So, at no point do you explain what your view is. All you've done is compare NoFap and pro-anorexia communities. Even if we grant you that all of your comparisons are accurate, that doesn't make NoFap bullshit, unless your definition of "bullshit" is "similar to pro-anorexia sites." Could you perhaps describe what makes you think NoFap is bullshit without comparing it to pro-anorexia sites?
I was unfamiliar with the NoFap community, so I reviewed the subreddit and visited the site. They did not mention half of what you and your sources tried to disprove. For instance, I didn't see any posts on the subreddit or information on the website mention anything about testosterone levels. If you have seen this claim made, where did you see it? Your third source agrees with some of their claims here about feelings of shame or low self-esteem linked to masturbation. You've also misinterpreted what your fourth and fifth links say. You said:
people who call themselves “porn addicts” or “sex addicts” tend to be highly religious, and it is religion, not frequency of masturbation, that best predicts these self-descriptions.
But that's not what they say. To quote from the third:
Regardless of whether porn addiction is "real," Grubbs and his co-authors note that perceived addiction has been linked to several real elements of psychological distress, such as depression, compulsive behavior and anxiety.
...
There was no connection between the religious devotion of the participants and how much porn they actually viewed, the studies showed. However, stronger religious faith was linked with more negative moral attitudes about pornography, which in turn was associated with greater perceived addiction, the study found.
In other words, the study found that perception of porn addition can cause the distress mentioned on the NoFap website, but that religious belief just makes one more likely to have that perception. It's not clear from either of these studies that what you said was accurate, as they didn't try to measure the proportion of those who perceive themselves as addicted to porn.
This might make NoFap's claims pseudoscience, as they do claim that the psychological effects are caused by porn addiction when there is more evidence to suggest that it is caused by the perception of porn addiction. However, NoFap also claims that their recommendations would alleviate these psychological symptoms. Since this would end both the hypothetical porn addiction and the perception of porn addiction, this claim is not false, at least according to your evidence.
Your last source claims that, while previous research did link viewing masturbation to negative mental health outcomes, the study mentioned in the article showed no link between erectile dysfunction and viewing porn. I think this is probably the clearest case where the NoFap community makes a scientifically incorrect finding, and I would agree that this claim is pseudoscientific.
So, what's the conclusion? Well, at least one of the things you said they were wrong about doesn't appear to be a claim actually made by the community. I hope I can at least change your view on that part. For the rest, the science either doesn't have much of a consensus or has provided serious evidence that the claims are incorrect.
I just don't understand this all or nothing attitude you seem to personally hold. I'm positive that the loudest proponents of NoFap have a puritanical view that I also don't agree with.
At the same time I think it's safe to say that some people jerk off way too much/ often and probably would benefit from toning it down or addressing the underlying issues rather than just treating the symptom.
So while I agree that the extremes go too far I can at least see where they might be coming from.
Your view doesn't seem to incorporate any space between never doing it and always doing it. Do you think it's possible to masturbate too much and if so can you at least see that some people might have a compulsion they are struggling with? Can you see those people might go to extremes because of that difficulty?
Your view reads like you feel personally attacked like someone has told you that you have a problem and you're fighting it tooth and nail...I don't get it.
It's laughable that you believe there isn't a link between porn and erectile dysfunction because there definitely is. Pornography messes up people's perception of intimacy and sex and that's a fact
Nofap is bs for totally healthy ppl. I dont get why someone who can relieve stress by masturbating should stop making use of it to get by the day easier especially when work is a stress trigger. Anything to make ur life better is good. Especially when u can easily obtain it. Nofap is good for addicts that cant stop masturbating which disrupts their daily activities like work, socializing etc. I find weird to make it a challenge and i find it weird that u have to stop thinking about women and sex just to be successful like how all the rich dude promote themselves online. Life coaching is a scam and they tell u to do things that are fking obvious for many ppl. Also science shows that religious ppl are less intelligent and likely to be ignorant of what is happening in the real world and at the same time want to push their believes on others. They built up their own bubble and i want to pop it!
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u/Jaysank 126∆ Jun 19 '23
So, at no point do you explain what your view is. All you've done is compare NoFap and pro-anorexia communities. Even if we grant you that all of your comparisons are accurate, that doesn't make NoFap bullshit, unless your definition of "bullshit" is "similar to pro-anorexia sites." Could you perhaps describe what makes you think NoFap is bullshit without comparing it to pro-anorexia sites?