I sometimes struggle with that. It isn't a constant. I can go months without even thinking about sex and then I have gone in the other direction to the point where I would take masturbation breaks at work. You are not alone in this issue. There are many survivors that struggle with it.

I was very sexually active at a young age too. My first at 11 with an older woman 13 LOL. I was married when I was your age and just couldn't get enough and it drove my wife nuts at times. Now since my chronic pain has gotten worse and the pain meds I take, that drive is basically dead in me now. Most of the abuse survivors that have shared with me throughout years ,have spoke of this too, so I think its rather normal for us.

I'm not sure this will be helpful, but I'm just the opposite. Because of my abuse I am non-sexual. But I do have a friend who is hypersexual and it appears to me that she doesn't feel she has any value except that of a sex partner. She also thinks about sex all the time and masturbates often.

I think it's normal for us to go in either direction because our introduction to sex was not healthy. So we take a stance on either side of a broad spectrum and struggle to find middle ground. My therapist is always trying to teach me to come back to middle ground and I think it applies here as well.

I agree with the above posts, but there is also something that I don't think is being addressed. Masturbation or sex with another person is both an escape and a stress reliever. And for survivors, hyper-sexuality is very common - it is also a "flag" to look for in abused children. We often were introduced to sex at too early of an age and it, for many of us, became almost a "toy" or "game" to our youthful minds. Without the fear and stress of abuse, it can be a way to relieve a lot of energy brought about by stress or anxiety. This is considered normal in most researchers mind.
Also, porn addiction and sex addition is not ALWAYS tied to abuse survivors - again, they are escapes and tension relievers.
As long as the acts do not pass the line as far as being a challenge to your normal functioning, safe, and are appropriate in nature, then I don't think it is a large issue.
But there is the issue that LuckyEmpath brought up - some survivors are really sex-avoidant; this is known as 'hypo-sexuality", meaning low or non-existent sex drive. This can be caused for various medical reasons, but it also can just be too emotionally painful to some survivors.
If it troubles you, or is causing issues in your normal functioning/relationships, there are therapeutic treatments for both conditions. Again, this is a personal preference, but a good healthy sex life has been shown to provide very beneficial emotional and physiological feedback. To far out of control, either direction, and you may find your life and happiness compromised.
But, basically it comes down to you being safe, happy and satisfied where you are and if you are in a relationship, you need to be mindful of the effects your sex drive has on your partner - again, too much or too little and it can negatively affect the relationship.
All my best -
Refuse2quit

I'll write more later as I've only a few moment right now....but it's not uncommon at all and in my experience...it is particularly common with those that experienced the abuse very young IE like age 5 and below. Where they get sexualized long before they understand it's wrong. For many, sex takes on meaning and fulfills other needs that all child experience, acceptance, attention, validation and even affection but also many discover it's a means of "escape". Children who live with almost constant emotional pain, confusion, feeling unloved...the come to find and learn that though masturbation or the abuse it blots out that pain for a bit and often feel almost numb to it for 10-15 minutes after orgasm. So in-essence, sexual feeling become a coping mechanism to avoid unwanted feelings they feel most if no all of the time..unfortunately like drugs they must keep doing it to get the effect they seek....an escape from the psyche pain that's always with them Once they reach the age where they begin to understand what's been happening is wrong, the escape and needs fulfillment trump the shame and/or guilt they begin experiencing knowing they should stop but can't, the basically have become addicted. They absolutely should not take on the shame.... but many if not most do as there level of understanding is incomplete and right or wrong is seen as black and white without all the shades of gray...they are unable to seen the bigger picture or understand why they can't stop...thus the shame remains and builds they often conclude there's something wrong with them..believing the are "bad" and sick (which isn't true of course) but this can't be understood until the frontal lobes and cortex of the brain are fully developed in late teen/early 20's. Then the real work begins because the intellectual understanding is rarely enough to release the shame stemming from emotional decisions made about themselves years before that have been reinforced for years and years. It's not your fault...always remember it all was put into motion that first time your abuser touched you when the child has no concept of what's happening or why...everything that follows stems from that first time when the child is completely and totally innocent always. The shame and I mean all of it belongs to the abuser.

I was sexualised at a very young age.... and became very promiscuous at about 14 / 15... and this really escalated in my late teens..... when a man wanted sex from me I firmly believed that was my role to give it to him.. regardless of my feelings.... it was all about power to me.... he had it... I had none..... how I am alive to tell the tale I do not know bcs I got into cars with strangers.... I went home with them.... I allowed them to do to me whatever they wanted... it wasn't until I met my husband at age 26 did I realise that sex was about love not power... and that the addiction I had was not healthy... that my sexual appetite wasn't healthy .. that my need to be demeaned wasn't healthy.... that my need to feel used and punished wasn't healthy... and that I was looking for love and validation in all the wrong places

I also find it interesting .... the first time I was held involuntarily in a psychiatric hospital and went to bed I masturbated.... not quite sure what that was about but pretty significant

so I think that yes many of us do struggle with it

Hi. Was away for some time mainly because of the DS servers not working properly.

I went through a period of hypersexuality, and through it all, I think that the biggest challenge was defining what (or how much?) is just part of my natural sex drive, what is healthy to have and keep in my sexuality, and what's the right place sex should have in my life.

When it comes to that, I decided to learn to listen to my own instinct. The truth is that "excessive" and "healthy sexuality" mean many different different things to many different people.

I think that it's unhealthy when (a) is not safe [healthwise or personal safety-wise] (b) costs me money (c) has an unhealthy priority in my life (d) demands too much time or energy from me (e) harms me or another person, or (f) resembles sexual abuse.

Other than that, I'm a very sex-positive person. Part of my recovery involves reclaiming the healthy sex life that I deserve, the same way that I reclaim a healthy family and a healthy life in other ways.

Thank you for all your great insight! It was very helpful :)
@refuse- I can totally relate to being sex avoidant. I started later in life and the first few men were not great experiences. I have never really achieved being comfortable or relaxed.
@sadave- I definitely think it's related somehow to experiencing a rush of endorphins. It's also most probably a coping mechanism
@lucky- so hard to find that middle ground when you have no way to define what "normal" really is. I agree that our introduction to sex definitely plays a huge role in our sense of sexuality in adulthood.
@ chris- love your definition of what is unhealthy....puts things in perspective.