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Gooning

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gooning is a sexual practice and subculture associated with extreme edging to the point of achieving a euphoric state (sometimes called a "goon state"), usually while consuming large amounts of pornography. Someone who goons is called a gooner, and may goon alone or with others. Gooners, who are predominantly young men, congregate in online communities such as Reddit and Discord.

Etymology

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The terms "gooning" and "gooner" have appeared on the internet since the early 2000s, possibly sprouting from 4chan.[1][2] The term is a reference to "goons" from Popeye comics, who are single-minded and stupid characters,[3] or more generally referencing slang for a simple-minded person.[2][4] The name also has been related to the "undignified" facial and body expressions gooners display during their practice.[5] The terms have gained popularity among Generation Z and Generation Alpha on TikTok and other social media platforms as slang,[6][7] having their definitions broadened to include elevated excitement of any kind.[8]

History

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Gooning as a practice speculatively began on 4chan in the early 2000s, where participants were reportedly mostly masculine gay men.[1][9] The earliest definition of gooning on Urban Dictionary was written in 2005.[2] As gooning spread, it was influenced by the pornography addiction fetish community on Tumblr around the late 2000s, growing to include a wider demographic.[9] Interest in gooning grew more rapidly after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic,[10] spiking in 2023 according to Google Trends.[11][2]

In 2025, Gooning was named the 2026 Fetish of the Year by Clips4Sale, citing a 151% increase in sales for gooning content since 2023.[4] Goonen, the German language word for gooning, was nominated for the Youth Word of the Year in Germany in 2025, losing to das crazy by 0.2% of the vote.[12][13]

Practice

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The goal of gooning is to achieve a "goon state", a state described as trance-like, euphoric, and meditative,[14][2] with one source comparing it to ego death.[11] According to sexuality researcher Jason Armstrong:

Gooning is considered to be that moment during a bate [masturbation session] when porn is no longer necessary, when the connection to the penis is all that's required to reach an almost frightening height of sexual ecstasy.[15]

During a "goon session", many contort their faces or go slack-jawed and drooling;[8][2][16] in particular, some assume the "goon face", with tongue sticking out and eyes crossed.[17] Some babble or chant penis-related affirmations,[16][18] which have been compared to mantras.[2] Gooners heavily focus on the penis in sexual activities, which one researcher describes as bordering on "phallomania".[19] Some use party drugs like poppers or Adderall in order to heighten the experience.[3][20][10] Gooning sessions can go on for hours, up to days in extreme cases.[5][8]

Gooners tend to use pornography compulsively, with the addiction generally being part of what they find appealing about the activity. Some sources define gooning as the fetishization of having a porn addiction.[9][5][21] However, pornography is not required for gooning to occur.[22] There is also an element of sexual submission,[17] with some gooners seeking sources which humiliate them for their addiction.[11][23] Gooning also serves as an opportunity for some to explore queer sexuality, particularly for straight men who are bi-curious.[23][20]

Many gooners construct a "goon cave", a room designed specifically for the act.[14][11][9] These often contain multiple computer monitors, on which gooners display multiple streams of pornography simultaneously.[24][11][25] They may also have physical pornographic media such as magazines or posters,[26] and may employ sex toys.[23] Porn music videos are popular among the community as "bate [masturbation] fuel";[1] these consist of hundreds of short pornographic clips with pounding techno music in the background.[11]

Gooning may be a solo activity, but many gooners participate in group gooning sessions, often on video call or otherwise organized online,[14][18] where participants masturbate to the same porn simultaneously.[21][10] Many communities also conduct in-person gooning meetups.[10][3] Certain couples have incorporated "mutual edging" as a shared sexual practice.[27]

Community

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Gooners congregate in online communities, with gooning related subreddits garnering millions of users[9] and Discord servers hosting tens of thousands.[20][21] Many gooners share memes among themselves, in places such as X, and have a set of shared gooning-related terms and inside jokes.[25] Some gooner communities share "triggers": GIFs or other short form pornographic content that make the viewer want to start a goon session.[19]

According to a 2025 survey by the blog ZipHealth, a quarter of American adults have gooned at some point, with men twice as likely to have done so compared to women.[28] A survey of several English-speaking subreddits and Discord servers in 2024 found almost three quarters of self-identified gooners were cisgender men, primarily from the United States and Europe, with over 95% between the ages of 18 and 25; over 60 percent identified as bisexual.[20] In another survey of gooners, 40% said they were sexually active, although the majority identified as "pornosexual", meaning they substitute sex in their life with porn.[21] While gooners are largely male, female gooners do exist, called "goonettes".[5][9][1]

Negative effects

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Excessive gooning can lead to erectile dysfunction during intercourse, which is thought to be because sexual intercourse is less physically stimulating than gooning. In this way, gooners can become reliant on porn to become aroused.[3] It can also lead to dulling of one's natural pleasure response, resulting in excessive stimulation to achieve the same effect.[22] Some gooners also report difficulty dating with their fetish, as well as infidelity.[5] According to family psychotherapist Fiona Yassin, this is a particular concern in younger people and may impact social development.[29]

A trend among some gooners, called "nut-and-dash", "tagging", or "cum sharking", involves sexually assaulting strangers by masturbating publicly and ejaculating or wiping semen on them (usually women), often in Dollar Tree stores. A lawsuit has been brought against one of these gooners by a woman who was a victim of this practice at the Clairemont, San Diego Dollar Tree location. The suit alleges that at least 11 other women across the United States have been victims.[24][30][31]

See also

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References

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Citations

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Sources

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