Masturbation abstinence practices have returned to the USA in the form of semen retention communities. Followers on one of these male, anti-masturbation forums, “NoFap,” on Reddit (denoted “r/NoFap”), have engaged in homicidal behaviors that appear to be linked to these sexual beliefs and practices. This study uses a systematic search on r/NoFap and two control forums (r/pornfree, and r/stopdrinking) to define a corpus of violent content. The study’s goals were to describe the nature of threats on r/NoFap and suggest whether the violence might be attributable to sexual deprivation or false beliefs that non-sexual targets caused their violent urges. Of the 421 violent posts identified from September 2011 to September 2022, r/NoFap contained the majority (94.3%). Violent threats on r/NoFap mostly targeted pornographers, women, scientists, specific persons, or any person (i.e. homicidal “rage”). Violent threats against r/NoFap’s own followers were growing most quickly. Violent posts were well-supported with upvotes by other followers in r/NoFap. These data are important because NoFap may represent a growing threat for real-world violence.
It’s literally a dopamine factory and using it in place of intimacy/human connection to detriment of your mental health is literally an addiction.
That doesn’t mean you can’t watch it if you aren’t affected. But just because you can drink a beer and be fine doesn’t meant alcoholics don’t exist.
NoFap is a fucking purity cult.
Cross reference the mods list with their activity on other sub’s and you’ll find the majority are heavily involved in religious sub’s.
They don’t have any real objective besides trying to normalise abstaining from “sinful activities”.
That being said, porn addiction is a real thing, and if you need help, go see a professional, don’t seek help from these dingbats.
As far as i can tell, porn addiction is a shame spiral where they use porn to cope with the shame of using porn, and the shame usually comes from a religious upbringing. Misogyny and conservatism also correlate with that kind of religious upbringing. So you have a bunch of sexually frustrated right wing misogynists who feel disempowered and ashamed and blame the world for it, all congregating in one place. What could go wrong?
I definitely would never trust anyone who centers their identity around not masturbating.
Blue Balls Terrorism
In all seriousness though, this is sad and concerning stuff.