A world alone: Masculinities, humiliation and aggrieved entitlement on an incel forum

Abstract

An emerging body of criminological research has sought to investigate the ‘incels’ movement. This article explores the construction of masculinities, gender and violence in a popular incel online forum. Here, we discuss results from a digital ethnography incorporating qualitative analysis of user posts, with a focus on three key overarching themes, namely: biological determinism, masculine humiliation and hierarchical gender relations. Our analysis draws on concepts such as hegemonic and hybrid masculinities (Demetriou 2001; Connell 2005; Bridges and Pascoe 2014), as well as Kimmel’s (2013) notion of ‘aggrieved entitlement’, to further develop understandings of the complexity of users’ framings of gender and masculine identity within the forum. Implications for future research in the field are then discussed.

The (de-)radical(-ising) potential of r/IncelExit and r/ExRedPill

“…According to this analogy, ‘taking the pill’ – usually the ‘red pill’ – means that one has been enlightened to women’s allegedly devious biological nature. The ‘black pill’ – associated with incels – advocates more nihilistic responses and has been linked to more extreme violence (Ging, 2019; Thorburn et al, 2022). While these movements have attracted overwhelmingly negative attention within academia and mass-media, the forums discussed here complicate most existing accounts of the manosphere, in that they offer perspectives from individuals who previously supported ‘red pill’ or ‘black pill’ communities, but are now critical of them, or are in the process of questioning their former beliefs (although interested outsiders who do not necessarily have a personal connection to these ideologies also participate in the forums).…”

“…For example, one college student asked on r/IncelExit how to move past his feelings of hurt from a crush rejecting him almost a year earlier. Whereas red pill forums promote manipulative dating strategies for individuals to follow (Van Valkenburgh, 2021), with the incel ‘black pill’ ideology offering deterministically nihilist explanations to rejection (Thorburn et al, 2022), commenters responding on r/ExRedPill and r/IncelExit instead offer more moderate and empathetic advice to such issues. Given the large audiences that manosphere figures like Andrew Tate and channels like Fresh and Fit 6 enjoy across social media (Das, 2022), any online space that seeks to challenge or avoid the misogynistic social commentary and potentially harmful dating strategies such manosphere celebrities offer, are worthy of more academic attention.…”

“…Indeed, a recurring sentiment among reformed individuals on r/IncelExit and r/ExRedPill is that they often discredited outsider advice because they did not believe that others understood their experiences. Yet, they could find a sense of understanding and solidarity based on shared experiences within incel and red pill communities, where discussions frequently centre on feelings of loneliness, rejection and social isolation (see Thorburn et al, 2022). Thus, an advantage of r/IncelExit and r/ExRedPill is that such individuals can find an alternative, accessible space where others may also intimately understand their personal difficulties, but instead encourage more supportive and less harmful responses to these problems.…”

“…The rise in popularity of the manosphere in the years following Anderson’s (2009) initial elucidation of IMT clearly challenges this work’s ‘decidedly optimistic’ view (O’Neill, 2015b: 106). Meanwhile, Ging’s (2019) influential article theorising the masculinities of the manosphere has emphasised the applicability of hybrid masculinity to incels, as they portray themselves as victims of feminism while simultaneously harassing and advocating for the total subordination of women (see also Thorburn et al, 2022). Yet, in any case, the narratives of many men and boys within r/IncelExit and r/ExRedPill illustrate the need for the masculinities field to account conceptually for the complexities of men and boys’ performances of gender (see Ralph and Roberts, 2020).…”

“…As the narratives presented earlier describe, the individualising pain that can stem from failing to achieve the ambitious goals of self-help motivational discourses, supports emerging evidence that neoliberal ‘hustle culture’ is unduly pressuring many young adults to be highly successful (see Burgess et al, 2022). It is unrealistic to expect any individual to surmount these societal expectations and pressures with ease, especially when manosphere ideas prey upon the insecurities that young men have about their failure to perform traits associated with hegemonic masculinity (Thorburn et al, 2022).…”