Poster

Levels of Wellbeing and Mating Psychology of Incels (Involuntary Celibates) Poster Presentation for IASR (International Academy of Sex Researchers) Conference 2022

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Abstract

There exists a dearth of primary data collected from self-identified incels (involuntary celibates), the sub-culture of men who build their identity around their perceived inability to form sexual or romantic relationships. The incel community operates almost exclusively online, providing an outlet to express misogynistic hostility, frustration and blame toward society for a perceived failure to include them, and recent years have seen growing concerns about potential threats of violence from incels. In order to fill a gap in the literature, this study compared a sample (n = 151) of self-identified incels with non-incels (n = 365) across a range of measures, including interpersonal victimhood, self-perceived mate-value, reasons for being single, mate preferences, sociosexual-desire, depression, anxiety, loneliness, and life satisfaction. Incels’ accuracy in predicting female mate preferences were compared to the reported preferences of a sample of heterosexual women, highlighting some cognitive distortions. Moderation analyses were used to consider interactions between incel-status and sociosexual desire on wellbeing, while cross tabulation was used to explore demographic differences between the two groups of men in ethnicity, political affiliation, and the likelihood of being NEET (not in education employment or training). Results suggest that incels represent a newly identified “at-risk” group to target for evolutionary-psychology-informed mental-health interventions.

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