorothy Hayden. "Women with body hair ? bestiality ? it staggers the imagination."
Most of us navigate quickly past the come-ons. But for some who are enticed to open these cyber doors, one click can ruin their lives.
"I thought it was just a recreational thing that I could do on my own, but it cost me everything," said Michael Leahy.
He told 20/20 that he kept his habit a secret from his wife, Patti Onorato, for 14 years. But eventually his life came crashing down, just like that of an alcoholic hitting rock bottom. In this case, though, the drug of choice was cyberporn.
Marital Secret
Leahy and Onorato were still newlyweds when his computer sales job sent him on the road. That gave him the freedom to explore an erotic new world.
"I would take time out of my day instead of making calls from, you know, 8 to 5," said Leahy. "I would hook up to the Internet and start looking at porn sites. ? It was pretty lurid stuff."
As time went on, his new passion took over. He lost job after job. It was an addiction without clear signs, a drug that left no track marks.
"I was definitely living a double life," said Leahy.
At home, he was a father to two handsome, healthy sons. He earned a six-figure salary and his wife was a respected schoolteacher.
But behind closed doors there was something missing: sex.
"When we were having sex once or twice a year, I was getting my needs met every day," said Leahy. "Patti was one woman. And on the Internet, I can have thousands and thousands of women."
---
Discuss
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/2020/..._040827-1.html
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