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Fapstinence: Difference between revisions
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In the US's long-running General Social Survey (GSS), pornography non-use was a significant predictor of sexlessness in the years 2000-2018, suggesting that abstention from pornography is generally associated with a lower sex drive, voluntarily celibacy, and perhaps a slower [[life history theory|life history speed]].<ref>https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2767066</ref> | In the US's long-running General Social Survey (GSS), pornography non-use was a significant predictor of sexlessness in the years 2000-2018, suggesting that abstention from pornography is generally associated with a lower sex drive, voluntarily celibacy, and perhaps a slower [[life history theory|life history speed]].<ref>https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2767066</ref> | ||
== Lack of scientific evidence == | == Lack of scientific evidence == | ||
The hype around fapstinence appears to have gained impetus from a 2011 [[Reddit]] post to /r/TIL about a single Chinese study claiming fapstinence would boost T levels by 145% above baseline.<ref>https://old.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/i514e/til_when_men_dont_masturbate_for_7_days_their/</ref> This study went on to spark discussion on Reddit that helped spark the creation of the initial no fap subreddit. | |||
The paper has since been retracted because "it significantly overlaps with a previously published article in Chinese (Jiang, 2002)", and so the original study it is based on has not been translated to English.<ref>Jiang M, Xin J, Zou Q, Shen JW (2003)"A research on the relationship between ejaculation and serum testosterone level in men." Journal of Zhejiang University Science A. 4 (2): 236–240. doi:10.1631/jzus.2003.0236.</ref><ref>https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12506329/</ref> | |||
This explanation, however, may not be sufficient to explain this T boost as even the administration of reasonably large amounts of [[anabolic steroid|exogenous testosterone]] (roughly equivalent to 4x the amount of testosterone most men produce naturally, disregarding differences in individual metabolism of exogenous T) only moderately increases libido in most males.<ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1440244099800073</ref> | This experiment was furthermore based on a tiny sample and has not been independently replicated. More recent have discovered that exposure to pornography and masturbation can ''increase'' free testosterone levels,<ref>https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12610-021-00148-2</ref> which is supported by earlier research.<ref>https://theconversation.com/nofap-can-giving-up-masturbation-really-boost-mens-testosterone-levels-an-experts-view-157701</ref> Though the effects of masturbation and porn usage on men's hormonal profiles seems to be transitory and of little practical significance both ways, and the research in this realm can be considered to be in its infancy.<ref>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.693121</ref> | ||
Explaining these seemingly contradictory findings, is possible that masturbation causes a small spike in testosterone release (seemingly associated with sexual arousal in general),<ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0306453093900056</ref> but that abstaining from masturbation can also weakly boost testosterone, possibly as an adaption to increase mating drive as testosterone does increase libido. This explanation, however, may not be sufficient to explain this T boost as even the administration of reasonably large amounts of [[anabolic steroid|exogenous testosterone]] (roughly equivalent to 4x the amount of testosterone most men produce naturally, disregarding differences in individual metabolism of exogenous T) only moderately increases libido in most males.<ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1440244099800073</ref> | |||
The short-term boost in testosterone in this study, moreover, if replicable, was likely so small and of such a short duration that it would play no practical role in driving differences in behavior, sexual drive, or physiological changes. Hormone studies have discovered it seems to generally require both large,<ref>https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/406451</ref> and possibly chronic<ref>https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ab.10050</ref> doses of testosterone to drive even modest behavioral changes in test subjects. | The short-term boost in testosterone in this study, moreover, if replicable, was likely so small and of such a short duration that it would play no practical role in driving differences in behavior, sexual drive, or physiological changes. Hormone studies have discovered it seems to generally require both large,<ref>https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/406451</ref> and possibly chronic<ref>https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ab.10050</ref> doses of testosterone to drive even modest behavioral changes in test subjects. | ||