The monstrous-feminine in the incel imagination: Investigating the representation of women as “femoids” on /r/Braincels

Abstract

This article presents a study of the discourses circulating /r/Braincels, the (now-defunct) forum on Reddit for self-proclaimed “incels,” that bolster the belief in the structural victimisation of men under a purported gynocentric order. Particularly, it uses feminist critical discourse analysis to explore perceptions created by the term “femoid,” a pejorative generated by incels to refer to women. It examines the dehumanising characteristics of “femoid” that construct women as an abject Other—a monstrous-feminine—thereby justifying the violence enacted on them. I demonstrate how, rather than being unique to online spaces, the misogyny expressed on /r/Braincels is linked to and enabled by broader social practices that similarly position women as inferior Others; these attitudes are symptomatic of, not anomalous to, the deeply misogynistic society we live in.