Men who perform hybrid masculinities claim distance from masculine hegemony while actually reproducing patriarchal power. In this article, we analyze the Incel community through a lens of hybrid masculinities, as originally proposed by Ging. The Incels are a self-proclaimed group of beta males who claim a position at the bottom of the social hierarchy due to their continued romantic and sexual rejection by women. We performed a content analysis of a sample of 400 top-rated posts from the Incel forum on Reddit called r/Braincels. Incels performed a specific version of hybrid masculinity in which they claim lower status than women while also calling other men weak and powerless using comparisons to women. Incels also showed negative outcomes associated with these masculinities, as evidenced by posts reporting violent hatred of both themselves and women. This research provides insight into the ways that masculinities develop in online contexts. Public Significance StatementPosters on a Reddit forum dedicated to the involuntarily celibate ("Incel") community used the language of social justice to claim that they do not have access to traditional masculine status. However, they also looked down on other men who do not conform to these same masculine standards. Individuals in this community also discussed feelings of violence and hatred directed at women and themselves.

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Sexual violence is a prominent social problem that harms many victims every year. Perpetrators of these crimes tend to exist in a binary. Some are convicted by the criminal justice system, where they face sanctions such as jail time and registration and are demonized by society. Others never face any sanctions for harm caused and are exonerated for their actions. This review examines public perceptions of sexual offenders in the United States through the institutional-level constructs of federal policy, media, and institutional myths. A review of the literature on this topic from 2007 to 2017 produced 37 relevant articles, which were placed into three categories using thematic analysis: (1) perceptions about sexual offenders and perceiver differences, (2) media about sexual offending and effects of media consumption on perceptions of offenders, and (3) support for offender policies and effects of policy on perceptions of offenders. A review of these topics reveals that there are prominent institutional myths about sexual offending. A cyclical relationship is formed, where media perpetuates institutional myths, myths drive policy, and policy leads to media reporting. This review utilizes community psychology theory to examine and interpret the literature as well as to formulate research and intervention suggestions.

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