Incels, Compulsory Sexuality, and Fascist Masculinity

Abstract

Incel, the now-widely circulated portmanteau for involuntary celibacy, denotes a growing community of mostly cisgender men who are unable to find sexual partners or forge romantic relationships. Organizing in online networks, these men blame their exile from sexual relations on everything from feminism and sexual liberation to genetics and natural laws of attraction. In this essay, we offer an asexual critique of compulsory sexuality in online incel communities to illustrate how the sexual imperatives that animate fascism and the politics of the alt-right rest on myths of an insatiable male sex drive. We argue that incel discourse repurposes liberal conceptions of sexual liberation as well as alternative theories of intimacy crafted by queer and asexual communities to advance an abject and fascist form of masculinity. Rather than understand incels as sexually repressed and unable to assimilate hegemonic masculinity, we theorize incel discourse as a white militant extension of compulsory sexuality that transforms alternative intimacies into violent masculinist fantasies of invulnerability and the sexual will-to-power. Content warning: this essay examines potentially traumatizing discourses concerning sexual assault, racial violence, and discriminatory beliefs. Please read with caution.

One is the loneliest number: Involuntary celibacy (incel), mental health, and loneliness

“…To determine the extent to which participants blame others when women reject them, the 4-item Externalization of Blame Scale (Kelly & Aunspach, 2020 ) was used. The scale uses a 7-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 ( strongly disagree ) to 7 ( strongly agree ), with higher scores indicating greater externalization of blame.…”

Race and the language of incels

“…Baele, Brace & Coan, 2021; Hoffman, Ware & Shapiro, 2020). Though typically not linguistic in approach, this research highlights aspects of incel language that echo the wider ideological traditions equating ideal masculinity with whiteness, and framing it as threatened by immigration, cultural dilution and left-wing activism, to the point that some theorists describe incel communities as an outpost of a newly emergent, abject and fascist form of masculinity (Kelly & Aunspach, 2020). For gender scholarship, this racial and racist dimension is a reminder that gender is always produced at the intersections (Hall, Levon & Milani, 2019) of multiple categories and multiple systems of power.…”

Involuntary Celibacy: A Review of Incel Ideology and Experiences with Dating, Rejection, and Associated Mental Health and Emotional Sequelae

“…Alana soon discovered that she was not alone in her frustration and Alana's Involuntary Celibacy Project became a hub for individuals with similar experiences. The site became an informal support group of sorts that featured discussion forums, article sharing, and a mailing list, which served a diverse community of people across the age span, genders, and sexual orientations [18,19]. Alana was ultimately successful in her dating (and mating) ambitions and left the website in the hands of other members; it was not until the Rodger attack that she discovered the group had splintered into male-only assemblies whose sexual frustrations were often directed at the women who have "shunned" them [16].…”