Researching Incels: A Critical Feminist Intervention

As the world wakes up to the incel problem following Netflix’s Adolescence, many examples of research into incels over the past decade have been poorly conducted. Researching Incels is a crucial intervention into problematic incel research – calling for a new framework for rigorous, responsible research to inform policy on the incel crisis.

A critical overview on poor research examples using the primary case study of a report commissioned by the UK Government’s Commission for Countering Extremism on predicting harm among involuntary celibates, the authors outline incel research that is methodologically flawed, unreliable, and normalizes misogyny. Focusing primarily on two critical flaws of researching incels - limited conceptualization leading to poor methodology; and positionality; they write from a feminist positioned critical analysis to offer a blueprint for the future of robust incel research in response to these limitations. This rebuttal is situated at the forefront of current polarizing debates developing within the incel community – emphasizing that incel research must address from a feminist perspective the underlying structural processes and ideologies that give authority and motivation to communities such as incels.

A “how to” guide for future research, Researching Incels also provides guidance for research, practice and policy on how to approach and assess existing work, with explicit caution where research is characterized by the limitations outlined here. Breaking new ground as the first broad commentary on researching incels, this is an essential roadmap for “Season Two” of incel research.

Stu Lucy is an ESRC funded postdoctoral researcher at the University of Portsmouth, UK.

Frazer Heritage is Senior Lecturer in Linguistics at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK.

Lisa Sugiura is Professor in Cybercrime and Gender at the University of Portsmouth, UK.