Interrogating the “incel menace”: assessing the threat of male supremacy in terrorism studies

ABSTRACT

Following a series of deadly attacks, and increasingly in recent years, incels have entered not only the public lexicon but also piqued scholarly interest, especially in terrorism research and programmes aimed at countering violent extremism (CVE). However, much of the current analyses largely interpret incel communities as homogenous, and in doing so ignore the complex and often contradictory nature of incel communities. CVE recommendations made by these scholars are often founded on misconceptions of incel identity and community. Through a critical feminist lens, in this article we argue that the focus on incels should seek to understand the role of male supremacy, antifeminism, and misogyny in society. Additionally, we argue against the trend of attempting to classify and securitise incels as a unique form of misogynistic violence, and identify the dangers of a lack of focus on male supremacy.

KEYWORDS:

• Incels
• male supremacy
• feminist analysis
• countering violent extremism
• misgoyny

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. We distinguish individuals who personally identify with the involuntary celibate or incel label from the male supremacist ideology and misogynist incel movement (Kelly, DiBranco, and DeCook 2021). The focus of this article is on the latter group.

2. Although we quote from specific sources like incel forums, manifestos, and other documents, we have chosen to not directly cite those sources in our manuscript in order to avoid further amplifying them with citations.

3. Some misogynist incels have started to reframe inceldom as a “life circumstance” or “life situation” on their wikis and blogs, and have claimed that any man that does not have sex for a set period of time is an incel. However, on misogynist incel forums who qualifies as an incel is highly contested and inceldom is still presented as a permanent predestined identity.

4. Alpha is a term that is used across the broader manosphere and is applied to men that are perceived as “dominant” especially as compared to other men or are perceived to be at the top of the dominance hierarchy over omega, and beta men. In the Manosphere alpha males are often positioned as the most attractive men to women, especially in comparison to “beta” males, and are therefore the men that women seek out as sexual and romantic partners.

5. SMV (sexual market value) is a concept used by members of the Manosphere for both men and women that places an economic premium on certain markers of attractiveness (physical, socioeconomic, etc.) and not on others, meaning that one’s SMV can be “high” or “low” depending on how well they meet these “standards,” and for men in the Manosphere in particular “SMV” is something that can be increased via buying in to these ideologies and Manosphere lifestyle recommendations.

6. Simply explained, the Red Pill is merely an awakening to the “real world” and the power struggle between genders, but promises solutions and ways to harness this new consciousness for men to regain power in heterosexual relationships; the Black Pill, in contrast, believes in this “new consciousness” but proposes that there is no solution, and that it is hopeless and futile to “fight” against this reality.

7. While the 2021 Plymouth attacker, who has been labelled an incel by several media reports, seems to be an exception to this trend, as the attacker described his mental state as “blackpilled”, he did not actually identify as an incel. According to Crawford and Keen (2021), he “appears to have had an ambivalent relationship with inceldom. He did not explicitly identify as an incel”. The usage of the term “blackpilled” does not necessarily indicate that he was an incel, but may indicate how widely the term has spread outside of the misogynist incel communities it was popularised in. Additionally, some of the subreddits where the attacker was active were “watchdog” incel subreddits which are critical of incel ideology. It is difficult to determine the level of involvement the Plymouth attacker had in misogynist incel communities, and even more difficult to determine the influence misogynist incel communities and their beliefs might have had on the Plymouth attacker, but his misogynistic beliefs were clearly present.

8. Lepine sent the male students out of the classroom he entered and as he opened fire shouted “I hate feminists” (Diebel 2014).

9. Jobs/career maxxing in incel forums is specifically about trying to attain high paying jobs (and thus, higher class status) to increase the chances of finding a girlfriend.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Julia R. DeCook

Julia R. DeCook (Ph.D., Michigan State University) is an Assistant Professor of Advocacy and Social Change in the School of Communication at Loyola University Chicago. Her research interests include platform governance, online hate groups, race and gender, digital culture, and social justice and technology.

Megan Kelly

Megan Kelly is a doctoral student in Gender Studies at the University of Basel. Her research examines “red pill“ and “black pill” radicalization narratives and identity formation in male supremacist communities.