Sexaholics Anonymous
"[1] SA distinguishes itself from other "S" groups by defining sexual sobriety as no sex with self or with partners other than with one's spouse "in a marriage between a man and a woman,"[2] and progressive victory over lust.
Thus, for the married sexaholic, sexual sobriety means having no form of sex with self or with persons other than the spouse.
And for all of us, single and married alike, sexual sobriety also includes progressive victory over lust.
In an article titled Principles Corroborating SA's Interpretation of Sexual Sobriety[8] Roy wrote: "Ever since attending the April 1986 and 1987 NYC Marathons, I have been examining my own assumptions in the same-sex area.
That year I wrote a letter to a same-sex member sharing my thoughts; it now has the title "Recovery Reveals Our False Assumptions."
"In the section titled "The Great Same-Sex Controversy", Roy goes on to explain how society was divided on the "nature vs. nurture" argument about homosexuality: "Intense controversies rage about this issue in every area of modern life in highly polarized and publicized passion.
A survey was held, reaching out to various individual meetings through the regional councils and local Intergroups.
Agitation on the issue continued due to a perception that the ambiguous nature of the survey questions rendered the results meaningless.
Many (probably most) were convinced this vote meant that we are already clear on the meaning of traditional SA sobriety and no further clarification is needed.
"[10] On July 9, 1999, the General Delegate Assembly, meeting at an international conference in Cleveland, unanimously voted (9-0) to clarify the definition of "spouse" to be "one's partner in a marriage between a man and a woman.
"[16] In July 2016, the GDA passed a motion further entrenching the 1999 Cleveland Statement of Principle: "In SA's sobriety definition, the term "spouse" refers to one's partner in a marriage between a man and a woman."
[24] However, founder Roy K. knew ahead of time that this was a controversial subject and often wrote letters from a contrarian perspective.
He often would leave an SA convention where he was one of the keynote speakers and preach at a church around the corner[26] for those interested in listening to a more evangelical point of view.
Some of us have come to believe that there is a deeper spiritual significance in sexual sobriety, while others simply report that without a firm and clear bottom line, our "cunning, baffling, and powerful" sexaholism takes over sooner or later.
[27] S-Anon is an organization for relatives of sex addicts based on the twelve steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.
