The Christian website LifeSiteNews has discovered a fascinating breed of Redditors who have sworn off masturbation (as long as they can, anyway), They do it (or don’t, I should say) for a variety of reasons, including religious beliefs, getting higher testosterone counts, and fighting back against the business of pornography:

Already there are over 65,000 fapstronauts, with hundreds more joining by the day. These modern warriors against sexual temptation have gathered together under the roof of a dedicated “sub-Reddit” (/r/NoFap), where members can request publicly viewable badges (operated on the honor system) that track how many consecutive days of “fapstinence” they’ve clocked in, share their favorite tips on how to resist the urge, encourage newcomers by describing the benefits of a life of Spartan-like self-discipline, and seek solace and encouragement to get up and dust off when they fall back into old habits.

I’m still trying to wrap my head around the notion of a religious website trying to discuss masturbation without offending its readers’ sensibilities… but it’s actually a pretty decent article, albeit geared toward a religious audience. Reporter John Jalsevac does a nice job of getting to the bottom of the no-fappers’ motivations:

But what’s the point of it all? Well, that depends on whom you ask. Rhodes prides himself on the diversity of NoFap’s membership, ranging from atheists like himself to die-hard fundamentalist Christians. “I think that nofap may be the most supportive community on the Internet,” he says. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Regardless of who you are or what your goals are, the members of nofap will try to support you and genuinely care for you and try to push you to succeed.” Even the aforementioned rule about religion [don’t mention it unless it’s relevant to your motivations] isn’t meant to discourage religious fapstronauts, who are more than welcome to discuss their beliefs when relevant, but simply to reduce heated and tangential religious debates that detract from the core goal of NoFap.

You can read the full article here, as well as the article’s discussion thread on Reddit.



