Dispatch by Mackenzie Dunnett, Mount Allison University
Mackenzie Dunnett attends Mount Allison University as an Honours student in Women’s and Gender Studies with a minor in Philosophy.
In preparation for my undergraduate Honours thesis, I signed up in April 2024 to attend a webinar titled “The Incel Movement in Canada: Context and Practices of Intervention”. Hosted by the Learning Network and Knowledge Hub Webinar Series, PhD students Esli Chan and Ruxandra Gheorghe discussed the increasing radicalization of men within right-wing, pro-patriarch groups and movements across Canada. Particularly, Chan and Gheorghe focused on self-proclaimed ‘incels’ or ‘involuntary celibate’ men who believe that they are oppressed by a lack of sexual intimacy from women. Often, these men blame feminism, and the freedom associated with the women’s rights movement, for their inability to build sexual and romantic relationships with women who are, now more than ever, participating in the workforce.
Esli Chan talked about the history of the ‘incel movement’ and described the ways in which members of these groups primarily congregate and recruit online. Though there is a stereotype that depicts incels as ‘lone wolves’ in reality, this ideological hatred for feminism and female independence festers amongst large packs in what is widely referred to as the “manosphere,” which includes social platforms such as 4Chan, 8Chan, and Parler. Though the growth of the online incel movement intersects with an increase in “technology facilitated gender-based violence” and political extremism, Esli Chan considers the tensions in addressing incel violence in terms of the potentiality of violating free speech, as well as the difficulty of censoring misinformation. Furthermore, Chan addresses the fact that some of these men have mental illness(es) and suffer from poor social conditions, which makes it even more difficult to address incel ideology and violence.
Empathy is required of scholars and individuals to address ‘incel’ violence. We must make efforts to understand and empathize with the fact that a lot of ‘incel’ ideology stems from the oppression that men themselves face under the Western patriarchal system. However, too much empathy has the potential to cloud judgment, remove accountability, and reinforce social harms. Thus, a good scholar must manage a balance between empathetic and critical understanding, as well as a demand for accountability and deradicalization.
Mackenzie Dunnett
Ruxandra Gheorghe began her portion of the presentation with statistics that demonstrated that self-proclaimed incels have a higher rate of mental health challenges. Furthermore, though 51.5% of incels seek therapy, Gheorghe encourages us to think critically about the ways in which patriarchal norms and toxic masculinity often seep into therapy, thus perpetuating gendered violence.
The key takeaways adopted from this webinar about addressing the incel (and broader pro-patriarch) movement was the tool of empathy. To safely address right-wing, violent movements in Canada, we must understand that much of incel ideology stems from the oppression that men themselves face under the patriarchal system. However, too much empathy can be harmful in the sense that it can cloud judgment, discard the importance of accountability, and reinforce harmful social norms. Thus, a good scholar must manage a balance between empathetic and critical understanding, and a demand for accountability and deradicalization. Indeed, I will take this balancing act into consideration as I venture further into my studies, and I will prioritize the value that critical empathy brings when we attempt to understand the radicalization process. Through a critical and empathetic examination of far-right political ideologies, we can shed light on the systems and structures that enforce hatred and use love to increase solidarity and allyship.
Dispatchers in Canadian Studies are undergraduate students who attend events related to the study of Canada and report on what they witness and learned through blogposts. This initiative is in collaboration with Brock University, Mount Allison University, and Trent University.