'Gooning' sex trend explained as it's dubbed 'trance-inducing' fetish of the year 2026

The act of 'gooning' has been crowned the fetish of the year 2026 - but what exactly does the sex trend entail?

There are a number of fetishes out there that people can explore, ranging from the more vanilla-like spanking or role play, all the way to ones involving hanging upside down, covered literally head to toe in latex.

At the end of the day, if everyone is actively consenting and not being seriously injured, then who are we to judge - so long as people are making sure they're safe.

But there's one practice which has drawn attention online, and even got the accolade of 2026's fetish of the year, though surely the best fetish to receive the award of fetish of the year would be a praise kink?

This newly-coined practice is 'gooning', and you may have seen the term being thrown out on social media - don't worry, we won't tell anyone - and been left wondering what on earth it actually means.

Fetishes require a lot of trust between partners (Maria Korneeva/Getty)

What is gooning?

Well, the short version is that it's masturbation, but if someone turned masturbation into a marathon event.

'Gooning' is when someone masturbates and brings themselves just to the point of climax, but then holds off so they don't orgasm.

They then do that repeatedly, with the result supposedly being entering into an almost 'trance-like' state from not allowing themselves to finish over and over again.

Edging vs gooning

You might have heard of the term 'edging', which is similar in that it also refers to someone going, or being taken, just to the moment of an orgasm, only to stop at the last moment.

However, 'gooning' takes this to a different level by the repeated denial of an orgasm, and that's the key difference.

While it might be associated with someone having some me time, the term is also used in the context of a dominant and submissive relationship.

In that scenario, the dominant partner might make the submissive 'goon' as a way for the submissive partner to do something for the dominant partner, or as an act of humiliation by repeatedly denying an orgasm.

An expert has explained 'gooning' (Maria Korneeva/Getty)

Experts issue a warning around 'gooning'

Clinical sexologist Ness Cooper told Metro: "Gooning is meant to put people into a trance-like state due to edging so often and so soon after each round. Standard edging can have more forceful stops, while gooning can feel more like teasing."

But while gooning is becoming more popular, it does come with one warning.

This is that if you're going to be drawing things out for such a long period, then you should probably use some lubricant.

Otherwise, and there's no delicate way to put this, you might risk things getting a little chafed down there from the repeated rounds.

If you are planning on engaging in some slightly spicier than usual activities, it can't be reinforced enough that consent, trust, and safety are always the top priorities.