Hierarchized masculinity, appearance, and radicalization: The role of physical appearance in the incel movement




Sippel, Kirsti

PublisherMIT Press

2025

 European Journal of Cultural and Political Sociology

2325-4823

2325-4815

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1162/ECPS.a.42

https://doi.org/10.1162/ecps.a.42

https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/506216484



Incels (short for “involuntary celibates”) are men who struggle to form romantic and sexual relationships. Operating within the manosphere, they share a male supremacist ideology marked by glorification of violence, entitlement to sexual access, and masculine dominance hierarchies. Prior research has emphasized harmful displays of masculinity and heteropatriarchal structures within incel networks, including their links to extremist violence, but has paid less attention to the salience of appearance and masculine hierarchies and their role in sustaining perceived exclusion. This article analyzes incel discourse, focusing on how aesthetic capital constructs masculine hierarchies and functions as a form of currency through “lookism” and related terminology. The findings indicate that while misogyny and pro-violence attitudes are foundational to the incel movement, appearance-focused discourse upholds and amplifies perceptions of victimhood, reinforcing patriarchal, anti-feminist worldviews. Appearance thus emerges as a central marker in incel rhetoric that is tied to the dominance hierarchies that define incel status.


University of Turku Graduate School UTUGS.


Last updated on 08/01/2026 01:24:49 PM