The Point of "No Nut November": How Long Can You Go Without Nutting?

It's November, which means that, once again, a select group of Very Online Men will be forgoing their favorite activity: stroking their pee-pee.

What is No Nut November?

In short, the challenge requires men to refrain from touching themselves for an entire month.

"No Nut November" began exactly the way anyone who has spent any time on the Internet would expect. Some guy with the username "bicboi6969696969" made it up and posted it on Urban Dictionary in November, 2011.

Six years later, a bunch of other Internet guys found it and ran with it.

To be fair, "No Nut November" wasn't exactly a new concept.

"No Fap" months ("fapping" means jerking off, for any of you normies out there) had supposedly existed since 2009 when an anonymous user posted about it. "No Fap September" on 4chan's /b/ board (or so the legend goes).

The concept didn't gain much traction until a 2011 Reddit post in the TIL (todayilearned) subreddit.

The initial post concerned a 2003 research paper about "the relationship between ej*culation and serum testosterone level in men," which ultimately suggested that "on the 7th day of abstinence...a clear peak of serum testosterone appeared, reaching 145.7% of the baseline."

The Truth About No Nut November (Realistic NoFap Benefits) www.youtube.com

YouTuber Jordan Green outlines some of the benefits:

• increased energy
• better focus
• more confidence
• motivation
• more attractive to women
• general "bossing up"

Technically, you would need to avoid having a wet dream as well.

Getty Images/EyeEm

Others took this to mean that not jerking off for a week would give a man superpowers, thus spawning a No Fap subreddit, endless memes, and the 7-Day No Fap Challenge.

But seven days is child's play, and "No Fap September" doesn't have nearly as nice of a ring to it as "No Nut November," so here we are.

While there's definitely some unsavory, sexist elements to the No Fap movement, the core ideology is actually kind of wholesome. Sincere advocates of No Nut November believe there are mental health benefits.

According to FiveThirtyEight, 50% of men under age 50 touch themselves at least a few times per month (and the percentage doesn't get that much smaller until age 60, when it drops to just over 30%).

Artist Matt Watson and friends recount their No Nut November challenges in song:

NO NUT NOVEMBER - Official Music Video www.youtube.com

Participants in this month's challenge recognize that all that wanking time could be better spent reading a book or playing video games or doing literally anything else. So ideally, No Nut November allows men to further their not wiener-related hobbies, or potentially even discover new interests.

Or, you know, you could just give up and yank your little ding dong instead. Make your own choices.