Taking matters into their own hands: lockdown & the NoFap community

RGU School of Law and Social Sciences

Join David Smith for a discussion of lockdown and the NoFap community

Taking matters into their own hands: lockdown and the NoFap communityThe Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent social distancing measures have been stressful for everyone. To combat negative feelings, such as boredom, loneliness, or isolation, the general public have increased habits such as drinking, smoking, and, most relevantly, the consumption of pornography. The organization NoFap was founded in 2012 by web-developed Alexander Rhodes. He was worried about how the wide availability of pornography, and the possibility of becoming addicted, could negatively impact individuals and, consequently, wider society. Starting as a lifestyle website designed to help people resist masturbation, NoFap has birthed a vast community of, primarily men, who engage in three-month challenges to “reboot,” i.e., Fapstronauts. Now with 822k members, R/NoFap is the biggest dedicated digital platform. This talk explores the values of this forum in relation to topics such as motivation and masculinity. In particular, it looks at how the membership has responded to social distancing measures during the Covid-19 pandemic: a time in which they may have been more vulnerable to relapse. Discussion points include whether social distancing measures help or hinder Fapstronauts, how social distancing has led to individuals questioning what counts as cheating, and how the community supports members. David is a cognitive psychologist who specialises in evolutionary approaches towards memory. He completed his undergrad, masters and PhD in University of Aberdeen. In 2013 he began lecturing for Open University at Newham College University Centre. He also worked for BPP University in Waterloo before joining RGU in 2017. Across a varied CV, his weirdest achievement was being a scientific consultant for a L’Oréal shampoo campaign. David has published in a number of international, peer-reviewed, journals including Forensic Science International: Mind and Law, Memory &amp; Cognition, Evolution and Human Behavior, Psychology and Sexuality and Journal of Social and Political Psychology. He was also approached to be a contributor to the Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. In addition, he has contributed to magazines and sites including New Statesman, The Psychologist, British Politics and Policy at LSE, Left Foot Forward and Erotic Review and is currently a review editor for Frontiers in Psychology and Sociology: Gender, Sex and Sexuality Studies. --------------This event is a Community Seminar Series event hosted by Robert Gordon University&#x27;s School of Applied Social Studies. Our seminars are free to attend, open to all, and held online. If you&#x27;ve missed any of our previous online events, you can now catch-up on our YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL83GEree5OqIp5UMfeb5LuhKEWlV_Kfvt Feel free to subscribe to make sure you get alerts for new recordings! Please register to access to online session and follow the link provided in the eTicket that you will receive by email. At the time of the event, follow the link through to the event.Don&#x27;t have a Zoom account? You should not need to make a Zoom account and should be able to access the session in your browser. When the first Zoom screen opens and tries to direct you to download the app, scroll to the bottom of that screen where it says &quot;if you cannot download or run the application join from your browser&quot;. Follow that link to access through your preferred browser.If you have any questions, please contact Dr Alice Butler-Warke on a.butler-warke@rgu.ac.ukWe look forward to welcoming you to our virtual event!Banner image by Yasmina H on Unsplash

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Taking matters into their own hands: lockdown & the NoFap community

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Taking matters into their own hands: lockdown & the NoFap community

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