“A Short Story of a Lonely Guy”: A Qualitative Thematic Analysis of Involuntary Celibacy Using Reddit

Abstract

Scant research exists on those who classify as involuntarily celibate. Research in the past has focused on groups such as people celibate in marriage, those with chronic disease or illness, and the elderly. However, the recent media attention given to involuntary celibate males, or “incels,” and their role in violence against women has gained national attention. Research on involuntary celibates has found a new group of individuals emerging who have a strong desire for a sexual connection and are disturbed by the lack of interpersonal sexuality in their lives. With the gap in literature surrounding the perceptions of this new group of “incels”, and their relationship to violence against women, the goal of this research was to use the “r/Braincels” Subreddit to answer the research question “what are the shared experiences, sentiments, and expressions of people who self-define as incels?” This study followed thematic content analysis methodological guidelines designed for obtaining data from Reddit and identifying specific extraction criteria. Themes identified and discussed include a constructed trope of women, the patriarchally-informed male ideal, hypocritical approaches to gender, and the incel identity. Implications include the need for increased education regarding healthy relationships in schools, creation of incel-specific group therapy, and more research to identify red flags regarding incel identity and its relationship to violent acts.