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Darin Graham
Jan 09, 2018
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A woman has described her ‘dark’ struggle as a porn addict in her revealing new book - Getting Off.
Erica Garza, 35, writes about how her relationship with porn developed aged 12 and lasted into her early thirties.
She says in the memoir, published 9 January 2018, her compulsion for porn began when she was in school in Los Angeles. Garza needed to wear a back brace because of a medical condition which caused her spine to curve and was regularly bullied because of it
Using late-night pornography on cable TV as an escape from the abuse, Garza explains in her book:
What I got was an elaborate mixture of shame and sexual excitement.
Sex was always on her mind after that.
Over the next few years, as the internet became more advanced, dealing with pornography became something of a constant struggle for Garza.
In extracts published by the New York Post she writes:
I didn't have to depend on anyone else for my fix. I'd come into my own.
I used to hide with my computer in the bedroom closet.
Part of the thrill was that I might get caught.
When she became more sexually active at 17 - her addition remained.
In a preview published by The Cut; Garza wrote of a late-night booty call with someone called ‘Clay’, and how just a few minutes after he left she turned to her laptop to watch porn.
In her early thirties, Garza realised her compulsion prevented her from forming relationships with men.
It all changed though when she met an app designer in Bali who would later become her husband. She said:
We watched porn at the beginning [of the relationship] because that was my habit,
But he wanted me to talk about why I used porn, and nobody had ever done that before.
For the first time, I really felt that I could be safe, supported and reveal who I was.
Garza concludes that with the help of her husband, yoga, and therapy - she conquered her porn temptations for six months and now only watches occasionally and “healthily.”
HT news.com.au