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Their motivations vary, but a growing number of men are gathering online in communities devoted to abstinence not only from sex, but also masturbation.
It has more than 230,000 members, or about as many as forums devoted to Bitcoin and Bernie Sanders. But r/NoFap - one of the boards or "subreddits" on community-based site Reddit - is filled with men trying to avoid masturbating. And while some users claim "superpowers" and warn of the dangers of porn and sex addiction, there is little advice in the forum being offered from qualified medical professionals.
The term "fap" is a relatively new onomatopoeic synonym for masturbation which cropped up in a Japanese comic strip in 1999. The "NoFap" community has had a steady increase in its membership since it started in 2011, and has spawned an organisation and spinoff groups, some devoted to particular religious communities. In some ways the movement is an offshoot of the huge demand for online health advice.
Talking about sex and masturbation, of course, is taboo in many places around the world, and the NoFap subreddit brings in an international crowd. Secure in their anonymity, group members openly discuss "healthy" and "unhealthy" periods of time spent masturbating and counsel each other with tips and techniques on abstinence.
One typical message reads: "If you just keep on adding up days without doing it, one more day on another, while holding back any such urges to porn or anything, you'll abstain from it eventually."
A recurring topic is the issue of total abstinence from "pornography, masturbating and orgasm" - abbreviated to "PMO". Many on the forum believe avoiding PMO promotes a rise in testosterone levels in the body and even creates "superpowers".
One subscriber posted: "Just hit two weeks [abstaining] for the first time ever... In my opinion, we all have the capacity to be energized, focused, and productive. PMO, however, eliminates our desire to be this way, which is why it is so toxic to our wellbeing."
The founder of the NoFap organisation, Alexander Rhodes, explains that the idea of "superpowers" isn't really meant to be taken literally