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.

  • M68040 [they/them]
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    edit-2
    10 months ago

    I've always wondered if the resultant propensity towards violence is a big part of why puritanical movements tend to be puritanical. Make people build up that tension naturally by not expressing their sexual urges (or any sort of enjoyment of excess in general), and you've got a weapon that you can fine tune towards any target you can get it to believe is a threat.

    • CannotSleep420@lemmygrad.ml
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      10 months ago

      Make people build up that tension naturally by not expressing their sexual urges (or any sort of enjoyment of excess in general), and you’ve got a weapon that you can fine tune towards any target you can get it to believe is a threat.

      I think I recall IngSoc in 1984 heavily policing sex for exactly that purpose.