The sexual abstinence movement, where people voluntarily abstain from viewing pornography and masturbating for a certain period through social media communication, is growing in various parts of the English-speaking world (NoFap or Reboot), China (Jiese), and Japan (Ona-kin). This study typifies Japan’s Ona-kin discourse, which emerged earlier in the world, by analyzing over three million "Twitter" posts from 2007 to 2022.

    While previous studies have endeavored to extract discourse data on masculinity and typified subjects based on influencers’ posts, they have not comprehensively elucidated the diachronic variation. To address the methodological issue, we employed natural language processing (NLP) methods, which are increasingly relevant in discourse studies, to extract salient terms using topic modeling.

    The analysis revealed six major types of Ona-kin discourse on "Twitter": (1) initiation and records of Ona-kin practice; (2) means of enhancing sexual pleasure and arousal; (3) popular cartoon-mediated imagery portraying supernatural powers; (4) aspects of physical, mental, and social self-improvement for men; (5) infertility risks for men; and (6) strategies for managing sexual desire. All categories are consistently observed in the "Twitter" corpus; however, Type (4) is prominent. Additionally, the conflict between Types (2) and (4), as well as between Types (4) and (5), highlights inherent contradictions within the Ona-kin discourse regarding idealized masculinity. Types (6) and (2) share a common perspective of spirituality.

    This study addresses the methodological challenges of existing NoFap studies by leveraging the strengths of NLP. It validates the efficacy of topic modeling in discourse studies and fosters methodological deliberation for media studies. Further research is required to elucidate the types and formation processes of Ona-kin discourse prevalent on Japanese social media platforms ("2chan," weblogs, and YouTube) preceding "Twitter."