Document Type

Essay

Award Designation

Honorable mention

Publication Date

2020

Abstract

The manosphere is one new digital space where antifeminists and men's rights activists interact outside of their traditional social networks. Incels, short for involuntary celibates, exist in this space and have been labeled as extreme misogynists, white supremacists, and domestic terrorists. This project aims to understand discussions happening among incels and situate them within social understandings of masculinity. I downloaded 4,532 threads posted on incels.is and randomly sampled 100 for analysis. Through grounded coding methodology, I identified the importance of making meaning of manhood on this site, particularly with respect to sexuality. Further, I found that incel ideology rests on the creation of sexual hierarchies that emphasize perceived attractiveness. Finally, I explore the debates within this space on who is able to claim membership and how borders of the space are policed. This is significant because it reveals how marginalized men respond to and reproduce gendered hierarchies.

Disciplines

Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies | Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies | Women's Studies

Comments

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