If you are the partner of a sex addict we recommend you read the following and look for the Domestic Abuse, Marital Rape, Human Trafficking, and Coercive Control resources on our page. We have found that many women who are the partners of sex addicts do not realize that this is what is happening to them and are not familiar with the definition of these terms and unfortunately these are very common, normalized, and pervasive because people do not know the definitions . Sex addiction normally goes hand in hand with sex offending/domestic abuse/marital rape/intimate partner violence/sex trafficking:

"Human trafficking is the exploitation of a person through labor, services, or a commercial sex act by force, fraud, or coercion...Sex trafficking victims frequently describe the beginning of a relationship with the person who would later exploit them as being comforting. The perpetrator would meet a need in their victim’s life; companionship, understanding, transportation, financial assistance or basic survival needs like food, shelter or substances. Then, when an imbalance in the relationship is achieved, the perpetrator flips the narrative on whose needs are being met. They demand to be compensated for their expenditures, in the form of exploitation...

Author Evan Stark who wrote the book Coercive Control: How Men Entrap Women in Personal Life (Interpersonal Violence) describes coercive control as behaviors that include physical violence, sexual coercion, humiliation, intimidation, degradation, isolation, deprivation, exploitation and regulation. “Coercive control is not just a form of making victims dependent, but making them subordinate. … It’s a form of domination,” Stark said. Coercive control is an inextricable component of human trafficking. Sex trafficking is managed through coercive control. It is the invisible shackle that people who traffic in other people use to hold them hostage."  

Click here to read more or find this resource on our Resources page:   Human Trafficking/Coercive Control/Intimate Partner Violence