“He Helped Me Get Over My Nazism”: A Case Study Of an Incel Friendship

• In Event: Peers and Deviant Behavior

Abstract

While most incel research examines online content and group behaviors, none to date have examined the nature and development of friendships between individual men. Based on data from a dyadic interview (Eisikovits & Kren, 2010; Morgan et al., 2013; Polack & Green, 2015) with two men who identify as incels, this presentation examines how their friendship developed, the ways that they have helped each other, and the nature of their relationship relative to the larger incel community. It describes how these friends compare and influence each other’s perspectives, navigated one’s white supremacy, ultimately bonded over their inceldom. This case study can inform future research about incels and propose the use of dyadic interviews to study relationships.

Author

• Sarah E. Daly, Saint Vincent College