Sexual hate and violence are core tenets of incel ideology, yet few studies have examined in detail how rape is understood and articulated within these digital communities. This article addresses this gap through a critical discourse analysis of 3,353 posts published in one of the largest international incel forums. It investigates (1) how women are portrayed in the context of rape; (2) how rape is understood among incels and how these understandings are substantiated; (3) how incels situate themselves in these discussions; and (4) how claims about women and rape are mitigated or reinforced through user interactions. The analysis highlights the contradictions and inconsistencies embedded in incel discourse about sex, rape and women, as well as incels’ strategic use of victimhood. The article further demonstrates the extremism of gender-based hate and the abhorrent language used to construct meaning around women and rape. Importantly though, the article shows how incel articulations of rape do not fundamentally diverge from mainstream misogyny. Instead, they are intensifications of ideas about rape and women which persist through the rape culture and rape myths in mainstream society, but are exacerbated by collective culture, lack of moderation and the separatist nature of the incel communities.
Mathilda Åkerlund (Thu,) studied this question.