About us

What is Sexaholics Anonymous?

Sexaholics Anonymous is for those who want to stop their destructive sexual thinking or sexual behaviour.

‘Sexaholics Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength, and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover. 

The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop lusting and become sexually sober. There are no dues or fees for SA membership; we are self-supporting through our own contributions.

SA is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization, or institution; does not wish to engage in any controversy; neither endorses nor opposes any causes.

Our primary purpose is to stay sexually sober and help others to achieve sexual sobriety.*

Sexaholics Anonymous is a recovery program based on the principles of Alcoholics Anonymous and received permission from AA to use its Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions in 1979.’

© 1997-2008 Sexaholics Anonymous Inc. Reprinted with permission of SA Literature.

How do we define sobriety?

Sexaholics Anonymous Statement of Principle

We have a solution. We don’t claim it’s for everybody, but for us, it works. If you identify with us and think you may share our problem, we’d like to share our solution with you (Sexaholics Anonymous, 2).

In defining sobriety, we do not speak for those outside Sexaholics Anonymous. We can only speak for ourselves. Thus, for the married sexaholic, sexual sobriety means having no form of sex with self or with persons other than the spouse. In SA’s sobriety definition, the term “spouse” refers to one’s partner in a marriage between a man and a woman. For the unmarried sexaholic, sexual sobriety means freedom from sex of any kind. And for all of us, single and married alike, sexual sobriety also includes progressive victory over lust (Sexaholics Anonymous, 191-192).
Passed by the General Delegate Assembly February 2010

The only requirement for SA membership is a desire to stop lusting and become sexually sober according to the SA sobriety definition.

Any two or more sexaholics gathered together for SA sobriety according to the SA sobriety definition may call themselves an SA group.

Meetings that do not adhere to and follow Sexaholics Anonymous’ sobriety statement as set forth in the foregoing Statement of Principle adopted by the General Delegate Assembly in 2010 are not SA meetings and shall not call themselves SA meetings.
Addendum to the Statement of Principle passed by the General Delegate Assembly on July 2016.

Reprinted with permission of SA Literature.

Readings

We strongly recommend the ‘White Book’, SA’s basic text, which includes an overview of sexaholism, practical methods to work the 12 steps and much more. For many of us, reading this book gave us a clear insight into both the nature of the disease and the nature of the solution. It became clear that, due to the power of the illness, we were not going to be able to recover on our own resources. We needed both a fellowship and a Higher Power in order to stand up against the onslaught of lust.

Further information on SA literature is available from our Information and Resources page.

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