What is NoFap?

NoFap® is a peer support website dedicated to helping people recover from porn addiction and other compulsive sexual behavior.

We provide forums, information, and software to foster a safe, inclusive, and welcoming online environment for anyone seeking sexual self-improvement. We’re secular and sex-positive, focusing on a science-supported and shame-free approach to recovery from problematic porn use.

We are not an “anti-porn” nor “anti-masturbation” website (we’re a recovery website), as we do not advocate against people engaging in the moderate use of either. We’re here for people whose porn use and masturbation have become excessive, out-of-control, and detrimental to their lives. We’ve existed since 2011, and the World Health Organization formally began recognizing compulsive sexual behavior disorder in 2019.

We facilitate community and share helpful content while regularly consulting with clinicians and researchers; however, we do not provide treatment, therapy, counseling, or other forms of professional intervention. Our website is for recovering porn addicts and was made by recovering porn addicts.

We believe that recovery is for everybody. NoFap has well over one million users from all around the world. NoFap users are men and women and people of other gender identities; atheists and agnostics and religious alike; LGBTQIA+ people; and people of varying races, ethnicities, socioeconomic positions, nationalities, national origins, medical conditions, familial statuses, language fluencies, and ages. Our website brings people from various backgrounds and belief systems to pursue sexual self-improvement together.

What does NoFap do?

We do many things, but we focus on four core categories.

Peer Support

We foster safe, shame-free online environments to discuss recovery from porn addiction.

Software

We create software to track progress and motivate people to reach their sexual health goals.

Information

We publish personal stories and evidence-based resources to motivate and inform.

Raising Awareness

We tell the world that excessive porn use can lead to adverse effects and behavioral addiction.

Ready to join one of the most supportive communities online?

What NoFap is NOT

Over the years, we’ve noticed several misconceptions about NoFap have started circulating. NoFap has even been targeted with a porn industry-connected disinformation campaign. We’d like to take the opportunity to clarify our actual views here.

NoFap is not an "anti-masturbation" website.

Helping people recover from porn addiction does not make you anti-masturbation, and we find such an idea preposterous. Indeed, are dieting and healthy recipe websites somehow “anti-eating”? We do not believe that there is anything inherently wrong with masturbation from both a health and moral standpoint. The clear majority of our users agree with this stance (only 10% of surveyed users considered masturbation to be unhealthy for everyone).

NoFap does not advocate for long-term abstinence from masturbation or sexual behavior. Many users choose to temporarily abstain from masturbation for a period of time—typically around seven to ninety days, most often in the pursuit of recovery from porn addiction and other forms of compulsive sexual behavior. Many users choose to reduce previously-excessive masturbation to more moderate levels. Finally, some users masturbate as much as they want, only seeking to reduce or quit the use of pornography. Other users may choose not to masturbate, preferring sexual intercourse with a partner. Our users choose what best serves their personal goals. Learn more about why NoFap is not an “anti-masturbation” site.

NoFap is not religiously affiliated.

NoFap approaches the matter of porn addiction and other forms of compulsive sexual behavior from a secular, evidence-based viewpoint. As a recovery website, we are not here to take stances on the morality of pornography use or masturbation. We think there is a growing body of scientific and anecdotal evidence that modern, unfettered digital pornography use can be addictive and problematic for many users. NoFap was founded by an atheist. Others associated with the website come from a wide variety of backgrounds and beliefs. The majority of our community identifies as atheist or agnostic, but we’re happy to host a diverse community of both non-religious and religious users. Read more about our secular origins.

NoFap is not an "anti-porn" website.

Alcoholics Anonymous isn’t “anti-alcohol” – it’s about recovery from problematic alcohol use. NoFap isn’t “anti-porn” – it’s about recovery from problematic pornography use. In some respects, digital porn can be considered the sexual equivalent of junk food. Some people can incorporate junk food into their diets and enjoy it with limited adverse effects, while others overeat and fall into obesity. We do not take stances against pornography existing, nor do we argue that pornography is universally unhealthy to use for everyone in all situations.

Further, NoFap does not advocate for legislation to restrict the creation or consumption of consensual pornography. NoFap believes that solutions to porn addiction are best found through raising awareness, improving education, facilitating research, and creating recovery resources. We believe in an individual’s right to make their own decisions. We empower those individuals who choose to reduce or quit porn use with the resources they need to follow through on that personal choice. We are not anti-porn—we are anti-porn addiction. Learn more about why NoFap, a recovery website, is not anti-porn.

NoFap is not just about not masturbating for 7-30 days.

Every organization has an origin story. Although we started out as a forum to host challenges to not masturbate for seven days to a month back in 2011, we quickly evolved beyond that. Once our early community members started to experiment with sexual self-improvement, many realized that they struggled with pornography addiction and other forms of compulsive sexual behavior. The site has since developed into one of the most recognized pornography addiction recovery peer support communities online.

NoFap is not an "anti-sex" or "anti-orgasm" website.

NoFap is a sex-positive website. We believe that quitting porn can be one of the most sex-positive choices many people can make. It’s hard to be “sex-positive” if you can’t even get sexually aroused by your partner and only by porn. Many have reported that heavy porn use can make partnered sex less enjoyable, affecting sexual performance, sexual arousal, and sexual satisfaction. NoFap certainly doesn’t argue that individuals should abstain from sex or masturbation for the rest of their lives. Some (not all) users choose to abstain from sex temporarily while pursuing recovery from porn addiction and other forms of compulsive sexual behavior. However, we ultimately want people to develop a healthy relationship with their sexuality, and to enjoy sex! Many people have reported that overcoming porn addiction has resulted in a vastly improved sex life.

NoFap’s community is not homogenous.

There are members of NoFap of all vastly varying gender identities, ethnicities, backgrounds, and beliefs. Several individuals have typecasted our users as men in their 20s from the United States. While this might be a segment of NoFap’s users, we’re happy that our forums include voices from all over the world, from many different age groups, and include the perspectives of various sexual orientations and gender identities. With more diverse voices, our community only becomes stronger and more supportive.

NoFap is a peer support site, not a mental healthcare treatment.

NoFap is not a replacement for therapy, counseling, or other professional care. NoFap is a peer support website where users help to motivate each other to sexually self-improve. Quitting or reducing drinking, smoking, gambling, junk food, pornography, etc., are goals, not mental healthcare treatments. However, treatment parameters provided by a professional may include the use of online peer support resources such as NoFap. We encourage all users to seek the support of an appropriately-credentialed therapist. Learn more about how to find porn addiction therapy.

NoFap is not a moral crusade.

Some have claimed NoFap is a “movement,” but participants in a movement generally rally behind a common political, social, or moral ideal. We coined our name “NoFap” from the term “fap,” which originated in manga comics as an onomatopoeia representing the sound of masturbation. “NoFap” is a label for a website and organization that helps people quit porn use through education and peer support. NoFap’s users come here to improve themselves, not to dictate other people’s sexual choices. Our users are a diverse group who find common ground in one thing—they believe abstaining from individually-elected sexual behaviors for a period of time, generally in the pursuit of recovery from porn addiction and sexually compulsive behavior, will improve their lives. Users set their own goals. NoFap is here to help them succeed.

Porn addiction is not pseudoscience.

When we first started in 2011, there wasn’t a lot of research available on the excessive use of Internet porn. However, that has since changed. For years, pornography industry-connected associates have attempted to malign problematic pornography use as a pseudoscientific concept, discounting the idea that excessive pornography use can lead to adverse effects. However, the World Health Organization disagrees with them and created a diagnosis called “compulsive sexual behavior disorder,” which includes the compulsive use of pornography. Numerous clinicians and scientists have published papers on problematic pornography use, including an endorsement of the behavioral addiction model. What’s actually pseudoscience is the denial of the vast breadth of scientific research on excessive pornography use.

NoFap is not about testosterone.

A temporary 7-day peak in testosterone observed in a Chinese study initially popularized the “seven-day challenge” on Reddit, which resulted in our subreddit getting an initial burst of subscribers. The concepts of “semen retention” or that there might be a link between orgasm frequency and testosterone are popular on the Internet, including among some of our platform’s users. However, claiming that testosterone underpins any of our official assertions is a strawman argument. Are thousands of women quitting porn to boost their T levels? Do people quit alcohol addiction or gambling addiction to increase their testosterone? Of course not. Porn addiction can be debilitating to people’s lives, and recovery has little (to nothing) to do with testosterone.