ESSAY June 2024 - Overcoming My Fear of Women in Meetings - Winfried W., Bonn, Germany

ESSAY Magazine (An International Journal of Sexaholics Anonymous)

I have been in the program since 2010. I have been allowed to be sober for 13 years and am grateful to have been asked to write an article about men and women in the community.

This, of course, reminds me of where I come from. A first encounter with women in SA was an absolute threat to me. I was full of fantasies, imaginings, and desires. I was driven sheer crazy by the mere knowledge that a woman might be seated in the next meeting. In the beginning, I didn't realize that these women were sitting in that meeting because of the same problem I was having. With the onset of sobriety starting in 2013, this attitude slowly changed.