The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality published a study last month that explored how incel forums facilitate social support.
Incel forums, an online community of men who are involuntarily celibate, are often viewed as a place where misogyny and bigotry arise. Yet, these forums also serve as a refuge for men who seek advice, validation, and emotional support.
The investigation examines the fear of support among two incel communities: r/IncelExit, which aims to escape the incelsphere, and Incels.is, a forum for individuals firm in their incel beliefs.
Sabrina Lete-Mendonca and Marie-Auge Boislard examined 37 discussion threads, 29 from r/IncelExit and 8 from Incels.is, which were combined over a month-long study period. They used a mixed thematic analysis to categorize content based on five types of social support, including informational, emotional, esteem, network, and tangible. The data were coded independently by two researchers to help resolve disagreements and influence the presence of antisocial reinforcement.
These results indicate significant differences in the types of social support shared between the two forums, reflecting differences in culture and user interests.
Informational support was the most common type of interaction for r/IncelExit (74.7% of interactions), with users often providing advice, clarification, knowledge transfer, and recontextualization to help them get through a brief exit; emotional support was less common (17.6%): emphasis was expressed for information and things worked out. Antisocial support was small (just 0.4% of interactions) or it was useless, action-oriented, or offered purely by the incel.
Emotional support dominated Incels.is, with 55.8% of interactions often reinforcing feelings of victimization and hopelessness. Informational support made up 32.7% of interactions, while antisocial support made up 11.5% of interactions. However, users encouraged self-destructive behavior or trivialized the emotional struggles of others. There was no evidence of respect, networks, or tangible support on Incels.is.
The results provide evidence that these forums have different roles, where r/IncelExit provides more generosity and solutions, while Incels.is creates more energy and creates negative emotions.
This study was limited to r/IncelExit and Incels.is, and as such, excluded other incel and femcel forums, so the findings cannot be generalized.
The research by Sabrina Leite-Mendonca and Marie-Aude Boislard, “Fast and practical: a qualitative investigation of social support dynamics among incels on an online commune.”