Obviously CW of some potentially unsafe sexual behaviors here. As well as talking about underaged stuff in the past.

I’ve been having reckless sex with strangers since I was 14 and it is definitely worse during mania. I’m almost 21 now and I’m sober after years of drug and alcohol abuse but this still seems to be an addiction or at least compulsion.

My issue is that all the men I sleep with are the same way I am and it’s hard to tell if this is abnormal. When I take tests about sex addiction online a lot of the behaviors are things that every guy I know does, so am I really abnormal? I don’t want to generalize, I know gay guys who are committed to their husbands but I am not at all that way. I’m young and I do cruise and all that and in a way I think that’s kinda the norm…

For context, I was also sexually abused as a very young child so it’s hard to tell what stems from that.

Does anyone have any experience here? How do you tell if it’s self destructive or just a preference?