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| Men and Women | Lots of different studies report a predominance of male Internet addicts. In an unpublished study of 1,300 college students of one Institute, 91 of the 103 students who met his sign for “Internet dependence” were male.
However other studies, including one of the first studies on Internet addiction, by Kimberly Young, PhD, discover that women are addicted as often as men – simply in different ways. Young, who has deal with people that suffer from Internet addiction, is executive director of the Center for On-line Addiction, founded in 1995. Hers is the first behavioral health-care firm to specialize in Internet-related disorders, offering outpatient and online treatment.
Addicted men and women seem to like better sites that suits behavioral stereotypes of their own gender. The researches – which are the only analysis to specifically concentrate on Internet sexuality – discovered that women are more likely to spend time flirting or having “cybersex” with others in sexually oriented chat rooms, at the same time as men were drawn to porn Web sites.
The matter is that men prefer visual stimuli and more oriented sexual experiences, whereas women are more interested in relationships and interactions.
One more study showed that more than 91% of Internet users spent less than 11 hours a week entering sexual sites. Nearly 82% spent less than an hour doing so, "with very few negative repercussions”.
But internet addicted men and women who spent the most time each week online – 11 hours or more – said it was their chat room behavior that most interfered with important aspects of their lives.
It seems that the Internet also invites both genders to experiment in ways they might otherwise not. A full 12% of women of 9,265 respondents, in comparison with 20% of the men, have accessed pornography at least once. It is speculated that women who visit porn sites may just be experimenting and wanting to see what the big deal is.
The obtainable research brings psychologists to question whether those involved in cybersex have sexual addictions, or whether they otherwise wouldn’t participate in illegal sexual encounters but find the Internet an easy method with the help of which to experiment.
It is considered that about 17% of those samples “at-risk” users – people who “wouldn't otherwise have gotten involved with sexuality in a problematic way, were it not for the Internet”. Certain qualities of the Internet – its availability, affordability and anonymity – make it more complicated to defy the temptation of online sex.
But for the moment, this and other questions about Internet use will stay unanswered until more controlled studies are done.
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