Intimate Partner Violence

My “husband” was such a romantic, always taking the day off of work to celebrate the anniversary of our first date. Twenty years later, I find him in front of the computer, wearing the same shirt, but his pants are down, and bagged at the ankle. He is masturbating to online pornography. Sex addiction? A convenient term for inexcusable compulsive behavior, which also requires methodical planning and strategizing in an intimate partner relationship. After my “husband” went to treatment, I find out that online pornography was one of the many ways that he acted out. There was a continuum of acting out behaviors that crossed moral boundaries. His victims of sexual assault are countless: prostitutes, porn actors, his children, and soon to be ex-wife. The “buzz” that this behavior is an addiction is misrepresented. It’s abusive. #I am Brave #I am a survivor of Intimate Partner Violence.