And I thought AHers were strange (Gooner Culture)

[TheRedChamber]

This is a very good read.

https://harpers.org/archive/2025/11/the-goon-squad-daniel-kolitz-porn-masturbation-loneliness/ (Paywalled but two free articles a month)

I'm not sure what to make of it all, except to treat it all as some weird, fever dream Erotic Horror writing. There was some talk here recently of the effects of a whole generation growing up with easy access to pornography. This is the extreme (and maybe exaggerated for tabloid effect) result of it all.

 

[CalBishForNow]

Hey look, it's another article about how some people use weird slang about sex.

Personally I've heard "gooner" and "gooning", but I thought it just meant generally being a pervert, lusting after someone or something a little too blatantly and shamelessly. I had no idea that "gooncaves" or "PMVs" were a thing. Another bit of my innocence lost, I guess.

 

[shakespeare_i_aint]

Thank you for pointing out the article. It was a good read. I just came across the term "Goon" a couple of years ago and put it in a story that I'm doing now, where an aged blackmailing gooner streams the proceeds of his goonery into the gusset of a lady's underwear and makes her walk home. He calls it a "Goon Walk." His term, not mine. It would be funnier if I could make the protagonist walk backwards all the way home, but that doesn't seem as believable.

In real life, I worry about young men who aren't even trying to find a female partner. They spend their money on their leisure and sports betting (widely acceptable). They might not be gooning, but they're not advancing their prospects at all. I know a few of them. I'm decades older, or I'd either know more of them, or I'd be one, or both.

 

[TheLobster]

Watching The Goonies will never feel the same again...

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Well, to each their own.

Thanks for posting that.

 

[Writer61]

I have always thought that Gooners were misguided.

 

[SamanthaBehgs]

An interesting article on a term that actually came to my attention through my children (my older child was horrified when the friend of my younger used the term, so they brought it to my attention so I could gently point out how it was inappropriate to the very innocent/naive younger child). I must say - my first thought on it was that it sounded (on surface) a lot like the tantric sex fad of the twenty-teens (is that how we name 2010-2019? I ... honestly am not sure). This sure does give it different context.

I wrote up and then deleted me dorking out on other aspects. So just, yea, thanks for giving me something to dork out in my head about - definitely a fascinating article to read and an interesting connection to make to tantric sex.

 

[nice90sguy]

I'm a major gooner. Well, more of an edger. Think of the area under the pleasure curve when you stay in a state of arousal for thirty minutes compared with a five-minute build-up and an orgasm spike.
I have a real need to become dumb and stupid and horny and stare and drool. It doesn't make for a very entertaining sex life for my partner, but the cam girls who charge by the minute don't seem to mind.

 

[SamanthaBehgs]

I'm a major gooner. Well, more of an edger. Think of the area under the pleasure curve when you stay in a state of arousal for thirty minutes compared with a five-minute build-up and an orgasm spike.
I have a real need to become dumb and stupid and horny and stare and drool. It doesn't make for a very entertaining sex life for my partner, but the cam girls who charge by the minute don't seem to mind.

I wonder if this differs from tantric practices because of the presence of the cam girls/porn.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

I'm a major gooner. Well, more of an edger. Think of the area under the pleasure curve when you stay in a state of arousal for thirty minutes compared with a five-minute build-up and an orgasm spike.
I have a real need to become dumb and stupid and horny and stare and drool. It doesn't make for a very entertaining sex life for my partner, but the cam girls who charge by the minute don't seem to mind.

Edging is indeed great. Although I don't understand how that approach is worse for your partner than going at it for five minutes and erupting? You can give plenty of pleasure during the edging period. You could even make that work for your own arousal in a way, considering your femdom tendencies.

 

[APilgrimSquare]

Hopefully this leads to tons of SEO-driven interest in my little story about a PMV enthusiast/creator!

I thought the article started strong but faded a bit toward the end. Any obsessive internet-based culture is going to look a little sad, when you think about it, but I'm not sure the author really demonstrated how these guys are any worse/worse off than other subcultures? Sure, there's the ick factor, and it's all played for laughs, but nearly all of the interactions he had seemed pretty above board and respectful. Try getting that on a video gaming forum...

 

[GuiltyCowboy]

I'm both glad I read that and wish that I never did.

Feel like I should scrape some paint off my window panes, turn off the 27 screens, and maybe reflect a little on where I'm going with my life...

 

[Bramblethorn]

Think of the area under the pleasure curve when you stay in a state of arousal for thirty minutes compared with a five-minute build-up and an orgasm spike.

Not sure whether comforting or alarming to learn that somebody besides me thinks of sexual arousal in terms of calculus.

The article reminded me very much of reading Portnoy's Complaint. Not trying to argue that it's all old hat, but it seems like Portnoy would've been a gooner if he'd been born around 2000.