A fiercely courageous account of one woman’s unflinching, raw, and ultimately hopeful journey through sex and porn addiction.
For almost two decades, Erica Garza was consumed by a singular, secret, shame-fueled pursuit that threw her life into chaos: orgasm. Back-braced, isolated, and teased in adolescence, and
ambivalent about her Catholic upbringing, Garza found solace in masturbation and porn—first by way of the limited softcore on late-night cable, and, later, with the booming proliferation of
online porn.
In this wrenching, vivid account, Garza explores her sexual fixations and relives the series of disastrous relationships and one-night stands that haunt her as she runs from one side of the
world to the other in a futile attempt to break free of her habits―from East Los Angeles to Hawaii and Southeast Asia, through the brothels of Bangkok and the yoga studios of Bali to
disappointing stabs at twelve-steps, therapy, and rehab back home.
Garza’s terror at digging so deeply into her history to understand her anxieties is palpable, as is her exhilaration when she begins to believe she might just be free of them. And yet there is
no false hope or prepackaged sense of redemption. Even her relationship to the man she will ultimately marry is credibly rocky as it finds its legs with several false starts, making her
increasing sense of self-acceptance and peace by journey’s end feel utterly earned.
In exploring the cultural taboos surrounding sex and porn from a female perspective, Garza offers a brave and necessary voice to our evolving conversations about addiction and the impact that
Internet culture has had on young women.
