The Rage of Lonely Men: Loneliness and Misogyny in the Online Movement of "Involuntary Celibates" (Incels)
Tietjen,Ruth Rebecca Tirkkonen,Sanna Karoliina
Tietjen,Ruth Rebecca
Tirkkonen,Sanna Karoliina
Abstract
In this article, we investigate the relationship between loneliness and misogyny amongst the online movement of “involuntary celibates” (incels) that has become widely known through several violent attacks. While loneliness plays a prominent role in the incels’ self-descriptions, we lack a comprehensive analysis of their experience of loneliness and its role in their radicalization. Our article offers such an analysis. We analyze how loneliness is felt, described, and implicitly understood by incels, investigate the normative presumptions underlying their experiences, and critically reflect on the political function of their discourse of loneliness. We claim that it is the affective mechanism of ressentiment that transforms loneliness into antagonistic emotions and show how loneliness is exacerbated rather than alleviated through the incel community. Finally, we point to the relevance of our analysis for contemporary philosophical and feminist loneliness studies.
Description
Funding Information: Ruth Rebecca Tietjen’s work on the article was supported by the project “Centre for Ethics as Study in Human Value” (project No. CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/15_003/0000425, Operational Programme Research, Development and Education, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund and the state budget of the Czech Republic). Sanna Karoliina Tirkkonen’s work was supported by the research project “Experiential Demarcation: Multidisciplinary Inquiries into the Affective Foundations of Interaction (EDM),” funded by the Academy of Finland and the Kone Foundation, and the research project “Politicized Loneliness: Hatred, Violence, and Experiences of Loneliness Online,” funded by Emil Aaltonen Foundation. Publisher Copyright: © 2023, The Author(s).
Date
2023-04
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Keywords
Antagonistic emotions, Involuntary celibates (incels), Loneliness, Misogyny, Online radicalization, Ressentiment, SDG 5 - Gender Equality
Citation
Tietjen, R R & Tirkkonen, S K 2023, 'The Rage of Lonely Men : Loneliness and Misogyny in the Online Movement of "Involuntary Celibates" (Incels)', Topoi, vol. 42, pp. 1229–1241. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-023-09921-6
License
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess