Cyber Seduction: His Secret Life

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Cyber Seduction: His Secret Life is an original Lifetime television movie which was first broadcast on June 20, 2005. It was directed by Tom McLoughlin and written by Wesley Bishop and Richard Kletter. The movie stars Jeremy Sumpter, Kelly Lynch, and Lyndsy Fonseca.

Taglines: Seduced. Addicted. Destroyed.

1 Plot
2 Reaction
3 Trivia
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Cyber Seduction: His Secret Life is the story of Justin Peterson (Sumpter), a 16-year-old boy who discovers internet pornography. His interest in it soon becomes an obsession as he loses interest in everything his life had consisted of up until now - school, his swimming career, his parents, his friends and his girlfriend. He first sees pornography while chatting and sees a student in school named Monica on a bed. He soon becomes obsessed with pornography. In the middle of the night, Justin's mom wakes up and walks across the hall. She sees him looking at porno. She tells her husband, but he tells her that it is natural for teenage boys to look at pictures of girls. Later, they find that Justin is obsessed and addicted.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Reaction

The movie drew significant attention from online communities, who generally criticized the heavy handedness the film took in trying to get its message across, and mocked the numerous ways the film tried to present the subject matter in a way suitable for the general viewing audience of the Lifetime Network.

For example, the "pornography" shown during the course of the film could be considered excessively tame in its depiction, with no nudity or even reference to sexual activity evident. Justin is also never suggested to masturbate upon delving into his addiction, with commentators joking about how he seems to develop an energy drink addiction to represent this instead^[1]. Commentators were also quick to point out that actress Kelly Lynch, who plays Justin's concerned mother Diane Peterson, has made numerous nude appearances in other films herself, of which images are widely available on the internet. Another problem that viewers had with the movie is that while the main character's life does indeed go into a downward spiral, it is debatable how much of it was actually caused by pornography. In contrast, most of the main character's problems are either caused by his parents' intolerance of pornography or the other characters themselves. It is also suggested the movie had too close ties to religion to be even handed in its representation of pornography and overly negative portrayal of pornography. Cyber Seduction: His Secret Life has been widely compared to the infamous Reefer Madness which, in similar vein to Cyber Seduction, warned against the dangers of marijuana.