How to Make an Incel

Governments worldwide are contending with how to define and address incel ideology, particularly as it relates to gender-based violence. How to Make an Incel provides a much-needed, triangulated analysis of the journey into inceldom, bridging the growing discussion between structural and experiential approaches in incel research.

By examining the network of social media platforms, websites, and niche forums where incel identity is cultivated, the book offers a nuanced understanding of how young and adolescent men process gendered perceptions and masculine failures in mainstream and isolated digital spaces. As one of the few academic works based on direct engagement with incels, this study offers a critical empathetic feminist lens to map the journey to inceldom. Rather than reinforcing incel grievances, it broadens the discourse on poor mental health and incel identity, while shedding light on the misogynistic and self-denigrating tendencies underpinning this ideology. By tracking the incel digital ecosystem from everyday social media to extremist forums, this book crucially illustrates how seemingly innocuous discussions feed into more harmful ideologies that legitimise gendered violence and a self-deprecating identity.

For academics, practitioners, and policymakers alike, How to Make an Incel offers an overdue explanation of how men become incels. As governments seek solutions to combat incel culture, this book provides an alternative to securitised and pathologised perspectives. Imminently timely, it lays the groundwork for interwoven digital, educational, and feminist therapeutic strategies that can effectively address the rise of antifeminist and antiwomen rhetoric—offering a blueprint to understand and counter the rise of young and adolescent men adopting an incel identity.