Researching Incels

This book offers a timely and much needed critique of evolutionary psychological approaches to researching the incel community. While interdisciplinarity is to be welcomed in incel scholarship, it is a matter of considerable concern that theories and ideas from evolutionary psychology form the basis of most incel and manosphere ideas about women, men and the relationships between them. The authors of Researching Incels draw attention to the way in which biological essentialism not only ignores the cultural and social construction of gender, but is also unapologetically and emphatically heteronormative and dualistic. Perhaps most importantly, their detailed critique demonstrates that, while evolutionary psychology is an arm of a historically positivist and thus apparently ‘objective’ science, it is in fact value laden. Researching Incels makes a hugely significant contribution to incel scholarship, and should serve as a reminder to policy makers that framing matters.

-- Prof. Debbie Ging, Institute for Research on Genders and Sexualities, Dublin City University

Through an exhaustive and cross-disciplinary analysis of the last ten years of research on incels, Lucy, Heritage, and Sugiura have produced a guiding framework for meaningful and robust research on the misogynist community. Researching Incels provides a much-needed feminist intervention in the field, and is sure to be the definitive reference for new and experienced researchers, policymakers, and the public.

-- Dr. Emily K. Carian, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of California, Irvine, USA

As the threat of misogynistic incel violence becomes an increasingly pressing social issue, Researching Incels – A Critical Feminist Intervention shows how research in this field can be undertaken with methodological care, theoretical clarity, and conceptual nuance. Sensitive, insightful, and comprehensive, it offers both a sophisticated account of incel ideology and a practical roadmap for conducting ethically responsible and intellectually rigorous scholarship.

-- Dr. Rob Lawson, Associate Professor of Sociolinguistics, Birmingham City University, UK

Through in-depth analysis of a significant government report that serves as an example of broader research trends, this book addresses problematic approaches that have proven stubbornly persistent in research on misogynist incels, despite prior critiques and the existence of more accurate scholarship. With detailed explanations that spell out precisely why these approaches are flawed, this publication offers the material to challenge these trends and build a stronger research pathway forward.

-- Dr. Alex DiBranco, founder and executive director of the Institute for Research on Male Suprema