In the SCA Statement of Purpose, we indicate that our goal is sexual sobriety. This does not mean that we advocate celibacy, abstinence, or repression. Rather our goal is to integrate our sexuality into our lives as a healthy element.

We use the term sobriety because of its deeper connotation of clarity of mind. In sobriety we are making sexual choices. In compulsion and addiction we are driven and compelled into sexual behavior.

Responsible sexuality is currently advocated, particularly in terms of “safe” or “safer” sex. In this usage, responsibility refers to behavior. SCA is not a behavior modification program. We change our behavior as a result of the freedom we experience in the spiritual path of this program. In working the Twelve Steps and using the tools of the program, we achieve the sober clarity of mind which frees us to make choices rather than be bound by our compulsion. In turning our will and our lives over to the care of our Higher Power, we receive the strength and courage to make choices which we were unable to previously exercise. The SCA program focuses our attention on the source of strength, wisdom and acceptance, which empowers us with freedom to make choices, rather than on the unhealthy and often dangerous sexual behavior we want to stop.

In making sober choices, we become sexually responsible. We change our lives, and experience the “Promises” described in the Big Book (Alcoholics Anonymous, pp. 83-84).

A definition of sobriety, adopted by the Southern California SCA Fellowship, which respects an individual’s obligation to assume responsibility for his or her life, reads as follows:

Sexual Sobriety is defined in terms of an individual abiding by his or her sexual recovery plan. A sexual recovery plan is a written plan, shared with our Higher Power, and another member of the SCA program, preferably a sponsor, and is measurable one day at a time.

(Extract from “SCA – A Program of Recovery” © SCA-ISO)