In recent years, a group known as “Incels” has caught the public eye. The group consists ofmen who believe themselves to be in “involuntary celibacy”, without the means to ever finda sexual or romantic partner. The community is predominantly based online, organized innetworks and forums, where a worldview consisting of anti-feminism, sexual determinismand a hatred of modern society thrives. But why is the community successful, and how doesso many men end up on the forums? In this thesis, the mechanisms of the incel-forum areexamined by conducting a netnography on one of the larges incel-forums, incels.is, andevaluate the findings through a sociological lens. With this perspective, it is possible tounderstand incels as a societal phenomenon rather than something unique andindividualistic; because even though incels are unusual in their extreme rhetoric and actions,the mechanisms that influence them are not. By understanding incels within the specificcontext of love and sex in modernity, where romantic and sexual relationships have becomean important source for a sense of self-worth and romance and sexuality is in a state ofanomie, the level of misery expressed by members of the group becomes understandable.To combat this misery the power of groups becomes evident, where the expressions ofcontrol, status within the group, establishing group borders and creating a sense ofbelonging all contribute to protecting and strengthening the community. For incels, theforum becomes a place where meaning is created. In a state of anomie, incels reject societyand turn to retreatism, where the group becomes the place where they create their own setof strict rules and morals for the members of the community to follow.

The term incel refers mostly to white heterosexual men who live in involuntary celibate.Sweden is estimated to have one of the most frequent number of incels per capita in the world which has led the Swedish government to raise the anti-terror preparedness, as incels are considered a security risk. The aim of this study is to, with help of gender and exclusion theories, develop a deeper understanding of what this type of exclusion may result in and how new types of groups are created out of societal exclusion. To answer this, a discourse analysis of two threads on the Swedish forum Flashback was made and the chosen threads were designed so incels themselves could discuss their opinions and experiences. Previous research shows that societal exclusion results in health problems, hatred and distancing from women, which motivates the need for this study. The results showed that incels maintain bad boys as the hegemonic masculinity through legitimizing it themselves and that incels can be seen as a separate type of masculinity. Incel, as masculinity, is based and dependent on men experiencing exclusion from society and the sexual market. In order to be included in the community and be allowed to call oneself an incel, the individual must be recognized by an already legitimate incel. If the individual does not meet the criteria for being an incel, he is quickly rejected and discredited by the incel community. / Begreppet incel syftar till största del på vita heterosexuella män som lever i ofrivilligt celibat. Sverige uppskattas vara ett utav det inceltätaste länderna i världen, och den svenska staten har höjt den nationella anti terrorberedskapen då incels anses vara en säkerhetsrisk. Studiens syfte är att med hjälp av genus- och exkluderingsteorier skapa en djupare förståelse för vad denna typ av utanförskap kan leda till och hur nya grupper skapas ur samhällelig exkludering. För att besvara detta utfördes en diskursanalys över två trådar i det svenska forumet Flashback där de utvalda trådarna var formade efter att incels själva kunde diskutera sina upplevelser och åsikter. Tidigare forskning har påvisat hur detta utanförskap leder till hälsoproblem, hat och distansering från kvinnor vilket motiverar till varför studien har genomförts. Resultatet visade att incels upprätthåller den hegemoniska maskuliniteten genom att själva legitimera den samt att incels kan ses som en egen typ av maskulinitet. Incel som maskulinitet bygger på och är beroende av att männen upplever en exkludering från samhället och den sexuella marknaden. För att få vara med i gemenskapen och få kalla sig som incel måste individen bli erkänd av en redan legitimerad incel, om individen inte når upp till kriterierna för att vara incel blir den snabbt avvisad och misskrediterad av incels som gemenskap.