In recent years the term Incel – acronym for celibate entertainment, or “Underwounded celibate” – Born from Nicchia online forum, it has become an object of growing public, media and academic attention. In Italy it is talking about it very much lately, following the recent tragic feminicides of Sara Campanella And Ilaria Sula because of the Victim Blaming (Collect the victims of abuses and violence) made by many men in online comments from the denigration tones and terminologies typical of Incel culture (some examples are “cuming”, “hypergamare” and “Redpill”). But not only that: the term has returned to social networks also thanks to the success of the Netflix series Adolescencewhich explicitly deals with the issues of youthful adhesion to Incel culture. Far from being only an individual uncomfortable label, the Incel phenomenon reflects cultural and social dynamics of the present: it talks about sexualityOf candies and of exclusionbut also of male vulnerabilitycrisis and change in relational codes.
What is an incel
The term Incel was born in the mid -90s to a Canadian student, Alana, who created a site for share the frustration of sexual isolation. Initially the space was inclusive, aimed at all kinds and orientation, but with the passage of time the term was mainly used by (and for) heterosexual men who they declare they cannot have sexual or sentimental relations with women, despite the desire to have them.
The trait that characterizes the incel is not simply the lack of sex, but the perception that this exclusion is unjust, caused by a society that rewards some men – The “Alpha” – and penalizes others (Baele, Brace, Coan, 2019).
The vision that the incels have of the “laws of attraction”, therefore, is hierarchical and deterministic, a decidedly biological Darwinist reading and pulled by aesthetic stereotypes. In this vision, the women are described as creatures hypergameThat is, attracted only by a restricted male elite, while the other men would be destined for exclusion.
The incel glossary
In the world of the incel we find numerous symbolic figures. In this sense, the lexicon incel build A social order justified and governed by immutable “natural” laws.
Among the best known terms:
- Chad: desirable male because physically attractive (opposite of the male incel);
- Stacy: the very attractive woman, hyper-sexualized, who has no difficulty in finding a partner;
- Bad beta: man who considers himself less attractive or less fortunate in relationships than the “Chad”; It can have physical features or behaviors that do not make it desirable, according to the Intel standards;
- Alpha bad: man who possesses qualities considered dominant, such as physical appearance, self -confidence and popularity between women. It is seen as an ideal of masculinity;
- Orbiter: A man who, despite being emotionally or physically attracted by a woman, never has a romantic relationship with her. Orbiters are often considered as a “fallback” for women, who use them for attention without engaging in a relationship;
- NeckBeard: A denigration term used to describe a perceived man as socially inept, who spends a lot of time online without taking care of his physical appearance or social interactions;
- Smv (Sexual Market Value): A concept that reflects the perceived value of a person in the “sexual market”, determined by his physical attraction, social status, and other desirable qualities;
- Looksmaxing: The attempt to improve the physical appearance to increase the chances of attracting a partner. This can include cosmetic surgery, diet, physical training, and other changes;
- Redpill: theory that implies the idea that a person discovers a “painful truth” on how relationships between men and women work. The incels that identify with Redpill believe that women are superficially attracted to specific physical traits, and that men must adapt to these standards to be successful in relationships;
- Blackpill: theory of those Incel convinced that some physical traits, such as the appearance of the face and the stature, are decisive in success with women, and that they cannot be changed. The “Blackpill” is more fatalistic than the “Redpill”;
- Mgtow (Men Going Their Own Way): A movement that promotes the idea that men should move away from relationships with women to avoid frustrations and disillusions. Not all incels are MGTOW, but there are overlaps between the two groups;
- Awalt (All Women Are Like That): A belief between some incels that all women have negative or manipulative traits, such as being opportunistic or superficial, and who do not deserve confidence;
- Cumcetina: distorted and degrading vision of the woman. The term originates from Concettina, common name in southern Italy, to label women who, according to an alleged aesthetic hierarchy, reject men who for some aesthetic reasons would be lower. The negative connotation is amplified by the association with the prefix “cum“(” Sperm “in English) used to evoke contempt for the woman who had more sexual partners during her life, alluding to the concept of” having been dirty “and therefore of having lost value, in addition to aiming for certain aesthetic canons in the search for the partner;
- Hypergamare: female tendency to look for a partner with a social, economic or other status higher than their own.
What happens in the incel forums
The Incel world can be read as a digital subculture with its own rites, myths, symbols and moral codes. THE forum (as R/brainls, Incel.is or Lookism.net) they are not only spaces of outburst, but also places of collective construction of meaning, in which the Intrel identity defines itself as opposition to the outside world: here belonging is based on mutual recognition of suffering and on the sharing of a common enemy (women, “chads”, feminism, liberal society) and an identity is built through resentment.
One of the central elements of the incel’s discussion is the body: not so much the “lived” body, as much as The body seenobserved, measured, classifiable. Many posts therefore focus on male aesthetic traits (in particular on jaw, height, facial symmetry), often obsessively. Many incels are obsessed with the matter because they do not have the “desirable” body, and feel excluded from the community of “worthy” men.
On a psychological level, it is important to recognize that, generally, Behind the Incel phenomenon hides authentic sufferingmade of solitude, refusal, low self -esteem and difficulty in emotional relationships. Several studies (Moskowitz, 2022; Ribeiro, 2020) highlight how in many cases they are young, insecure subjects, often with a history of social isolation or bullying experiences, and not always carriers of active hatred. Precisely for this reason, although this is not a characteristic of all members of the category, In the incel groups it is not uncommon to see verbal violence practiced (or, in rare cases also in off-line life): a phenomenon that starts from the sense of refusal and turns into the ideology of revenge.
Wounded masculinity and commodified sexuality
The Incel phenomenon cannot be understood without inserting it in the wider context of the contemporary masculinity crisis.
According to Connel (1995), male identities are not natural, but historically built and stratified. The dominant model that many now know, requires man strength, success, control and sexual access to women. However, in current neoliberal society, many men struggle to respond to these expectations, and at the same time reluctant to embrace alternative models (Kimmel, 2013).
In this identity voidRhetoric Incel offers an answer: if you are not successful with women, it is not your fault, but of a corrupt society, feminists who have “ruined everything”, or of Tinder algorithms that only reward the beautiful. Sexual desire is therefore lived as a denied lawand not as a mutual relationship. In this sense, the Incel thought approaches one Logic owner of desire (Illouz, 2007): we end up thinking that Love and sex are consumer goods that are up to everyoneand that whoever has no access has been defrauded.
Sociologically, this leads to the naturalization of inequality, presented as an ineluctable biological law. Sexuality is seen as a scarce resource, in a competitive market in which the “losers” are intended for invisibility.
According to Bauman (2003), Liquid modernity has also transformed love into a US-e-run consumption in which the links are fragile and the sexual identity increasingly exposed to the judgment of the other. The incels are exactly in this fracture: they want stable relationships, but are immersed in a culture that rewards hegemonic masculinity and penalizes vulnerability.
