‘I want that power back’: Discourses of masculinity within an online pornography abstinence forum

Abstract

This article examines the ways that men actively construct masculinity within an online pornography-abstinence reddit forum, NoFap. Of central interest is how members of NoFap negotiate possible contradictions between abstinence and presenting themselves as masculine subjects. Utilizing discourse analysis, we illustrate the ways in which forum members employ idealized discourses of innate masculinity and the need for ‘real sex’ to justify their resistance to pornography use and masturbation. However, we also highlight the paradox of having to perform ostensibly innate characteristics, and the outright rejection of feminist critiques of pornography use as it pertains to masculine conduct. As such, this article offers an alternative approach to the popular ‘user effects’ paradigm that suggests that users reject pornography because of internal biological drives interfering in their lives. Instead, we suggest that some users reject pornography to reconcile pornography use with particular expectations of normative masculinity.