Inside the Incelosphere: Tracing the Origins and Navigating the Contradictions
type: CreativeWork
description: Incel, an online community of men connected through their shared lack of intimate relationships with women, is often described as a monolithic misogynist group of privileged and entitled white men. My research has revealed that, contrary to this dominant narrative, Incel is a racially diverse space and that this description overlooks the complexities and nuances that define this community. Incel is the product of both twenty-first century communication technology and the rhetoric of mid-twentieth century men’s movements. The Manbox, the foundation for Western hegemonic masculinity after the Second World War, is the form of masculinity that was both critiqued and embraced by these men’s movements, and now by Incel. Central elements of Incel rhetoric, such as the de-politicizing of gender, the notion that manhood must be earned or achieved, and the belief that feminism created the lie of male privilege, mirror those of men’s liberationists and the MRM. This study involved a qualitative analysis of the Incel forum Incels.Co. Discussion threads were reviewed and selected for further analysis over five-months. Data on the demographics of Incels.Co members, the use of pseudo-science and views on sexuality and race provided an essential framework to understand better the four central themes developed through this research. The four themes are: (1) Masculinities; (2) Views on Women; (3) Masculinity and Violence; (4) Masculinity, Mental Health and Self Esteem. These four themes are defined by contradiction and paradox. How hegemonic masculinity, the dominant form of masculinity in Western society, operates on Incels.Co is complex and even contradictory. Elements of hegemonic masculinity, such as heteronormativity, are strictly reinforced, while others, such as physical strength and financial success, become prominent copes, ways to, potentially, escape life as an incel. At the same time, there is a critique of the narrow standards of hegemonic masculinity, such as the expect…
abstract: Incel, an online community of men connected through their shared lack of intimate relationships with women, is often described as a monolithic misogynist group of privileged and entitled white men. My research has revealed that, contrary to this dominant narrative, Incel is a racially diverse space and that this description overlooks the complexities and nuances that define this community. Incel is the product of both twenty-first century communication technology and the rhetoric of mid-twentieth century men’s movements. The Manbox, the foundation for Western hegemonic masculinity after the Second World War, is the form of masculinity that was both critiqued and embraced by these men’s movements, and now by Incel. Central elements of Incel rhetoric, such as the de-politicizing of gender, the notion that manhood must be earned or achieved, and the belief that feminism created the lie of male privilege, mirror those of men’s liberationists and the MRM. This study involved a qualitative analysis of the Incel forum Incels.Co. Discussion threads were reviewed and selected for further analysis over five-months. Data on the demographics of Incels.Co members, the use of pseudo-science and views on sexuality and race provided an essential framework to understand better the four central themes developed through this research. The four themes are: (1) Masculinities; (2) Views on Women; (3) Masculinity and Violence; (4) Masculinity, Mental Health and Self Esteem. These four themes are defined by contradiction and paradox. How hegemonic masculinity, the dominant form of masculinity in Western society, operates on Incels.Co is complex and even contradictory. Elements of hegemonic masculinity, such as heteronormativity, are strictly reinforced, while others, such as physical strength and financial success, become prominent copes, ways to, potentially, escape life as an incel. At the same time, there is a critique of the narrow standards of hegemonic masculinity, such as the expect…
author: Williams, Lee
language: en
date published: 2020-08
date modified: 2026-07-24T04:03:36Z
provider: University of Regina
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: https://hdl.handle.net/10294/9328

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.82465/4354