“I Think Most of Society Hates Us”: A Qualitative Thematic Analysis of Interviews with Incels

Daly, Sarah E.; Reed, Shon M.

doi:10.1007/s11199-021-01250-5

Original Article
Published: 19 October 2021

“I Think Most of Society Hates Us”: A Qualitative Thematic Analysis of Interviews with Incels

Sex Roles volume 86, pages 14–33 (2022)Cite this article

4608 Accesses
6 Citations
36 Altmetric
Metrics details

An Author Correction to this article was published on 03 May 2022

An Author Correction to this article was published on 20 April 2022

This article has been updated

Abstract

Involuntary celibates, or “incels,” have received increased public attention in past years, likely as a result of media reports that link incels to incidents of mass violence. Although prior research has examined various elements of the online community, none have directly engaged with incels to understand the causes and effects of their inceldom. Using a hegemonic masculinity framework, this article analyzes data from interviews with incels (N = 10) to identify emergent themes about their situations, attitudes, and experiences. The data reveal that the participants feel that they 1) experience masculinity challenges that affect their romantic opportunities, 2) are marginalized or treated as “subhumans” due to their appearance or other characteristics, and as a result, 3) experience negative emotions related to their inceldom. This, in turn, affects their belief in the BlackPill and their online behavior such as shit-posting. Supported by interview data, these findings can highlight both the similarities and diversity of thought within the incel community while also examining the ways that hegemonic masculinity can lead to the marginalization of specific groups of men. As such, this study can inform future research about incels, suggesting that it should include continued interaction with members of the community and quantitative survey research about incels. Furthermore, it can outline and inform intervention strategies addressing the negative effects of gender hegemony that should be considered for individual approaches to inceldom.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Change history

03 May 2022
A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-022-01290-5
20 April 2022
A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-022-01288-z

References

Anti-Defamation League. (2020). When women are the enemy: The intersection of misogyny and white supremacy. https://www.adl.org/resources/reports/when-women-are-the-enemy-the-intersection-of-misogyny-and-white-supremacy#involuntary-celibates-deadly-resentments
Ash, A. (2019). Incels v2.0. https://www.docdroid.net/ip0ngNY/incels-pdf
Bartky, S. (1990). Femininity and domination. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203825259
Bates, L. (2020). Men who hate women: From incels to pickup artists: The truth about extreme misogyny and how it affects us all. Sourcebooks.
Beech, A., Fisher, D., & Ward, T. (2005). Sexual murderers’ implicit theories. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 20(11), 1366–1389. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260505278712
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Article Google Scholar
Bridges, T., & Pascoe, C. J. (2014). Hybrid masculinities: New directions in the sociology of men and masculinities. Sociology Compass, 10(2), 120–132. https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12134
Article Google Scholar
Bruch, E. E., & Newman, M. E. J. (2018). Aspirational pursuit of mates in online dating markets. Science Advances, 4(8), eaap9815. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aap9815
Calogero, R. M., & Pina, A. (2011). Body guilt: Preliminary evidence for a further subjective experience of self-objectification. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 35(3), 428–440. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361684311408564
Article Google Scholar
Calogero, R. M., Pina, A., & Sutton, R. M. (2014). Cutting words: Priming self-objectification increases women’s intention to pursue cosmetic surgery. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 38(2), 197–207. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361684313506881
Article Google Scholar
Castle, L. (2019). Why incels are right & you are wrong. Self-published.
Chatfield, S. L. (2018). Considerations in qualitative research reporting: A guide for authors preparing articles for Sex Roles. Sex Roles, 79(3–4), 125–135. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-018-0930-8
Article Google Scholar
Check, J. V. P., Perlman, D., & Malamuth, N. M. (1985). Loneliness and aggressive behavior. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 2(3), 243–252. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407585023001
Article Google Scholar
Connell, R. W. (1987). Gender and power: Society, the person and sexual politics. Stanford University Press.
Google Scholar
Connell, R. W. (2005). Masculinities (2nd ed.). University of California Press.
Connell, R. W., & Messerschmidt, J. W. (2005). Hegemonic masculinity: Rethinking the concept. Gender & Society, 19(6), 829–859. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243205278639
Article Google Scholar
Cook, J. (2017, March 9). Tinder has a secret success rate that shows how attractive your photos are. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com.au/tinder-secret-success-rate-photos-right-swipe-percentage-2017-3
Costello, W. (2020, August 6). Step your dick up: Why incels deserve better advice. Medium. https://medium.com/@williamcostello/step-your-dick-up-why-incels-deserve-better-advice-307879d7c97b
Creswell, J. W. (1998). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five traditions. SAGE Publications.
Currie, T. E., & Little, A. C. (2009). The relative importance of the face and body in judgments of human physical attractiveness. Evolution and Human Behavior, 30(6), 409–416. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2009.06.005
Article Google Scholar
De Chesnay, M. (2014). Nursing research using phenomenology: Qualitative designs and methods. Springer Publishing Company.
Donnelly, D., Burgess, E., Anderson, S., Davis, R., & Dillard, J. (2001). Involuntary celibacy: A life course analysis. The Journal of Sex Research, 38(2), 159–169. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224490109552083
Article Google Scholar
Doyle, R. (2019, June 22). Whatever (1994) by Michel Houellebecq: A superb declaration of hostilities. The Irish Times. https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/whatever-1994-by-michel-houellebecq-a-superb-declaration-of-hostilities-1.3919923
Farrell, T., Fernandez, M., Novotny, J., & Alani, H. (2019). Exploring misogyny across the manosphere in reddit. WebSci ‘19: Proceedings of the 10^th ACM Conference on Web Science, (pp. 87–96). http://oro.open.ac.uk/61128/
Fors, K. (2019, September 16). Economics of dating 2: The brutal reality of dating apps. The Utah Statesman. https://usustatesman.com/economics-of-dating-2-the-brutal-reality-of-dating-apps/
Fredborg, L. (2013). Extract comments to new document. DocTools. https://www.thedoctools.com/word-macros-tips/wordmacros/extract-comments-to-new-document/
Furby, K. (2018, August 8). Online dating study quantifies what’s ‘out of your league’. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2018/08/08/online-dating-study-quantifies-whats-out-of-your-league/
Gilmartin, B. G. (1987). Peer group antecedents of severe love-shyness in males. Journal of Personality, 55(3), 467–489. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.1987.tb00447.x
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Ging, D. (2019). Alphas, betas, and incels: Theorizing the masculinities of the manosphere. Men and Masculinities, 22(4), 638–657. https://doi.org/10.1177/1097184X17706401
Article Google Scholar
Glace, A. M., Dover, T. L., & Zatkin, J. G. (2021). Taking the black pill: An empirical analysis of the incel. Advance Online Publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/men0000328
Book Google Scholar
Glaser, B. G., & Strauss, A. L. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research. Aldine.
Grady, M. P. (1998). Qualitative and action research: A practitioner handbook. Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation.
Graneheim, U. H., & Lundman, B. (2004). Qualitative content analysis in nursing research: Concepts, procedures and measures to achieve trustworthiness. Nurse Education Today, 24(2), 105–112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2003.10.001
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Hoffman, B., Ware, J., & Shapiro, E. (2020). Assessing the threat of incel violence. Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 43(7), 565–585. https://doi.org/10.1080/1057610X.2020.1751459
Article Google Scholar
Høiland, T. (2019). Incels and the stories they tell: A narrative analysis of Incels’ shared stories on Reddit [Unpublished master’s thesis]. University of Oslo. https://www.duo.uio.no/handle/10852/69841?show=full
Incels.co. (2020, March). Survey results - March 2020. https://incels.co/threads/survey-results-march-2020.188748/page-3
Jacobson, D., & Mustafa, N. (2019). Social identity map: A reflexivity tool for practicing explicit positionality in critical qualitative research. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 18, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406919870075
Article Google Scholar
Jones, A. (2020). Incels and the Manosphere: Tracking men’s movements online [Unpublished master’s thesis]. University of Central Florida. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd2020/65/
Legard, R., Keegan, J., & Ward, K. (2003). In-depth interviews. In J. Ritchie & J. Lewis (Eds.), Qualitative research practice: A guide for social science students and researchers (pp. 139–168). SAGE Publishing.
Google Scholar
Lindsay, A. C. (2020). Swallowing the black pill: A qualitative exploration of incel antifeminism within digital society [Unpublished master’s thesis]. Victoria University of Wellington. https://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/xmlui/handle/10063/8915
Maxwell, D., Robinson, S. R., Williams, J. R., & Keaton, C. (2020). A short story of a lonely guy: A qualitative thematic analysis of involuntary celibacy using reddit. Sexuality & Culture, 24(6), 1852–1874. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-020-09724-6
McAlister, A. M., Lee, D. M., Ehlert, K. M., Kajfez, R. L., Faber, C. J., & Kennedy, M. S. (2017, June). Qualitative coding: An approach to assess inter-rater reliability. Paper presented at 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition. https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--28777
McCorkel, J., & Meyers, K. (2003). What difference does difference make? Position and privilege in the field. Qualitative Sociology, 26(2), 199–231. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022967012774
Article Google Scholar
Menzie, L. (2020). Stacys, Beckys, and Chads: The construction of femininity and hegemonic masculinity within incel rhetoric. Psychology & Sexuality. Advance Online Publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/19419899.2020.1806915
Article Google Scholar
Messerschmidt, J. W. (2018). Hegemonic masculinity: Formulation, reformulation, and amplification. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Moustakas, C. (1994). Phenomenological research methods. SAGE Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412995658
Nagle, A. (2017). Kill all normies: Online culture wars from 4chan and Tumblr to Trump and the alt-right. Zero Books.
Naples, N. A. (2003). Feminism and method: Ethnography, discourse analysis, and activist research. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315889245
Nussbaum, M. C. (1995). Objectification. Philosophy and Public Affairs, 24(4), 249–291. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1088-4963.1995.tb00032.x
Article Google Scholar
Oh, D., Grant-Villegas, N., & Todorov, A. (2020). The eye wants what the heart wants: Female face preferences are related to partner personality preferences. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 46(11), 1328–1343. https://doi.org/10.1038/xhp0000858
Article PubMed Google Scholar
O’Malley, R. L., Holt, K., & Holt, T. J. (2020). An exploration of the involuntary celibate (incel) subculture. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. Advance Online Publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260520959625
Padgett, D. K. (2008). Qualitative methods in social work research. SAGE Publications.
Papadamou, K., Zannettou, S., Blackburn, J., De Cristofaro, E., Stringhini, G., & Sirivianos, M. (2020). How over is it? Understanding the incel community on YouTube. ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW). https://arxiv.org/pdf/2001.08293.pdf
Patton, M. Q. (1999). Enhancing the quality and credibility of qualitative analysis. Health Services Research, 34(5), 1189–1208. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412985727
Article PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar
Patton, M. Q. (2015). Qualitative research and evaluation methods: Integrating theory and practice (4th ed.). SAGE Publications.
Phillips, W. (2015). This is why we can’t have nice things: Mapping the relationship between online trolling and mainstream culture. MIT Press.
Saunders, B., Sim, J., Kingstone, T., Baker, S., Waterfield, J., Bartlam, B., Burroughs, H., & Jinks, C. (2018). Saturation in qualitative research: Exploring its conceptualization and operationalization. Quality & Quantity, 52(4), 1893–1907. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-017-0574-8
Article Google Scholar
Scaptura, M. N., & Boyle, K. M. (2020). Masculinity threat, incel traits, and violent fantasies among heterosexual men in the United States. Feminist Criminology, 15(3), 278–298. https://doi.org/10.1177/1557085119896415
Article Google Scholar
Shaghaghi, A., Bhopal, R. S., Sheikh, A. (2011). Approaches to recruiting hard-to-reach populations into research: A review of the literature. Health Promotion Perspective, 1(2), 86–94. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3963617/pdf/hpp-1-86.pdf
Southern Poverty Law Center. (2020). Male supremacy. https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/ideology/male-supremacy
Straus, M. A., Gelles, R. J., & Steinmetz, S. K. (2007). Behind closed doors: Violence in the American family (2nd ed.). Transaction Publishers. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351298681
Taylor, J. (2018, August 30). The woman who founded the incel movement. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45284455
Turner, C. F., & Martin, E. (Eds.) (1984). Surveying subjective phenomena. Russell Sage Foundation.
van Valkenburgh, S. P. (2018). Digesting the red pill: Masculinity and neoliberalism in the manosphere. Men and Masculinities. Advance Online Publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/1097184X18816118
West, C., & Zimmerman, D. H. (1987). Doing gender. Gender & Society, 1(2), 125–151. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243287001002002
Article Google Scholar
Witt, T. (2020). If I cannot have it, I will do everything that I can to destroy it. The canonization of Elliot Rodger: Incel masculinities, secular sainthood, and justifications of ideological violence. Social Identities, 26(5), 675–689. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504630.2020.1787132

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for Dr. James Messerschmidt’s insights about this paper and his work, and we thank him for his contributions and reflection. We would also like to thank the participants for their candor, honesty, and feedback.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Department of Criminology, Law, & Society, Saint Vincent College, 300 Fraser Purchase Rd, Latrobe, PA, 15650, USA
Sarah E. Daly
Department of Criminal Justice, University of Nevada, 4505 S. Maryland Pkwy, Las Vegas, NV, 89154, USA
Shon M. Reed

Authors

Sarah E. Daly
View author publications
You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar
Shon M. Reed
View author publications
You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sarah E. Daly.

Ethics declarations

Ethics Approval

This research was approved by the Saint Vincent College Institutional Review Board for research involving human participants. (Protocol #101016).

Informed Consent

All participants agreed to the terms of the Informed Consent.

Conflicts of Interest

There are no potential conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Daly, S.E., Reed, S.M. “I Think Most of Society Hates Us”: A Qualitative Thematic Analysis of Interviews with Incels. Sex Roles 86, 14–33 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-021-01250-5

Download citation

Accepted: 04 October 2021
Published: 19 October 2021
Issue Date: January 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-021-01250-5

Keywords

Involuntary celibate
Incel
Thematic analysis
Masculinity
Hegemonic masculinity
Sex roles
Rejection