In this book, Andreas G. Philaretou uses autobiographical reflection to investigate the negative impact of traditional masculine gender socialization on men's lives. In particular, Philaretou examines personal recollective accounts from early childhood socialization, and experiences with a number of traumatic episodes that unfolded during his intimate heterosexual and familial relationships. Through an analysis that uses a feminist postmodern ideology of gender deconstruction and reconstruction, Philaretou sheds new light on the understudied area of male hurt, which is often experienced within the context of interpersonal relationships in dating, marital, and familial settings, and tends to be manifested in the form of male sexual anxiety, sexual addiction, and relational abuse.

This book provides an exploratory investigation into the world of atypical sexual variations and interactions, in particular, the intersections of homosexuality and ethnicity, sexual addiction and codependency, sex work and cabaret patronage, and Cybersex addiction. It deals primarily with the intrapersonal, interpersonal, historical, social, and cultural manifestations of such atypical interactions and their social construction as atypical behaviors. This book is primarily intended for graduate, and upper level undergraduate, students in psychology, sociology, family studies, and social sciences. Upon reading the book, readers will come to an understanding of how homosexuality, codependency, sex work, and Cybersex (Internet pornography) come to affect our emotional, psychological, sexual, and relational well being. This book is unique in the sense that it provides constextually rich information into such neglected and taboo topics by utilizing unique ethnographic and autoethnographic methodological means.