The Gray Area with Sean Illing Across the Gooniverse
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Dec 8, 2025 Daniel Kolitz, a writer for Harper's Magazine, dives into the intriguing world of 'gooning,' a subculture blending prolonged pleasure with community dynamics. He explores how hyperkinetic media is reshaping our patience and attention spans, framing gooning as a reflection of broader societal changes. Kolitz reveals that many participants are regular young adults, complicating stereotypes around this behavior. The discussion also touches on how this phenomenon mirrors an emerging pornosexuality and the cultural ramifications of living primarily in a screen-dominated reality.
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Gooning As Immersive Ritual
- Gooning combines prolonged edging with collective online ritual to create a transcendent, immersive state.
- Daniel Kolitz likens the goon state to advanced meditation driven by hyper-stimulating porn and community performance.
Identity Built Around Admission
- Gooning is both a sexual practice and a social identity rooted in admitting addiction to pornography.
- The community codifies that admission into language, rituals, and shared spaces.
Discovering The Goonverse Live Streams
- Kolitz describes joining a 50,000-member Discord and seeing live streams where many people masturbated together on camera.
- He found the scene unexpectedly large, competitive, and visually hyperedited.
