Effects of Forum Participation on Incel Identity Salience: A Computational Analysis

Abstract

Involuntary celibates, better known as incels, are a group of men dissatisfied with their lack of romantic and intimate relationships. In this study, I seek to find out whether participation in a popular online forum incels.is strengthens users’ identities as incels. Using prototypical behavior as a proxy for identity salience, I analyzed a sample of one million posts from the forum using computational language analysis methods. Prototypical behavior was operationalized into three metrics: language toxicity, obsession with sex-related topics, and obsession with feminism. This study found a small negative correlation between incel forum participation and behavior prototypicality, suggesting forum participation may contribute to deradicalization.