Beyond The ‘Incel Attacker’: Media Reporting on Cases of Misogynist Violence
Who Counts as an “Incel-Related Attacker”?
While attempts have been made in the academic literature to classify “incel-related attackers”, uncertain thresholds for proof of incel status and the lack of a cohesive conceptualization of “incel-related ideology” add complexity when attempting to decide whether an attack can be definitively connected to misogynist inceldom. Shared grievances about women and feelings of resentment over romantic rejection unite spaces across the Internet manosphere, making it difficult to parse which beliefs – if any – are truly unique to misogynist incels alone.
Similarly, varied levels of participation in online misogynist community spaces and uncertainty around whether perpetrators self-described as an incel also impact potential classifications of misogynist incel violence. Celebrating perpetrators of mass violence is common within misogynist incel forums, with users anointing lone male perpetrators of contemporary and historic acts of violence with titles of ‘saint’ or ‘martyr’. Despite this, several of the perpetrators of mass violence heralded as deities by some misogynist incels have no direct ties to community forums or the label itself, further muddying attempts at clear classifications.
Obscuring the Realities of Mainstreamed Male Supremacism
Narratives that connect cases of misogynist violence to inceldom alone obscure the realities of male supremacism, which is entrenched and supported through the social, political, and economic structures within patriarchal societies. Moreover, regressive ideas about women and anti-feminist backlash are increasingly platformed throughout mainstream social media platforms, with male supremacist ideas seen in fringe communities on 4/8Chan, Gab, and KiwiFarms now permeating through to TikTok, Twitter/X, Instagram, YouTube, and Reddit. Misogyny influencers like Andrew Tate, Jordan Peterson, and Joe Rogan, alongside popular masculinist pod/vodcasts, platform male supremacist ideas about women and feminism that are similar to those held by misogynist incels, as well as other communities across the Internet manosphere.
Focusing solely on misogynist incels as the cause of misogynist violence may limit opportunities to acknowledge the mainstreaming of male supremacist beliefs across platforms, and to explore how this violence is linked to broader social and societal structures of oppression.
Recommendations for Responsible Reporting
In order to better report on and contextualize cases of misogynist violence, journalists may benefit from:
· Avoiding tenuously linking mass violence to misogynist incel communities based on potential characteristics of the perpetrator, including mental health challenges, struggling with rejection, and resentment toward women. These are not unique to misogynist incels alone and are common factors across cases of male supremacist violence.
· Using precise language when speaking about male supremacist communities. Adopting the term misogynist incel(s) instead of incel(s) helps differentiate the ideological community from the wider self-ascribed label of involuntary celibacy.
· Contextualizing attacks within wider cultural climates of male supremacism, extending beyond misogynist incels as the sole cause of misogynist violence.
Read More
Alana (1997). Online forum: Love Not Anger: Beyond involuntary celibacy. Available at: https://www.lovenotanger.org/
Czerwinsky, A. (2024). Misogynist incels gone mainstream: A critical review of the current directions in incel-focused research. Crime, Media, Culture, 20(2), 196-217. https://doi.org/10.1177/17416590231196125
Land, O. (2023). Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger had an “incel complex” that drove him to kill: ex-FBI agent. New York Post. https://nypost.com/2023/01/15/idaho-murders-suspect-bryan-kohberger-had-an-incel-complex-that-drove-him-to-kill-ex-fbi-agent/
Otter, S. (2024). Incels explained after Sydney “monster” killed “because he wanted girlfriend.” The Mirror. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/what-incel-dark-movement-explained-32588848
Allysa Czerwinsky is a President’s Doctoral Scholar and current PhD candidate in Criminology, University of Manchester. This article is published courtesy of the Center for Research and Evidence on Security Threats (CREST).
