Violence on Reddit Support Forums Unique to r/NoFap

ABSTRACT

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.

KEYWORDS:

• Extremism
• manosphere
• NoFap
• pornography
• abstinence
• violence
• misogyny

View correction statement:

Correction

The NoFap Army coalesced in online forums, bonded by their shared rejection of “PMO” (porn, masturbation, and orgasm) as a means to bolster their masculinity (Taylor and Jackson 2018) and fight conspiracies to keep men weak (Johanssen 2021). However, a disconcerting trend has emerged as posts within the NoFap Army online often veer into the realm of violent content. Multiple mass murderers have also been identified as NoFap Army followers, raising questions as to whether the violent content on NoFap may be inciting real-world violence. Why do posts in a forum against PMO contain any violent content at all? The goal of this study was to characterize posts with violent content on the largest NoFap forum on Reddit (denoted r/NoFap), drawing comparative analyses with other Reddit forums. By examining the unique features of violent discourse on NoFap, the goal is to establish a research framework for understanding and contextualizing violence in the online NoFap community.

“Sexual Frustration Theory” was recently introduced as a criminological theory to understand violence perpetrated by men in a sexually deprived state (Lankford 2021). In this theory, it is suggested that sexual urges can be deprived and, like hunger or pain, cause tension and frustration expressed as criminal acts. This theory was extended to masturbation as “negative emotions whenever sexual pleasure is expected but not experienced” in a particular way and time (p. 6). To support the theory, the authors identified sexually frustrated mass shooters as more likely to be young, unmarried, childless, and unemployed men (Lankford and Silva 2022). Sexual Frustration Theory was also used to explain violence attributed to involuntarily celibate (“Incel”) cultures, men who desire a sexual relationship that they feel unable to obtain (Helm et al. 2022).

Yet, some have referred to such theories as “Blue Balls Terrorism” and “tabloid science,” because they may justify male violence by providing a false causal explanation (Caluya 2013). According to Blue Balls Terrorism theory, men who feel they have not been properly sexually satisfied by a partner will aggress against any target, not just targets related to their sexual deprivation. In this theory, these men narcissistically believe that they deserve more than others in life. Conceptually, Blue Balls Terrorism appears to be a sexuality-specific version of displaced aggression (Marcus-Newhall et al. 2000). These two theories offer different explanations of the violence in NoFap Army forums.

The NoFap Army’s largest presence is on Reddit’s r/NoFap. r/NoFap followers have perpetrated violent acts. Connor Sturgeon had been posting online about his masturbation “addiction” and suicidality, including that he was following NoFap practices. He killed five people in the bank where he worked before being killed by police (McBride 2023; O’Brien 2023; Sturgeon 2018, 2019). A man from the UK, Jake Davison (2021, 2021), killed five before killing himself. Davison claimed to have been following NoFap practices on and off for years. Further, Nicholas Roske, who attempted to murder US Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh (Hurley 2022; United States v Roske 2022), had posted extensively in NoFap forums online. NoFap was recently described by the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism as an “extremist” misogynist group (Perliger, Stevens, and Leidig 2023).

The nature of the violence from NoFap Army followers could be explained by Sexual Frustration Theory, Blue Balls Terrorism theory, or something else. Sexual Frustration Theory would be a better explanation if NoFap Army members stated that their lack of preferred sexual outlet was the cause of their violent impulses, and they target those whom they feel were responsible for their sexual deprivation. The Blue Balls Terrorism theory would be a better explanation if NoFap Army members stated that their lack of preferred sexual outlet was the cause of their violent impulses, yet the targets of their aggression were not related to their sexual deprivation. Put another way, the former reflects some real, felt sexual deprivation motivating violence, while the latter uses deprivation explicitly as an excuse for desired, violent behaviors.

The return of masturbation stigma

NoFap started on Bodybuilding.com in 2004 as a challenge by a girlfriend to her boyfriend on the forum to abstain from masturbation (and sex) for 49 days (loney 2004). Followers responded by calling the girlfriend a “fkin bitch” and encouraging the original poster to lie to her, have sex with someone else, or sexually assault the girlfriend to teach her a lesson. NoFap November became a monthly challenge the men mistakenly believed would increase their testosterone (UniversityMisc 2009). NoFap peaked in popularity on bodybuilding.com in May 2011 (supersaiyan-dre 2011). In June 2011, the NoFap Army forum on Reddit r/NoFap was co-founded by Alexander Rhodes and another man under a pseudonym as “a venue for Redditers to openly discuss the many tangible benefits of NOT masturbating” (Rhodes and Ohropax 2011).

r/NoFap states “The rules for NoFap are “Absolutely NO fapping. No self pleasure AT ALL” (Rhodes and Ohropax 2011). NoFap followers are encouraged to use counter applications to display their days “clean” from PMO. Counter-applications currently have no data to support their efficacy in decreasing PMO and have raised serious privacy concerns (Henry et al. 2022). The abstinence period in NoFap is called “Rebooting,” which leaders claim will return the brain to its state prior to engaging in sexual behavior(s). The “nineteenth century understandings of onanistic self-harm” in NoFap has been described as grossly and scientifically inaccurate (Paasonen 2022). Accountability partners are encouraged by NoFap. Accountability partners are described as “pairs or small groups (2–20) who hold themselves accountable for their masturbation” (Rhodes 2013). NoFap followers, including youth, are instructed to create posts on NoFap, with their age in the title, to find these “accountability partners” (Rhodes 2013).

NoFap forums are overseen by moderators, who are responsible for reinforcing the rules of the group. The anonymous r/NoFap cofounder and moderator also moderates his own PickUp Artist forum on Reddit (r/truepickup, ohropax 2023). Pickup Artists focus on extracting sex from women, often using questionable tactics that they justify as part of a gender war; Pickup artists are sometimes credited as leading to the development of Incels (Banet-Weiser and Bratich 2019). This NoFap cofounder posts frequently about “getting laid,” including in r/NoFap forums (ohropax 2011). The other cofounder, Rhodes, described himself as a famous actor and bodybuilder who struggled with “severe bipolar disorder” and started NoFap to get “superpowers” (Rhodes 2013a: 2022; Rhodes and Ohanian 2015; Rhodes and Ohropax 2011). About 2013, Rhodes trademarked “NoFap” and started his for-profit company NoFap LLC and NoFap.com. Rhodes declared NoFap.com was “an online community helping those who want to refrain from masturbation” (Rhodes 2013d). “NoFap” remains a widely used phrase on YouTube and other platforms unrelated to the for-profit company (Hartmann 2020).

Such asynchronous, online, peer-to-peer forums like r/NoFap could offer cheap, accessible support (Eysenbach et al. 2004), such as for persons facing cancer (Beaudoin and Tao 2007) or alcoholism (Gilbert et al. 2022). One study of a sexual health forum for teens suggested that participation appeared possibly helpful, especially with heavy moderation removing violent and abusive comments (Suzuki and Calzo 2004). Active moderation of forums appears to be a determining factor in their effectiveness (Rayland and Andrews 2023). The vast majority of peer-to-peer forums are monitored or accompanied by expert or licensed interventionists (Ali et al. 2015). Very little research supports the idea that such forums alone are effective sources of support.

Yet, peer-support forums like NoFap can also be harmful. For example, a forum to support those with depression appeared to lead participants to read and post more negative comments, leading to a worsening of their depression symptoms (Takahashi et al. 2009). A review of behavioral health-care technologies by the National Institutes of Health described online support groups alone as producing “disappointing outcomes” (Mohr et al. 2013). Since the benefits of online support groups appear low, any risks of using them should be exceptionally low.

Studies suggest that NoFap may be harmful in a few ways. NoFap has primarily been studied as a non-therapeutic community dedicated to masculinity challenges (Taylor and Jackson 2018). NoFap claims that they allow women to participate in NoFap appear unctuous (Taylor and Jackson 2018). Women who are not porn performers are framed as abused or traumatized co-victims of the pornography industry and the men the industry “addicted” to masturbation (Prause and Binnie 2023).

Scientists noted that the tone on NoFap was distinctively angry, combative, and abhorrent (Taylor and Jackson 2018), especially of the pornography industry. NoFap followers appeared to be encouraged to experience disgust toward those who view or participate in consensual, legal adult pornography, especially women (Burnett 2021). Many of these challenges are framed as efforts to “save” women whom they fetishize as victims of the pornography industry unable to consent. Paradoxically, such beliefs have been used to justify violence against others (Tollu 2023). Men in extremist groups are known to preferentially target women whom they believe represent the “other side” in their conflicts (Davies 2008). The female performers are not “real women” to NoFap (Taylor and Jackson 2018). NoFap views female performers who claim to have chosen their professions as part of a conspiracy to keep men weak by promoting masturbation. A review of YouTube videos attributed to NoFap described the community as “toxic” and misogynist (Hartmann 2020). NoFap further prioritizes heterosexuality and suggests that excessive pornography use can lead to heterosexual men watching pornography involving homosexual men (Burnett 2021; Hartmann 2020).

NoFap also appears to be harmful to mental health. The false health claims regarding masturbation on NoFap have contributed to the development of the “neurotic” anxiety disorder of Dhāt syndrome among followers (Prause 2023a). Dhāt is a fear that semen is being lost, leading to a host of unrelated ailments. Other scientists have noted that NoFap is leading men away from evidence-based care for underlying disorders, such as depression (Prause 2023b; Shahinyan et al. 2023). Finally, in contrast to other online support groups, more engagement in NoFap was associated with more symptoms of depression, anxiety, and erectile dysfunction (Prause and Binnie 2023).

NoFap is now a recognized part of the manosphere, which includes the core beliefs that men are the “real” victims and that feminism manipulates men to be weak (García Mingo and Díaz Fernández 2022, Han and Yin 2022). They seek to enforce heterosexual marriage and reproductive sex (Han and Yin 2022). NoFap LLC is part of a recent trend in the “manosphere” that seeks to profit from followers (Bujalka, Rich, and Bender 2022; Prause 2023b). The online NoFap forums are hosted on, or linked to, for-profit NoFap programs (Prause 2023b). NoFap LLC claims to treat erectile dysfunction (Rhodes in Rhodes 2019; Rhodes and Plummer 2023; Tana 2016) and offers group counseling by persons with no known professional license ($150 per week, Rhodes and Plummer 2023). The in-person “NoFap Academy” does not have a published agenda, but the retreats (annually “$360 up front,” Rhodes and Queppet 2017) have been portrayed as men staying in tents together in a grass clearing (Richardson 2016). In this apparent portrayal of NoFap Academy, it ends with the (only) men in a circle with their hands together screaming “Fuck porn!.”

Those unfamiliar with NoFap may wonder if NoFap followers represent a type of Incel. Incels are a group of (primarily) men characterized by their collective belief that the current mating market renders them unable to attain desirable romantic relationships (Sparks, Zidenberg, and Olver 2022). NoFap and Incel followers do heavily overlap in membership, and followers often post in both Incel and NoFap forums (Khan and Golab 2020). Scientists attributed NoFap followers’ participation in Incel as evidence of shared hatred on both forums (Stijelja and Mishara 2023). However, Incels and NoFap Army are quite different. First, NoFap LLC is for-profit. Second, NoFap LLC has a designated spokesperson, identified as Alexander Rhodes, given the designation “Major” of the “NoFap Army” (Rhodes 2015b). Finally, Incels are involuntarily abstinent from partnered sex, while the NoFap Army is voluntarily abstinent from masturbation. Since some Incels have been associated with real-world violence (Hoffman, Ware, and Shapiro 2020), similarities between the groups may still be informative. However, the r/Incel forum was banned from Reddit many years ago, so direct comparisons were not possible.

Violent content on NoFap

NoFap followers were asked how often they witnessed “Threats to physically hurt someone” on any NoFap forum, including r/NoFap Reddit, @NoFap Twitter, or NoFap.com (Prause and Binnie 2023). Respondents could answer from 1 (“Never saw such posts”) to 7 (“Posts overwhelming”). Of 237 individuals who had visited these forums, 21.1% claimed to have witnessed such a threat. The more involved a respondent reported that they were on NoFap forums, the more likely they were to report witnessing such threats (rho = .14, CI = .01 to .27). Additionally, 15.1% reported witnessing “Threats to find, name, or ‘dox’ someone” on NoFap forums. Violent posts online are concerning for normalizing violent rhetoric generally, but also because they sometimes cause real-world violence (Castaño-Pulgarín et al. 2021; Henri et al. 2012; Patton et al. 2014). This is important because NoFap followers have committed real-world violence that could be partly due to celebrated violence in the NoFap forum. Little is currently known about the nature of these violent posts on NoFap to support studies of how these posts may be causing violent behaviors.

NoFap leadership appears to promote violence and criminality in NoFap forums. A post in NoFap forums planned a mass murder/suicide, which a moderator described as deleting (leaks 2019). NoFap moderators have posted photographs of themselves on Reddit holding “an empty vodka bottle filled with water and some lighter fluid” (Rhodes 2012b) that appeared to be on fire (Rhodes 2012a). The NoFap leaders have posts on Reddit describing running from police after wrecking a car (Rhodes 2013b), vandalizing public bathrooms with their own excrement (Rhodes 2011), and a “kiln” where NoFap was founded that could be used to conceal dead human bodies (Rhodes 2013c). Requirements to become a NoFap moderator were described as “A distaste for the porn industry,” which Rhodes described would form “the elder council of a cult” (Rhodes 2014). Additionally, three other NoFap subreddits moderated by Rhodes have been banned due to a failure to provide moderation, including r/NoFapArmy (r/NoFapArmy has been banned from Reddit 2023), r/NoFapAccountability (r/nofapaccountability has been banned from Reddit 2023), and r/NoFapArmy (r/NoFapArmy has been banned from Reddit 2023) or due to violating Reddit rules in r/NoFapForever (This community has been banned 2023). Given the significant role of moderation in the health outcomes of these forums, such problematic leadership may be setting the stage for violence.

Violent posts in the NoFap Army may arise from processes related to the terrorism theories reviewed above. First, followers claim their violent posts are part of their “recovery” from “porn addiction.” Specifically, they believe that abstinence from masturbation causes increases in testosterone, and the testosterone increase causes them to experience violent impulses (e.g., PMOFreeForever 2017; Arawak-man, 2019). Yet, this strongly resembles the “‘blue balls’ theory of terrorism” (Caluya 2013), because masturbation actually increases free testosterone (Isenmann et al. 2021). Additionally, pornography viewing itself does not predict real-life violence (Baer, Kohut, and Fisher 2015; Ferguson and Hartley 2020; Hatch et al. 2020) or sexual offending (Osuna and Holt 2022) and is positively associated (or unrelated) with gender egalitarian attitudes (Kohut, Baer, and Watts 2015; Speed et al. 2021). Science does not support NoFap claims that masturbation abstinence physiologically causes violent urges. Lankford’s (2021) Sexual Frustration Theory holds that masturbation does not necessarily reduce sexual deprivation, because men prefer partnered sex acts (any men who do not prefer partnered acts “their genes likely died out long ago,” p. 5). In his model, pornography exposes men to partnered sex acts they cannot get or perform, leading to sexual frustration. Put another way, men in online forums where they masturbate and view pornography are likely to be “frustrated about unavailable partners” (p. 4). According to this theory, NoFap anti-masturbation has violent content targeting women and the pornography industry, because they caused the felt sexual deprivation. If true, the subreddit “pornfree” (denoted “r/pornfree”) should have a similar rate of violent posts to r/NoFap. r/pornfree claims to provide support to stop viewing pornography that occurs during masturbation (Prause 2019).

A second potential explanation for violent posts in NoFap is that the Reddit platform promotes violent posts by providing a high level of user anonymity with lax content moderation (Brown et al. 2018). “Blue balls terrorism” theory is most consistent with this explanation, because it states that sexual deprivation is a mere excuse for desired violence (Dreher 2017). If this were true, any other subreddit should have violent posts comparable to r/NoFap or r/pornfree. The subreddit “stopdrinking” (denoted “r/stopdrinking”) claims to support users who wish to stop or control their alcohol consumption (Gauthier, Costello, and Wallace 2022) and has comparable size to r/NoFap. This r/stopdrinking subreddit was used to examine the possibility that violence online is not exclusive to forums consistent with sexual frustration (r/pornfree or r/NoFap).

Present study

NoFap violence has been relatively hidden from the public to date. Scientists regularly comment on the misleading use of their research by NoFap to monetize (Mascherek et al. 2021) and on NoFap’s non-evidence-based practice (Shahinyan et al. 2023). NoFap has responded with dozens of legal intimidation letters or lawsuits to scientists, media, and scientific organizations (e.g., Plummer 2020) and attempted to prohibit scientists from collecting data concerning NoFap (Gałuszka 2020; Prause and Binnie 2023). As other scientists have noted, such threats have no place in science and “As [NoFap] operate in the public sphere, however, we deem it not only as legitimate but necessary to acknowledge and cite them as one prominent voice in the debate around masturbation abstinence – everything else would be an unjustifiable muting of their stand” (Imhoff and Zimmer 2020). The apparent violence arising from the NoFap business and groups is the canonical example of why scientists must be allowed to persist in research without the threat of legal abuse (Dickman and Danks 2012; Hansson 2022). The public needs to be aware of the potential for physical violence from NoFap followers.

The primary goal of this study was to describe the nature of the violent posts reported by r/NoFap followers. Two potential explanations for violent posts on r/NoFap explored in this manuscript include (1) whether sexual deprivation (e.g., r/NoFap and r/pornfree) was related to more violent posts (cp. r/stopdrinking) consistent with sexual frustration theory, or whether (2) “sexual deprivation” is an excuse unique to r/NoFap not seen in communities with similar deprivation (cp. r/pornfree). To account for the presence of trolls, engagement with the content was also tracked. Upvotes on Reddit have been used to track user engagement with individual posts (Helm et al. 2022), so post upvotes are also characterized. The outcome can direct efforts to prevent violence that appears to be arising from r/NoFap communities. For example, if the violence is specific to r/NoFap, resources targeting Reddit more broadly or all self-proclaimed “sex addicts” would be ineffective.

Methods

The R v.4.1.2 library RedditExtractoR (Rivera and Maintainer 2015) was used. Automated approaches (Sharma et al. 2023) were unlikely to accurately classify posts as violent or not violent, because NoFap views itself as an “army” and hosts “wars” (Taylor and Jackson 2018). Automated approaches would most likely over-identify posts as violent (Isbister et al. 2018).

The search included posts from September 2011 to September 2022. Raters (NP, DL) screened the posts for violence directed at real persons or objects (cp., Ashraf et al. 2020). Words selected from published dictionaries of violent online terms were used to identify potentially violent posts. Search terms included “k*ll*,” “murder*,” “slaughter*,” “terrorist*,” “rape,” “arson*,” “blood*,” “die*,” “death,” and “stab*.” Specific threats related to being in an online sexual environment were included. These common threats include distributed denial of service (“DDoS”) and doxxing. DDoS attacks are attempts to stop legitimate users from accessing a specific network resource (Zargar, Joshi, and Tipper, Fourth 2013), so pornographic websites are vulnerable to DDoS. DDoS attacks are criminal acts in the USA (18 U.S.C. § 1030). It is not expected that the r/stopdrinking community, which is attempting to reduce the consumption of a substance, would contain “DDoS,” but r/NoFap and r/pornfree might. “Doxxing” is the practice of publishing personal identifying information about someone on the internet, usually with malicious intent, such as to extort or silence the victim through second-order intimidation or threats (Anderson and Wood 2022). Castration may be a violent method to address sexual urges, which are likely unique to porn forums. “DDoS,” “dox*,” and “castrat*” were added to all searches. “*” denote wildcard characters.

Manual screening raised additional considerations. If the comments were insufficient alone to judge the target of aggression, the returned URL for the post chain was used to view the original exchange. For example, “kill her king!” might refer to a woman (violent) or an urge to masturbate (not violent). Posts containing negating words (i.e., “jk”) were classified as not violent. The data set is published https://osf.io/5fgmy/?view_only=844d465048f24ce4af9e83255059d5b6.

This study was determined to be exempt by the Institutional Review Board at the University of California, Los Angeles. Although Reddit restricts participation to persons age 13 and older, many on r/NoFap claimed to be 11 or 12. Youth engaging in sexually explicit talk with strangers online is a risky behavior (Fire, Goldschmidt, and Elovici 2014). This issue of youth on Reddit has yet to be addressed by ethical reviews of such methods (Proferes et al. 2021), but the IRB for this project included removing posts by anyone known to be under age 18.

Results

The subreddits varied in subscriber counts and daily comments with r/NoFap Subscribers = 998,000, mean posts = 93 (Subreddit stats 2022c) the most subscribers, r/stopdrinking Subscribers = 385,000, M = 138 (Subreddit stats 2022a) the most frequent posts, and r/pornfree Subscribers = 264,000, M = 14 (Subreddit stats 2022b).

Four hundred and twenty-one violent posts were identified. r/NoFap provided the most posts (n = 397, 94.3%), then r/stopdrinking (n = 21, 5.0%) and r/pornfree (n = 3, 0.7%). These posts were then coded for the target of the violence and the type of violence. Categories of violent post targets included people in the pornography industry (e.g., “pornographers should be executed”), women (e.g., “you should murder her and burn the body, that’s the only way to fully protect yourself”), a specific person in the poster’s life (e.g., “Cut his dick off”), other posters (e.g., “if you fap i will kill you”), scientists (e.g., “this attack is actually their death wish, because the force they will face now is beyond anything they can imagine”), any person they might contact (e.g., “Better go out and punch someone in the face, get in a fight like a real man”), and smaller categories, like animals or members of the LGBT community (e.g., “homosexuals should kill themselfs”). Categories of violent acts described included death (e.g., “We should lynch all porn stars and porn productions”), rape (e.g., “Punch that rejection in the vagina and rape it like a real American”), destroying property (e.g., “Punch a stranger in the face and commit arson”), doxxing (e.g., “I just found my dream girl … by doxxing her”), and general violence such as “punching” (e.g., “I want to punch ALL the things (if male) and Fuck ALL the things (if they are female)”; also see Appendix A and https://osf.io/5fgmy/?view_only=844d465048f24ce4af9e83255059d5b6).

Most (n = 275, 65.3%) of the posts discussed death. Posts concerning general violence were the next most common. The most common targets were other forum users (n = 94, 22.3%). Other common targets included anyone (n = 90, 21.4%) and the pornography industry (n = 86, 20.4%). Targets in the “other” category included animal cruelty, non-Christians, and similar, idiosyncratic groups (see Appendix A).

The subreddits differed in the nature of the targets and type of violence (see Figure 1). r/stopdrinking almost exclusively discussed death (n = 20, 95.3%) and these were against a specific person (n = 20, 95.3%). Doxxing and destruction of property only appeared on r/NoFap. Due to the low occurrence of violent posts on the control forums, only r/NoFap violent posts were plotted by year (see Figure 2). Count data are presented instead of proportions due to a lack of reliable data on annual forum size. Threats against other r/NoFap users increased more than other targets of violent posts over the years. A notable spike in threats against pornographers occurred in 2020. General “violence” appeared to be growing exponentially relative to other types of violent posts.

Figure 1. Acts and targets by subreddit forum.

Figure 2. Violent posts on r/NoFap by year.

The upvotes of the five most common targets of violence vary widely (see Figure 3). Some posts were downvoted by at least one person, but the overwhelming majority were upvoted by one or more NoFap followers. The proportion of violent posts that were positively scored by upvotes was highest for the porn industry (n = 68, 91.9%) and general violence against anyone (n = 80, 90.9%), followed by violent posts targeting other forum users (n = 76, 84.4%), targeting a specific person (n = 55, 79.7%), and women (n = 32, 62.7%). Notably, some posts did not have scores and were marked “scores hidden” for unknown reasons. This occurred for 27 posts within these five popular categories, and they appeared randomly distributed by category.

Figure 3. Upvotes by target of violent content (top 5).

Of the 10 most upvoted posts overall, five targeted the porn industry with death (n = 4) or assault (n = 1). One plotted “Target the pornhub servers, single ignition reactor” (n = 121 upvotes). The second most popular posted links to the supposed location of the Mindgeek company and stated “If anyone disgusted by porn like myself reads this and wants to take action: MindGeek is your target” (n = 1,217 upvotes).

Discussion

r/NoFap posts contain violent content far in excess of other subreddits with comparable content (r/stopdrinking or r/pornfree). The violent posts on r/NoFap were primarily directed toward other users of the forum and included threats of death. r/NoFap violent threats include targets specific to their sexual frustration (i.e., pornography industry and women), but also general rage (i.e., other users and anyone). The violent posts were not attributable to trolls, because they were consistently upvoted (engaged positively) by other r/NoFap visitors. The violent content on r/NoFap probably cannot be attributed to mere cessation of an “addiction,” nor to deprivation of a preferred sexual outlet. This does not neatly support the Sexual Frustration Theory. Rather, this appears to reflect the fact that the r/NoFap community may uniquely use their sexual values as an excuse for violence. These men appear to use their self-enforced sexual deprivation as an excuse for justifying widespread violence against different targets.

Threats directed at scientists on r/NoFap were concerning. These appear to be well-known silencing strategies that attempt to remove the individual scientists from participation in (online) public spaces (Lumsden and Morgan 2017). Scientists are increasingly receiving death threats for their science communication (Hotez 2022). These attacks are directed primarily at females appearing anywhere in the author list (Minerva 2014; Samer, Lacombe, and Calmy 2021). If the characterization by the International Centre on Counter-Terrorism of r/NoFap as an “extremist” misogynist group is accurate (Perliger, Stevens, and Leidig 2023), then studies of the impacts of studying violent extremism on scientists (Pearson et al. 2023) should include scientists studying r/NoFap.

The increase in threats to harm pornographers in 2020 may be linked to historical events. Early in 2020, an American religious organization launched a public campaign called “TraffickingHub.” They alleged that pornographers are criminals engaged in “sex trafficking” and asked the public for money to sue the Pornhub website (Exodus Cry 2020). This movement was subsequently blamed in the American press for allegedly inciting the arson of the home of the owner of PornHub and white supremacist violence (Cole 2021; Lamoureux and Cole 2021). Violence on r/NoFap in 2020 against pornographers may reflect this broader incitement by religious groups fundraising at that time, which NoFap also advertised (Rhodes 2020). A more fine-grained analysis would be required to directly link campaigns and violence.

An interesting tension exists on the forums between expressed motives to save women in pornography, next to threats against women who tempt them to relapse. Media may contribute to this problem. Media coverage of violent troll posts commonly portrays the female victims as “asking for it” (Lumsden and Morgan 2017). For users of these forums, this may be rooted in their belief that male sexuality is so powerful (Taylor and Jackson 2018) that they are not responsible for their own violence against women. Other scientists have described a victim mentality in r/NoFap. In the victim-mentality understanding, the young men lash out at imagined villains in anger, believing that some secret, organized porn sect (“the industry”) is trying to take advantage of them (Johanssen 2021; Webber and Sullivan 2018). Pornography, in their narrative, has stolen their self-control and caused their justifiable rage, so there must be casualties.

As with any study, there were a number of limitations. The findings may reflect the chosen search terms. Since the search is constant across subreddits, subreddit differences are less likely to be impacted by this critique. Second, many of the posts were graphic memes. Memes can be systematically analyzed (Askanius and Keller 2021), but were excluded from these analyses. Third, measurement reactivity occurred. As these data were made public in the OSF database, r/NoFap began deleting the posts. Carefully preserve data when studying r/NoFap. Finally, NoFap followers also report becoming suicidal due to the “relapse” component of NoFap treatments (Prause and Binnie 2023). Two persons are reported to have died by suicide from NoFap, including one NoFap moderator and a NoFap collaborator (Rhodes 2015a; Stebbins 2022). Self-harm was not assessed, but also appears to be a concern on r/NoFap.

NoFap is now known as a part of the manosphere, actively selling its ideology to a dedicated following. Homicidal risks remain difficult to estimate due to the low base rate of homicides, even with a full client history (e.g., Crump et al. 2013). Only a small minority of NoFap followers are likely to become violent in real life. NoFap followers often exhibit high levels of narcissism. They believe that they deserve (female) sexual partners because they are superior men who have triumphed over their perceived victimization from sources like pornography, women, and media. Violent posts on NoFap do not neatly align with established theories like “Sexual Frustration” or “Blue Balls” in explaining violent extremism. Instead, they may reflect an ideology specific to the founders and/or moderators of NoFap. Some violence in NoFap forums likely would improve by replacing the current moderators. Interventions to assist young men influenced by violent extremism in NoFap ideology are already underway (Frounfelker et al. 2023). The public and clinicians can confidently discourage young men from seeking support for their sexual concerns from NoFap.

Acknowledgements

The authors declare no acknowledgments.

Disclosure statement

The authors were named in threats to harm and kill scientists posted on NoFap forums. NP is paid to provide continuing education regarding sexual dsyfunctions, is a consultant for Vella Biosciences and Reckitt Industries, serves as a paid statistical consultant for dissertation students, and teaches for the Modern Sex Therapy Institute. DL is paid periodically as an expert witness concerning issues of sexuality. He has previously provided paid education and training on sexuality and pornography-related matters for the Sexual Health Alliance and other professional organizations.

Correction Statement

This article was originally published with errors, which have now been corrected in the online version. Please see Correction (http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2024.2316534).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nicole Prause

Nicole Prause, PhD, is a Senior Statistician at the University of California, Los Angeles, in the Department of Medicine. Dr. Prause is also a licensed psychologist. Her research includes neuroscientific studies of sexuality, orgasm physiology, the health effects of sexual arousal, and violent extremism and misogyny in online spaces.

David Ley

David Ley, PhD, is a clinical psychologist, sex therapist, and author, based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is the author of several books and research articles on sexuality, including his second book, The Myth of Sex Addiction, which prompted much of the modern dialogue about the validity of the concept of sex or porn addiction. Dr. Ley is a frequent guest in media around the world, with appearances in sources such as the New York Times, CNN, and Time Magazine, for Hustler and Playboy magazines. Dr. Ley frequently testifies as an expert witness on matters of psychology and sexuality. He has contributed to research about sexuality, LGBTQI health, clinical practices, and substance use treatment.

Appendix A

Table A1. Examples by post classification from r/NoFap.

Action described	Examples
Death	“you know the part about malice? This week i had thoughts of just wanting to fucking punch someone to death” “I will kill the CEO of p0rn and violently slaughter their entire family” “Almost murdered my girlfriend last night. That being said, I did something last night that goes far beyond my addiction to PMO as an escapist crutch. I literally threatened someone with murder. Not just anyone: A socially respected sociolytic sociopath female.”
Rape	“Everybody who experienced the stop PMO had, some time, a very big urge period and I don’t want to try to force myself to stop PMO when I will have very huge urges I’m afraid to assault/rape anybody (for example).” “15 days Hardmode but almost committed a rape. Plz help me. Yesterday I was sitting in the building park. it was late evening. There I saw a girl (maybe 16 or 17) and she was alone too talking on the cellphone. The moment she looked at me and smiled I got a mad insane rush. I felt like raping her then and there. Yes there was no one around it was late evening. I got up and walked toward her slowly. Alarmed she looked at me in shock and backed off. When I almost held her hand to pull her close I gained control over myself and made a filmsy excuse. I’m scared I’ll do this again. I feel so mad and horny I swear I could fuck a watermelon with a hole in it. I’m scared I’ll end up raping a woman. I cannot control.” “When are we gonna raid the headquarters of porn producers? and rape them 1000 time with a hammer while filming them so they experience the pain and agony they caused for countless of innocent people”
Violence	“day 31-~50: Like my brain is in a blender. Sometimes it’s the best day ever. The next day I curl up in a corner and just want to die. Urge to stab people in the face for things that don’t really matter becomes a problem here.” “or just burn down their server buildings entirely, which could be construed as arson, instead of that massive level of theft, and would actually get rid of it all instead of just shutting down one site, which would probably just lead to a power vacuum being filled in a matter of months. Only problem is, they’re all over the world, and you’d probably want to do them all at about the same time, to make sure they can’t do anything about it, so you’d need to coordinate, and odds are it’d be much harder to play off as an accident that way.” “Don’t let a broken society tell you what’s right and wrong!I left society and stopped giving a fuck what people say about me,in the end I let people do what they want as long as it doesn’t fuck over other peoples’ mentality or feelings,I don’t mind if a guy does ballet,but if the ballet guy starts saying to avoid all muslims because they’re all terrorists,I’d feel inclined to punch him in the nose!”
Destroy property	“I’ll do you one better. Me and a few friends are hitting it [pornography website] with a DDoS.” “Send the link man So i can DDOS” “If there are any questions I’ll make a response but if that question is ‘how do we fix this?’ there are two answers. […] The hard way: Guerrilla insurgency against media companies; no killing just incessant destruction of broadcasting tools, Television and radio broadcasting towers, DDoS attacks on porn sites would be a strong secondary objective, the goal is to take away man’s comfort blanket and get him to take a hard look at where he is living, who he is and why he is living this way this would need to be a prolonged event anything less than a month would have a negligible effect. This should allow the more peaceful option to take root.”
Dox	“Also Nicole Prause is literally financed by xhamster if I remember correctly. Here’s a picture of her (far right) at some adult film awards.” “I just got scammed from a guy off grailed for $775 and I feel like relapsing. He blocked me off his Instagram (@[redacted real handle]). I have his friends number aswell ([redacted real phone]). I will pay everyone who blows up their phone $1. Make my night as I will be very disappointed the entirety of it.” “Just dox her already, why would you protect a porn star?”
Targets
Women	“Unbelivable me too I feel so bad man…. :-(My brain was like do it do it or u will rape someone ….and now….hello backpain….hello depression….hello creepy behavior” “I hooked up with this chick when we we’re drunk one time, and she sent me a message saying I ‘raped’ her the next day.”
Specific person	“What do you mean telling on your friend is not easy? He’s a fucking pedophile for fuck sake. It wouldn’t be easy not to want to kill him there an then.” “You said you have their name. I don’t imagine it’d be impossible to track them down somehow or other. Even if you can’t pursue them somehow or other through the law it probably wouldn’t be foul play should you manage to dox them. A coworker of mine gave me a machete and a fillet knife for Christmas, and I’m itching to try them out. That person is a sick bastard and doesn’t deserve to live another day in comfort.”
Scientist	“We’re basically fighting to the death against these people.” “I can kill that bitch any time if you’d like me to. Fuck those people”
Pornography industry	“Let’s KBS this demon [referring to porn industry]. KBS=KILL BUTCHER UPAND SLAUGHTER” “Kill all pornographers”
Other forum user	“I will kill you if you let her down bro” “I WILL FIND YOU AND I WILL KILL YOU!”
Anyone	“Day 22: have intense urge to Murder.” “There is nothing like scientific Evidence. That is Bullshit. Fuck off with your Idea. Pmo has ruined my life so much that whenever I hear someone Endosing it, I just wanna kill him.”
Other target	“I wanna go back to kill even more stray animals” “A one page summary of Protocols of Zion Goyim (Gentiles) are mentally inferior to Jews and can’t run their nations properly. For their sake and ours, we need to abolish their governments and replace them with a single government. This will take a long time and involve much bloodshed, but it’s for a good cause.”

Typographical errors are left throughout the quotes to avoid changing potential meaning in text formatting.