Incels

Chapter Four of my just released book 'The New Demagogues: Religion, Masculinity and the Populist Epoch' (Routledge 2021). This chapter explores the spectrum of male supremacism, its utility in the new populist movements, different conceptions of anti-women violence and makes the case that male supremacism must be considered a new form of violent extremism that targets women on the basis of gender.

L'article analyse la triple castration d'eros et poiesis (force sexuelle et créatrice) de l'homme occidental que présente Sérotonine. De nombreuses citations, lexèmes et sèmes récurrents montrent que cette castration se manifeste aux niveaux pharmaceutique (antidépresseurs qui ne soignent pas la dépression, mais causent l'impuissance sexuelle et intensifient l'isolement social de l'individu souffrant), idéologique (transformation idéologique des rapports homme-femme qui pèse lourd sur les relations intimes et familiales) et socio-politique (mesures politiques et juridiques qui sapent l'autorité de l'homme dans la famille, découragent l'esprit entrepreneur dans l'économie et afaiblissent le lien entre l'homme et le sol natal).

This research provides a preliminary evidence base to understand the extent to which violent extremist narratives have a wider resonance with men in Victoria, Australia. It identifies key sites and points at which the construction of masculinity in men intersect with, and challenge, extremist conceptions. It consequently provides an insight into where the potential appeal of extremist narratives can be challenged most effectively.

Since 2009, at least 10 men have committed mass murder because they self-identified as incels (involuntary celibate) and the number of incel mass murderers continues to grow. The purpose of this article is to examine incel mass murderers and inceldom through their perceptions of their masculinity and identity as detailed in the narrative artifacts that six of them left behind. The narrative manifesto of Elliot Rodger, the most famous of the incel mass murderers, spread across the internet in 2014, when Rodger went on his killing spree. Other men in the incel community-of which Rodger was a member-canonized him and shared their own experiences with inceldom using Rodger's narrative as a blueprint to articulate their experiences with their masculinity and identity. In this work, I utilize textual analysis to demonstrate how the social construction of masculinity influences these mass murders. In this case study, I use these narratives to explicate how these men grapple with the idea that they have failed at masculinity and have scapegoated women in order to find redemption through the act of mass murder. My findings reveal that these narratives, especially those by Elliot Rodger, have real-world implications as these men did not just revere Rodger, but followed in his footsteps by committing mass murder.

In this paper, I argue that Robert King Merton’s Strain theory combined with Edwin Sutherland’s Differential Association theory are necessary for explaining why the manosphere is used by some men because of the use of adaptations to anomie, and how the deviant subcultures form through learned behaviour / radicalization. In finding support for their toxic masculinity, some men find themselves in the manosphere where they share their anti-feminist narratives, anger towards women, and lament on how social structures affect their hegemony.

Between 2007 and 2018, the pick-up artist community—“gurus” who teach online networks of heterosexual men to seduce women—gave rise to a different online community, that of “incels,” who create homosocial bonds over their inability to become a pick-up artist. In this article, we offer a conjunctural analysis of this shift and argue that this decade represents a decline in, or even a failure of, neoliberalism’s ability to secure subjects within its political rationality. We argue that neoliberalism cannot cope with its failures, especially its promises of self-confidence. Such promises themselves become exposed as confidence games, which are then rerouted through networked misogyny, resulting in ordinary and spectacular violence against women. Moreover, incels express their rage through language of uprising and a war on women. Their actions are on a continuum of reactive violent responses to women’s refusal of social reproduction roles and aim to defend and restore patriarchal order.

Controversially, psychologist and public intellectual Jordan Peterson advises “enforced monogamy” for societies with high percentages of “incels.” As Peterson’s proposal resonates in manosphere circles, this chapter reconstructs and briefly evaluates the argument for it. Premised on the moral importance of civilizational sustainability, advocates argue that both polygamous and socially monogamous but sexually liberal mating patterns result in unsustainable proportions of unattached young men. Given the premises, monogamous societies are probably justified in maintaining their anti-polygamist social and legal norms. The case for imposing stricter sexual norms on socially monogamous but sexually liberal societies is weaker, however, as male involuntary celibacy in those places isn’t as directly caused by male intrasexual competition, and since less intrusive social interventions are more likely to ameliorate “the incel problem.”

This text presents an analysis of some aspects of the phenomenon of so-called incels. It focuses on the sexist and male supremacist ideology inherent to the incels' narrative. It also follows a link between this ideology and assumptions made by some commentators on the incels' problem, who have been relying on a mixture of conservative views on society and reductionist naturalism. I present a critique of these background assumptions, relating to concepts that feature centrally in them. First, I criticise the characterisation of a particular (simplistic and anachronistic) concept of "monogamy" as natural and its possible construal as normative. Then I explore the rhetoric of sex as a "basic need", pointing out the tendency to mistake what one wants for a "need". I conclude by criticising the particular kind of the idea of the science of human nature, underpinning the reductionist accounts of sex-related violence.

Chapter four (open access) of my just released book 'The New Demagogues: Religion, Masculinity and the Populist Epoch' (Routledge). The chapter explores the spectrum of male supremacist activity, how it ties into the new populism and how it constitutes, at its worst, a new form of violent extremism targeting women on the basis of their gender.

Between 2007 and 2018, the pick-up artist community—“gurus” who teach online networks of heterosexual men to seduce women—gave rise to a different online community, that of “incels,” who create homosocial bonds over their inability to become a pick-up artist. In this article, we offer a conjunctural analysis of this shift and argue that this decade represents a decline in, or even a failure of, neoliberalism’s ability to secure subjects within its political rationality. We argue that neoliberalism cannot cope with its failures, especially its promises of self-confidence. Such promises themselves become exposed as confidence games, which are then rerouted through networked misogyny, resulting in ordinary and spectacular violence against women. Moreover, incels express their rage through language of uprising and a war on women. Their actions are on a continuum of reactive violent responses to women’s refusal of social reproduction roles and aim to defend and restore patriarchal order.

This chapter questions why, in contemporary culture, involuntary celibacy is so narrowly associated with white masculinity. To this end, it explores the hyper-visible figure of the white male incel, but also draws attention to the little-known contemporary phenomenon of "femcels" - or women who are involuntarily celibate - and the ways that they are rendered illegible because of widespread assumptions that any women can find sexual partners.  It situates this illegibility of the femcel in a broader context in which women’s psychic suffering, exclusions and humiliations are not countenanced as political problems - if they are made visible at all. White male ressentiment, humiliation and exclusion, on the other hand, are continually politicised and offered up as emblems of the angry zeitgeist, and white men are understood as uniquely disadvantaged and “left behind” by globalization. The chapter considers a range of media representations of both incels and femcels in relation to feminist theories of romantic suffering, white supremacy, and sexual redistribution. It argues that exclusion from sex and intimacy can be considered as political problems; the risk of tying questions of sexual redistribution to misogynistic and racist notions of entitlement, it suggests, might be avoided by centring such debates on femcels.

As a cultural anthropologist who’s been researching men’s pickup artists, the recent “incel” terrorist van attack in Toronto last week hit home. I’ve been researching online subcultures that teach men how to attract and seduce women for several years. The issues that radicalize incels to misogyny, hatred and violence are intimately familiar to me through my first-hand research on men’s seduction communities.

Don Juan clearly didn't need any training in flirting skills, but many North American men feel they need help. This article, titled “The Beta Rebellion? Incels and the World of Men’s Seduction Training,” gets to the core of incels’ discontents by taking readers inside a men’s seduction training workshop. I discuss how pickup artists train American guys in masculine types of self-help to overcome their sexual shame. These guys' concerns are rooted in deep, ongoing transformations in masculinity in North America that have recently come to light in activism against sexual assault on college campuses, the rise of the alt-right, and the ongoing #MeToo movement.
 
While often misogynistic, seduction training reflects contradictory cultural scripts for masculinity combined with a perceived loss of mens' traditional privileges and status. It's a symptom of guys searching for imperfect solutions to challenges that affect many men across North America and the women in their lives. How we address the underlying issues that drive men to seduction training is vital to steering men away from radicalization towards self-confidence, empathy for others, and embracing a culture of sexual consent. You can access the article here: https://medium.com/@anders.a.wallace/the-beta-rebellion-incels-and-the-world-of-mens-seduction-training-ca6db0406043