No Nut November (NNN), historically known as No Fap November, is an internet challenge where people, typically men, would allegedly try to challenge themselves to intentionally avoid the act of masturbation for an entire month, which could be for a variety of reasons.

The concept of a No Fap Week surfaced on 4chan in 2006,¹⁾²⁾ with the first serious attempt on June 10–16, 2007.³⁾ Few understood that it was a reference to the 1993 Seinfeld episode, The Contest.⁴⁾ Shortly after, the No Fap Month was conceptualized,⁵⁾ the first serious attempt occured in October 2008,⁶⁾⁷⁾ then we saw users who were eager to start another⁸⁾ and coining what was called No Fap November.⁹⁾

For some reason, the challenge¹⁰⁾ then spread to other internet forums,¹¹⁾¹²⁾ some would discover a dubious study¹³⁾¹⁴⁾ alleging that abstinence increases testosterone,¹⁵⁾ and Reddit would set up /r/nofap in 2011. Around this time, people did coin No Nut November,¹⁶⁾ though it lost traction until there was a humor-oriented revival in 2017¹⁷⁾¹⁸⁾ with jokes that 'Destroy Dick December' would succeed it.¹⁹⁾

Eventually, the challenge saw pushback over concerns of political or religious infiltration,²⁰⁾ as it may be used to weaponize young impressionable males²¹⁾²²⁾ confused about their libido, and the 'Coomer' memes²³⁾ were highlighted as potential evidence.²⁴⁾ In light of the article, the term 'coomer' became a pejorative that had replaced 'cumbrain' for a while, before people started latching onto the term 'gooner' instead.

There are a number of potential reasons why people may participate, or claim to participate, in the challenge, with some examples shown in the list below. Of course, it must be reminded that the act of masturbation is healthy and perfectly normal since it can provide you with better sleep, reduced stress, and so on, which is why there's been efforts to stop the slippery slope of anti-pornography puritanism.

• They watched the Seinfeld episode and simply decided to pitch the idea for fun.
• They had become interested in the concept of coitus reservatus or sexual abstinence.
• They are a young, impressionable person who is confused about their libido.
• They were misled by the 2003 Zhejiang University study that, again, has since been retracted.²⁵⁾²⁶⁾
• They don't actually care about it. They just like to engage with the awful memes.
• They are employing a reverse psychology tactic to bait people into dumping their porn stash or producing adult content. (By the way, this is especially annoying to watch.)
• They are a religious or political propagandist who are attempting to recruit impressionable young men, often with dog whistles suggesting that pornography is a conspiracy to 'control the herd'.²⁷⁾²⁸⁾

• For historical context, the term 'fap' (male) and 'schlick' (female)²⁹⁾ were the popular onomatopoeia for the act of masturbation at the time, though these terms are somewhat dated now.
  • The term 'nut' is a more recent slang term for ejaculation, though it seems to have lost traction.
  • Under the old name, you could theoretically have sex during 'No Fap November', and some people get really defensive about the fact that it's allegedly a different challenge.³⁰⁾
• I unfortunately recall seeing the old name for 'No Nut November' in the late 2000s, so I've mostly written this to correct what the Know Your Meme³¹⁾³²⁾ and Wikipedia³³⁾ articles get wrong.
• The concept of 'incel' didn't reach 4chan until January 11, 2007,³⁴⁾ and it's important to note that the users mocked it,³⁵⁾³⁶⁾ prior to the 2014 Isla Vista killings and alt-right movement.

• /r/nofap and /r/nonutnovember - The two main Reddit communities.