The Dangers of the Internet

A Study of Incels and their Online World

  • Gabrielle Parent University of Victoria

Abstract

In recent years, since the invention of the internet, misogyny and anti-woman rhetoric has significantly evolved and changed. Several anti-woman communities have emerged online, including MRAs (Men’s Rights Advocates), the PUAs (Pickup Artists), MGTOW (Men Going Their Own Way) and most significantly, incels (involuntary celibates). Incels are the topic of study for this research paper, as they are an understudied online group, as well as the radical sect of the misogynistic communities. This research explores the history of incels, the ways in which the internet acts as a facilitator for incel ideology, provides a digital space for practicing misogyny, and the ways in which incels navigate the online world as a hate group. This paper reveals the role the internet plays for incels and the ways in which the digital rhetoric has translated into far-reaching and real-world violence.

 

Keywords

Incels, involuntary celibates, misogyny, social media, Internet, Reddit, hate-group, mass shootings, anti-woman, ideology.

Published
2020-11-10
Section
Gender