“I Found These Places to Be Toxic”: A Mixed Methods Content Analysis of Visitors’ Impressions of Incels’ Forums

Laplante, Sabrina; Labranche, Andrée-Ann et Boislard, Marie-Aude (2024). « “I Found These Places to Be Toxic”: A Mixed Methods Content Analysis of Visitors’ Impressions of Incels’ Forums ». The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, 33(2), pp. 264-276.

Fichier(s) associé(s) à ce document :

	Doc (visitors impressions of incels forums) Télécharger (263kB)

Résumé

The forums of involuntary celibates (incels) are easily accessible and increasingly receiving attention from media, scholars, and non-incels, mostly for their troubling content against women. This study aimed to (a) qualitatively describe the different impressions of visitors and (b) quantitively examine the sociodemographic characteristics associated with the prevalence of each category of impressions. The sample comprised 390 adults (43% women; 2.56% self-identified incels; Mage = 26.86) who have visited incel forums at least once. They completed an online questionnaire on sexual inexperience in adulthood and described their impressions of incel forums in an open-ended question. An inductive content analysis revealed that impressions of incel forums were positioned on a continuum ranging from threat (39.53%) to shelter (11.90%) with four intermediate categories: incel forums as testimonies of dysfunctional thoughts (20.04%), incel forums perceived as odd (11.02%), ambivalent impressions (3.45%), and incel forums as gatherings of individuals with difficulties (14.14%). Chi-square analyses revealed that, among participants who perceive incel forums as a threat, women, other genders individuals, and non-incels were overrepresented compared to men and incels, who were more likely to perceive incel forums as a shelter. t-test analyses revealed that participants who perceived incel forums as a shelter were older at first sexual intercourse. These results suggest that incel forums are not perceived as dangerous by all outsiders and that those who have more positive impressions (i.e., men, late sexual starters) are those most likely to relate to them. The implications for future research and professional practice are discussed.

Type:	Article de revue scientifique
Mots-clés ou Sujets:	Incels, forums, visitors, impressions, mixted methods, content analysis, perception
Unité d'appartenance:	Faculté des sciences humaines > Département de sexologie
Déposé par:	délégation Isabelle Turcotte
Date de dépôt:	01 avr. 2026 12:29
Dernière modification:	01 avr. 2026 12:29
Adresse URL :	https://archipel.uqam.ca/secure/id/eprint/19874

Modifier les métadonnées (propriétaire du document)

Statistiques