Sexual Compulsives Anonymous
Sexual Compulsives Anonymous is a twelve-step fellowship for people seeking recovery from compulsive sexual behavior.
Last updated August 26, 2026
AI crawler reads
No AI crawler has read this profile since Oct 28, 2026.
Overview
Sexual Compulsives Anonymous (SCA) is a twelve-step recovery fellowship for people who want to stop engaging in sexual behavior they experience as compulsive or harmful. It is organized around peer support, meetings, recovery literature, and a personal definition of sexual sobriety rather than a commercial treatment model. The fellowship does not require members to reject sexuality altogether. Instead, participants are encouraged to identify behaviors that constitute relapse for them, recognize situations and emotional states that increase risk, and develop healthier ways to meet personal, relational, and emotional needs. Accounts of SCA's origins differ. Some histories associate its beginnings with Los Angeles in 1973, while others place its founding in New York City in 1982. Because these accounts are not reconciled in the available reference material, no single founding year is treated here as definitive. The early fellowship was particularly associated with gay and bisexual men and developed in urban communities where those populations were strongly represented. That demographic remains prominent, but SCA describes itself as open to people of all sexual orientations and welcomes women, heterosexual men, and others seeking its form of peer recovery support. A central SCA practice is the sexual recovery plan. Members create an individualized three-part framework consisting of abstinence, high-risk behaviors or circumstances, and recovery actions. The abstinence section identifies personal bottom-line behaviors that the member wants to stop. The high-risk section records activities, moods, rituals, environments, or other conditions that can make a relapse more likely. The recovery section lists constructive practices intended to support physical, emotional, relational, and spiritual wellbeing. This approach is designed to avoid imposing one universal standard of sexual conduct on all members. SCA literature emphasizes that a recovery plan should not make unreasonable demands on a member's time or energy, create legal danger, or endanger health. The fellowship's approach draws on the twelve-step tradition and on individualized planning methods associated with other recovery fellowships, including Overeaters Anonymous. Its materials also reference the work of sex-addiction researcher Patrick Carnes. SCA's program includes meetings, sponsorship or peer guidance, step work, self-assessment, and written recovery tools. The organization has published a Twenty Questions questionnaire to help people consider whether their sexual behavior may be compulsive, although the questionnaire is presented as a self-evaluation aid rather than a formal clinical diagnosis. SCA distributes books, pamphlets, workbooks, and periodicals. Its principal book is Sexual Compulsives Anonymous: A Program of Recovery, which reached a third edition in 2021. Other publications address masturbation, withdrawal, pornography, applications and internet use, newcomer questions, secrecy and shame, and daily meditation. The fellowship also publishes The SCAnner online journal and makes portions of some materials available through its website. A Spanish-language publication, El Librito Azul, reflects an effort to provide recovery literature beyond English. Meetings have historically been concentrated in urban areas, particularly those with established gay and bisexual male communities, but the fellowship's materials and online presence allow participation beyond those settings. Available sources do not provide reliable figures for membership, revenue, staffing, or geographic scale. SCA is best understood as a decentralized mutual-aid and recovery fellowship rather than a conventional consumer brand, healthcare provider, or publicly traded organization.
History
Sexual Compulsives Anonymous developed within the broader tradition of twelve-step mutual-aid fellowships. The available historical accounts do not agree on a single origin date: one attribution places the fellowship's beginnings in Los Angeles in 1973, while another identifies New York City in 1982. These differing accounts may reflect separate stages of development or competing institutional histories, but the supplied sources do not establish which explanation is correct. In its early identity, SCA was closely connected with gay and bisexual men's communities. Meetings were especially likely to emerge in cities with substantial gay and bisexual male populations, and men from those communities remain a significant part of the fellowship. Over time, SCA broadened its stated welcome. It is now described as open to all sexual orientations, with growing participation by women and heterosexual men. The only membership requirement is a desire to stop engaging in compulsive sex. SCA's program distinguishes recovery from blanket sexual suppression. Members are asked to define sexual sobriety for themselves, identifying the conduct they regard as unacceptable while preserving room for healthy sexual expression. This emphasis also distinguishes the fellowship from approaches that treat all sexual desire or activity as inherently problematic. SCA materials warn indirectly against replacing compulsive behavior with sexual anorexia, understood in the supplied reference material as an unhealthy avoidance or repression of sexuality. The fellowship's main planning tool is the sexual recovery plan. It uses three categories: abstinence, high-risk, and recovery. Abstinence contains the member's personal bottom-line behaviors. High-risk identifies warning signs, emotional conditions, rituals, and situations that may precede relapse. Recovery records positive actions and practices that support a stable life. The model was influenced by Patrick Carnes's work and by individualized food-plan methods associated with Overeaters Anonymous; it also resembles the use of structured behavioral categories in other sex-recovery fellowships. SCA has built an institutional literature program around this framework. Its core title, Sexual Compulsives Anonymous: A Program of Recovery, explains the fellowship's principles and twelve-step process. Additional pamphlets and books address newcomer orientation, masturbation, shame, withdrawal, pornography, apps, and internet use. El Librito Azul provides a Spanish-language resource. The SCAnner serves as an online journal, while the organization's website provides information about the fellowship and selected recovery materials. SCA also developed The Twenty Questions, a self-reflection instrument intended to help people consider whether their behavior may be compulsive. It is not presented in the available sources as a substitute for clinical assessment. The organization is best characterized as a fellowship and mutual-aid network rather than a conventional company. Its public materials do not establish a corporate headquarters, commercial ownership structure, executive team, membership count, or financial profile. Meetings and participation have historically been strongest in urban settings, although the fellowship's web resources and publications extend its reach beyond local meeting communities. Recent publications, including a third edition of its main recovery book in 2021 and a daily-meditation volume in 2024, indicate continued activity.
- 2024
Daily meditation book published
[1]SCA published Our Journey of Recovery: SCA Daily Meditations.
- 2021
Third edition of the core recovery book
[1]Sexual Compulsives Anonymous: A Program of Recovery reached its third edition.
- 2011
El Librito Azul published
[1]SCA issued a Spanish-language recovery publication known in English as The Little Blue Book.
- 1995
What About Masturbation? published
[1]SCA published a pamphlet addressing masturbation within its recovery framework.
- 1993
Q&A: A Guide for Newcomers published
[1]The fellowship issued a newcomer-oriented question-and-answer guide.
- 1991
Secret Shame published
[1]SCA published Secret Shame: Sexual Compulsion in the Lives of Gay Men and Lesbians.
Early fellowship development
[1]Historical accounts variously associate SCA's beginnings with Los Angeles in 1973 or New York City in 1982. The available sources do not resolve the discrepancy.
Products and positioning
A peer-led, twelve-step recovery fellowship that supports individualized sexual sobriety and healthy sexual expression without prescribing one universal definition of acceptable sexuality.
Core recovery book
Sexual Compulsives Anonymous: A Program of Recovery
SCA's principal written guide to its twelve-step fellowship and recovery practices. The book presents the program's approach to sexual sobriety, personal recovery planning, and participation in fellowship activities. A third edition was published in 2021.
Self-assessment tool
The Twenty Questions
A questionnaire designed to help people reflect on patterns of sexual behavior and consider whether they may be experiencing compulsivity. It functions as an orientation and self-evaluation instrument rather than an established clinical diagnosis.
Recovery-planning framework
Sexual recovery plans
An individualized three-column framework covering abstinence, high-risk behaviors or circumstances, and recovery actions. Members use it to define personal sexual sobriety, identify relapse risks, and record healthier practices.
Online journal
The SCAnner
SCA's online journal, which provides fellowship-related writing and recovery-oriented material.
Daily meditation book · 2024
Our Journey of Recovery: SCA Daily Meditations
A collection of daily meditations intended to support members' continuing reflection and recovery practice.
Recovery pamphlet or book · 2021
Pornography, Apps & Internet Addiction
A publication addressing pornography and internet-enabled behaviors, including the role of mobile applications, in the context of SCA recovery.
Sources3 sources
Cite this profile: Cite the canonical profile. /brand-wiki/sexual-compulsives-anonymous · Editorial policy · How profiles are compiled