NoFap

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NoFap
150px
Web address www.reddit.com/r/NoFap/
www.nofap.com
Slogan Get a new grip on life.
Type of site
 Private
Registration Optional (required to post)
Launched June 21, 2011
Current status Active

NoFap is an online community that serves as a support group for those who wish to avoid the use of pornography, masturbation, and/or sexual intercourse.[1][2] The subreddit currently has over 170,000 members.[3]

Founding

NoFap was founded in June 2011 by Alexander Rhodes after a thread on Reddit about a study[4] that found that men who don’t masturbate for seven days experience a 45.7% increase in testosterone levels hit the front page of a popular forum on Reddit.[5][6]

After this, Rhodes created NoFap as a "subreddit" forum community on Reddit.[5] At first, NoFap ran weekly and monthly challenges for a small group of people on the forum, and then the NoFap administrators created a badge system, and now forum members set their own challenges based upon their own personal goals.[5]

NoFap.com

Users on NoFap's subreddit more than tripled in number in two years, leading Rhodes to build an off-Reddit forum at NoFap.com and began other plans to better serve the website's fast-growing factions in Brazil, Germany, and China.[7] NoFap.com is a forum-style website where individuals who have committed to abstain from pornography and masturbation for a period of time can talk about their experiences and engage in challenges to help them recover. NoFap.com is the sister website of the Reddit-hosted NoFap community.[8]

Membership

Demographics

The membership of NoFap ranges from atheists, like founder Rhodes, to fundamentalist Christians.[5][9][10] Women are also a part of NoFap.[9] The users of the website call themselves "Fapstronauts".[6] Some porn addicts seek out NoFap for help,[6] while others join the website for the challenge or to improve their interpersonal relationships.[6]

Beneficial effects

After abstaining from porn and masturbation for a period of time, some of NoFap's users claim, among others, "dramatic increases in social confidence, energy levels, concentration levels, mental acuity, motivation, self-esteem, emotional stability, happiness, sexual prowess, and attractiveness to the opposite sex".[5][11] Some NoFap users say their brains were warped by porn, at the expense of real relationships.[12]

Reception and criticism

Some journalists have criticized NoFap, participating in it and then criticizing it.[13][14][15] According to a Elizabeth Brown, neuroscientists have questioned some of the claims made by people on NoFap.[16] One psychologist, David J. Ley, wrote: "I’m not in opposition to them, but I do think their ideas are simplistic, naïve and promote a sad, reductionistic and distorted view of male sexuality and masculinity."[17]

Behavior scientists have used statistics gathered from NoFap to study addiction.[18] Robert Weiss of the Huffington Post sees NoFap as part of a tech backlash.[19]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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