This manuscript traces the development of sexual abstinence and virginity as a commodity and describes how this development has contributed to modern conceptions of sexual abstinence. Within this analysis, the author provides what demographic and statistical information is available on abstinence practice in North America as well as outlines some of the perspectives critical of abstinence and abstinence-only sex education. More importantly, the author argues that within many Evangelical churches a defined social spacea sexual marketplaceexists where individual agents exchange and convert this commodity, among others, to attract potential marital partners. Furthermore, the manuscript outlines the effects and implications of this marketplace on its participants. The author derives these conclusions from the ethnographic observations and interviews he conducted while attending an urban Canadian Pentecostal Church.

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Tidigare forskning har främst belyst incels i relation till våld och radikalisering. Förhållandevis lite akademisk uppmärksamhet har tillägnats det som kan förstås som kärnan av incelgemenskapen; avsaknaden av intima relationer. Följande studie ämnar fylla detta tomrum genom att undersöka incels föreställningar om maskulinitet och intima relationer, samt hur de kan förstås i relation till teoretiska perspektiv på maskulinitet och sexualitet. Studien utgår från en kvalitativ metod med en socialkonstruktivistisk forskningsansats. Materialinsamlingen har skett i form av ett tidsbaserat urval där skrivna inlägg från de tre internationellt största diskussionsforumen för incels inhämtades, vid tre olika tillfällen. Alla foruminlägg som publicerades inom en specifik timme inkluderades i urvalet. Empirin bearbetades med en induktiv konventionell innehållsanalys. De teoretiska perspektiven utgår från hegemonisk maskulinitet, och en utveckling av Bourdieus begrepp om fysiskt kapital. Erotiskt kapital användes som kompletterande teoretiskt begrepp. De övergripande resultaten visar att många av personerna på incelforumen förhåller sig till två föreställda strukturer inom vilka intima relationer antas uppstå. Den ena strukturen utgår från en föreställd maskulinitetshierarki där endast män med hegemonisk status antas kunna inleda intima relationer med kvinnor. Den andra strukturen består av en föreställd sexuell marknad där medlemmarna menar att kvinnor strävar efter att inleda relationer med attraktiva och framgångsrika män. Personerna på incelforumen försöker utveckla och etablera strategier för att uppnå en överordnad position i maskulinitetshierarkin och på den sexuella marknaden. Syftet med att avancera inom hierarkierna utgår från en föreställning om att endast en överordnad position kan möjliggöra intima relationer. / Previous research has placed incels in relation to violence and radicalization. Relatively little academic attention has been paid to what can be seen as the essence of the community; the lack of intimate relationships. The following study aims to close this gap by exploring how incels view masculinity and intimate relationships, and how this view relates to theoretical perspectives on sexuality and masculinity. This study is based on a qualitative method with a social constructivist approach. Data was collected in the form of a time-based sample where written posts from the three largest international forums for incels were collected on three different occasions. At each occasion all forum posts that were created or updated within a chosen specific hour were included in the sample. The material was processed using an inductive conventional content analysis. The theoretical perspective is based on hegemonic masculinity, and a development of Bourdieu's concept of physical capital. Erotic capital was used as a complementary theoretical concept. The overall results show that people on the incel forums relate to two imagined structures within which intimate relationships are assumed to arise. One structure is based on an imagined masculinity hierarchy where only men with hegemonic status are assumed to be able to initiate intimate relationships with women. The second structure consists of an imagined sexual market where forum members believe that women strive to initiate relationships with attractive and successful men. The people on the incel forums try to develop and establish strategies to achieve a superior position in the masculinity hierarchy and on the sexual market. The purpose of advancing within the hierarchies is based on the notion that only a superior position can enable intimate relationships.

This study aims to understand how social and sexual relations are initiated, negotiated and constructed among homo- and bisexual men within a specific sexual field; the geo-social application Grindr. It’s based on qualitative and semi-structured interviews with six self-identified homosexual men in Sweden from various age groups and with various social backgrounds who are using, or has used, Grindr in order to initiate and establish contacts with other homo- and bisexual men. Of certain interest are their experiences of using the application and being a part of its social and sexual setting.   In order to analyse the interviews, a combination of sexual script theory and sexual field theory has been used, together with Norbert Elias theories on the relationship between the established and the outsiders. The results indicate that Grindr is a refuge and safe space for homo- and bisexual men and queer persons from the social and sexual norms that prevails in a heteronormative society. As such, Grindr could be understood as a social and sexual field of its own, in which interpersonal scripts and negotiations are crucial for establishing contacts of various kinds. There is also a remarkable sexual stratification based on various sexual capitals that the users of Grindr use to position themselves in relation to each other in order to be regarded as desirable. One consequence of these “structures of desire” is that some personal and bodily qualities often are regarded in a less favourable way, sometimes with stigmatization and marginalization of groups of people as dire consequences of these structures of sexuality. There’s also a remarkable distinction, resistance and ambivalence against the heteronormative society and its cultural scenarios, but at the same time it was a necessary part in the collective self-image of being an outsider group.