Honestly, I think it's a psychological thing. You go long enough without acting on your lust and you begin to think to yourself , "Well, well, well... looks like I DON'T need women after all. Man, look at all those AFCs that are slaves to their sex drives. But not me, I am out there making things HAPPEN while they are sitting at home jerking off. I don't need women, because I have proven to myself that I don't need sexual stimulation. Therefore I am WAY less needy and WAY more confident."
And women sense this. You gain a sort of detachment and are less self-conscious. You KNOW they can't grab you by the balls and make you do their bidding.
I wish I could send myself into that state without giving up masturbation, but it's ten times easier when I do. Exams are coming up and then summer vacation (when I plan on unleashing on girls), so I am going to attempt to abstain for the next 2 weeks so I can focus and build up some desire.
If it works for boxers (Ali most notably), then it should work for us. I was also reading a book on Tao a couple months ago that talked a lot about transmutation of sexual energy into other forms.
I do notice that I'm more sociable and friendly when I don't jack off for a while. I'm funnier and can think on my feet more easily.
An interesting sidenote... I noticed that I had very little desire to jack off after I made out with that chick. I went about 9 days without jacking off. Then one day I did and I couldn't stop. My sex drive was insane. I would jack off and STILL be horny. It's like all those days I abstained had stacked up and created a debt. This continued for about 4 more days.
I'm starting the challenge tomorrow. Wish me luck. My AIM name is secondton0ne, so hit me up and we can help each other through this thing.