Dissecting Incel Ideology in the Cost Of Living Crisis

Several violent incidents over recent years have highlighted the radical online subcultures of misogynistic ideologies, collectively referred to as the Manosphere. But few are aware of the full breadth of factors leading to “inceldom” as a growing security threat to women and girls in the UK.

Today, an “incel,” short for “involuntary celibate,” denotes a man who lacks access to romantic and sexual relationships due to their perceived unattractiveness or social status. The term “incel” was originally coined by a woman named Alana during the late 90s on a website named “Alana’s Involuntary Celibacy Project” as a means to get people of all genders to share their experiences of loneliness in a space with like-minded individuals. During the 2000s and 2010s, the emergence of toxic online chat rooms such as 4chan, and subreddits like r/incels and incels.is replaced by the old loveshy.com and Alana forums, increasingly promulgating a unique culture of extremism, bigotry, glamourised violence towards women and girls, and fatalism.  This has since materialised into a growing number of mass murder cases inspired by incel ideology towards women and girls. As of 2023, there have been at least 13 cases since 2014.

In the United Kingdom, we have encountered the Plymouth mass shooting and a drastic increase in Prevent referrals, an anti-terrorism programme designed to deradicalise school students. To elucidate, gunman Jake Davison was said to follow a “black-pill worldview” commonly promulgated in incel spaces – focusing on defeatism, fatalism, and biological determinism for conventionally unattractive men. In recent data, amongst those users of incel forums who were identified to reside in the UK, right-wing conspiracy theories surrounding climate change, gynocentric UK society, and “progressive” politics were rampant – with many of these ideas stemming from the rhetoric of alt-right American pundits like Jordan Peterson and Stephen Crowder. In addition, between 2020 and 2021, Prevent referrals relating to extremist incel ideology comprised 60% of all cases among pupils. With America being the mass murder breeding ground with the majority of cases, the United States incel epidemic was effectively the canary in the coal mine.

So, who is to blame for both the lure and the spread of this ideology here in the UK? I would argue that addressing this elephant in the room starts with discussing the impact of the current cost of living crisis and the rise in women’s participation in the labour market. For instance, the average UK household can expect their spending power to drop by £3000 if the government fails to intervene to counter the most significant drop in living standards in a century,  according to the Resolution Foundation. Simultaneously, women are slowly outpacing men in education, comprising 56.7% of university students, 68% of Medicine applicants, and now 29% of girls get A*s in A Level Mathematics compared to 28.5% of male students. In addition, after years of being stuck at the 8% mark due to glass ceilings in the corporate world, women now make up over 10% of CEOs in Fortune 500 companies. With only 3-4% of couples taking up shared parental leave, despite changing gender norms traditionally relegating women to the domestic sphere, it is clear that society still holds gendered expectations of both men and women.

If financial stability is still integral to notions of idealised masculinity in a failing economy where the vast majority of men and women are not high-earning and women are gaining on men in education and employment, a growing number of men may feel inadequate. And the research suggests that since 2009, men’s mental health in the UK has drastically deteriorated. For instance, the number of men who report having suicidal thoughts when feeling low has doubled to 10% since 2009, and the adverse impacts of austerity have been shown to be a factor in the rising suicides amongst UK men. This buttresses the point that economic instability plays a significant role in the spread of incel ideology for men. This is compounded by notions of hegemonic masculinity and their inextricable links to the ability to hoard resources to provide for one’s clan financially. Let’s assume that economic prowess is still central to a man’s social value. Is it any surprise that men in the UK are flocking to online spaces to either strategise for a better social standing or commiserate together about their lack?

The former has led to a cult of men’s self-improvement online in red pill spaces where socially undesirable men follow a set of instructions to reclaim their masculinity, including the pursuit of wealth creation. Figures like Andrew Tate, Jordan Peterson, and Kevin Samuels have capitalised on the economic disenfranchisement of young men and boys promising them access to the top 1% of earners in exchange for following their misogynistic ideas and even purchasing their online courses.

A plausible explanation from an opinion piece by Ashley Rouen Brown cites the impact of quantitative easing on the poor financial situation in the current decade and the prior decade. The Bank of England launched its Quantitative Easing programme in 2009 following the financial crisis of 2008. The intention was to boost economic activity by making households and businesses that hold shares wealthier. Due to these financial initiatives, low-interest rates have contributed to increased asset prices such that the average age of first-time homebuyers in the UK is now 32 compared to 29 a decade ago. In addition, approximately 13.4 million people lived in poverty in the UK during 2020-21,  with record food bank costs and usage, higher inflation rates, and public sector pay freezes.

The problem also extends beyond the United Kingdom and the United States.  The European Union, has found evidence that incels are a growing threat to security to epidemic proportions. Surprisingly, the highest number of incel.is forum users were found in Germany, where incels of colour lamented about being compared to the “tall, white, Aryan Chad.” Similar issues were reported in Sweden and Italy in the report by the European Union. This sheds light on a key nuance missed in discussions surrounding inceldom, the spread of ideology, race, and desirability. A concept termed the desirability ceiling also applies here. This phenomenon is where non-white people can work just as hard as maximising their social desirability through performing masculine or feminine ideals but will cap out at a fraction of the benefits of these behaviours. These could include relationships, sexual attention, modelling contracts, or fame. It is a common misconception that incel spaces online are wholly white and male, but 45% of incels on forums are from non-white ethnic groups.

Here in the UK, houses with a White British head of household have the highest average and median total household wealth, with Black African and Bangladeshi households having the lowest. In America, the median household wealth was 7.8 times higher for white Americans than for black Americans in 2019. Therefore, systemic factors such as institutional racism against Black and Asian, and ethnic minorities play a large role too. If men of colour across the world accrue less wealth than white men due to systemic disadvantages and a man’s worth is determined by his economic status, this can have further adverse effects on the mental health and self-esteem of non-white men living in majority white countries.

A holistic analysis of the incel problem acknowledges that a culture of misogyny, white supremacy/racism, and a vested interest in maintaining a system biased against women and girls drives the online subculture. Ultimately a political nostalgia amongst young men and boys runs rampant. An idealised time where nuclear male-breadwinner families prospered, women abhorred feminist rhetoric, and women’s rights and enforced monogamy was the status quo. A combination of aggrieved sexual and romantic entitlement towards women, revisionist historical narratives, and a fixed allegiance to a patriarchal world order in an evolving progressive society is a breeding ground for incels. Ultimately, while the tide is gradually turning in the fight for gender parity, a radical revision of the living wage, the way Western societies centre and privilege nuclear families where the man is the breadwinner and an increase in mental health services for all people are required to advance society and protect the security of women and girls.

Rachael Ogungbose

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Rachael is a Politics and International Relations graduate from Queen Mary University of London. She is interested in the links between Politics, Sociology, Economics and Psychology. She is therefore committed to content which takes a forensic approach to research, exploring fringe ideas with innovative takes on political issues.

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