Getting Off

One Woman's Journey Through Sex and Porn Addiction

By: Erica Garza

Narrated by: Joy Osmanski

Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

A courageous account of one woman's unflinching and ultimately hopeful journey through sex and porn addiction.

A fixation on porn and orgasm, strings of failed relationships and serial hook-ups with strangers, inevitable blackouts to blunt the shame - these are not things we often hear women share publicly, and not with the candor, eloquence and introspection Erica Garza brings to Getting Off.

What sets this courageous and riveting account apart from your typical misery memoir is the absence of any precipitating trauma beyond the garden variety of hurt we've all had to endure in simply becoming a person - reckoning with family, learning to be social, integrating what it means to be sexual. Whatever tenor of violence or abuse Erica's life took on through her behavior was of her own making, fueled by fear, guilt, self-loathing, self-pity, loneliness, and the hopelessness those feelings brought on as she runs from one side of the world to the other in an effort to break 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 therapy and 12-steps back home.

In this remarkable audiobook, Garza draws an evocative, studied portrait of the anxiety that fuels her obsessions as well as the exhilaration and hope she begins to feel when she suspects she might be free of them. And yet there is no false or prepackaged sense of redemption here. Even her relationship with the man she will ultimately marry seems credibly, painfully rocky as it finds its legs with several false starts. Erica's increasing sense of self-acceptance and peace by journey's end feels utterly earned and absent of recovery platitudes.

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 us all.

©2018 Erica Garza (P)2018 Simon & Schuster

Interesting read

This was a very interesting story but I really struggled to finish it because it sounded so repetitive. Maybe it wasn't fully for me

For the girl who needs to meet her inner woman

A very insightful book about a very real problem in our society. Men and women alike are faced with sexuality and pornography as a means of self identity. Erica Garza speaks about her truest experiences which can allow us to shed a light on our society. Today we face a constant stream of desensitization of sex, easily seeping into everything we do. Thus a sex addiciton can be born. Read this book but not with the gleam as someone may read getting to hear how someone gets off and their promiscuousity, instead as someone needing help from themselves. We are our own worst enemies in instances like this, and it is affecting young women everyday. It takes a strong and true desire to find the woman or man inside insearch of creating a healthy balance of sex and love. Thank you for sharing this taboo conversation of female sex addiction, as a means for normalcy so we can have the conversation.

The way that Erica shares and exposes her rawest self with a lack of checking in on herself sheds light on the unhealthy behavior patterns created, and the grasp it can have on your soul; Bringing you down and never letting you reach your truest potential, like with any true addiction. When you face her demons with her in this book it becomes a book of healing and confronting the demons that lies in this seemingly "cool" addiction.

A very intimate read

A very helpful look into someone who had suffered from sexual addiction. This book has helped me in understanding my own personal journey. :)

Finished it in two days

I found I could have been the one in this book. I no longer feel weird; thank you for bringing to light this unspeakable addiction

Great listen for men & women

Amazing story with such honesty about the author's feelings which led to her ultimately to write this story. will recommend to many!!!

Excellent read

There’s something that most of us ladies can relate to in this book. I can relate how the author navigates through all types of men trying to figure herself out. It’s pretty explicit and open but we’ve ALL done some crazy stuff. Author is very open and what some would call brave. Especially being open to being judged by honest feelings and actions. Loved her adventures and her evolution. Definitely recommend to read if looking for something wild & interesting.

...very forthright.

She is unflinchingly honest in talking about her insecurities and how she used sex to self-medicate along with alcohol.We are all flawed creatures,and are all seeking some type of redemption or peace.That is what she writes about.She describes her exhausting masturbation sessions; and using pornography and cumming to dose any relationships that she encountered or developed.

Helpful

Our background demographics hardly lineup at all but Ericas story I think has enough universality that anybody who has dealt with some form of addiction can find a piece of this to relate to.
I wanted to read about sexual addiction and I got exactly what I was looking for.

wear your seatbelt

I found it quite bizarre, that someone else, could tell my story with more honesty than I could be with myself.

A Rose is a Rose is a Rose

I struggle with how to write a review of "Getting Off." From a literary aspect I highly commend the author, Erica Garza. Her writing skill is dazzling and amazing. I applaud her personal openness and honesty in telling her story. So refreshing. I also highly commend the superb Audible narration of Joy Osmanski. I was intensely captivated by Garza's story from start to finish. I literally devoured it. Nevertheless,in the end I was left immensely disappointed. I guess I was hoping for a message of hope and redemption.