this post was submitted on 24 Mar 2025
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The online incel community has taken a break from blaming women for their ongoing failures in life to issue a collective tantrum over Netflix’s new drama Adolescence, which dares—dares, mind you—to portray incel culture as the toxic, rage-filled echo chamber it so demonstrably is.

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[–] Jiggs@lemm.ee 6 points 6 days ago

Is it actually worthwhile or just another attempt to spark more conflict between men and women?

Because honestly I can hardly see as anything more than a way to profit off demonizing men that I assume already feel abandoned and, correct me if Im wrong, are not getting much support either

May I please get a summary on their take somewhere?

[–] shekau@lemmy.today 7 points 6 days ago (1 children)

The life of an incel is very hard...

[–] Tungsten5@lemm.ee 3 points 6 days ago

And to make it worse, you get no help with it

[–] ShellMonkey@lemmy.socdojo.com 85 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Incel is such an oddly self reinforcing thing. As I recall it the term started as a self identification (I can't get laid, there for am an involuntary-celibate), which ended up with these self ID people declaring someone else is at fault for their situation, then that attitude got so pervasive it became a given term (you can't get laid BECAUSE you're an incel).

Morphing of language and all, similar happened with 'woke'. Either way, if these folks could comprehend a simple fact that the one person you can demand change of is yourself then maybe they could get out of that cycle.

[–] sundrei@lemmy.sdf.org 49 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It is a sad story:

When Alana started a website for lonely people struggling to find love, she had no idea it would become linked to a community of hate and anger directed at women, which would ultimately lead to the deaths of several innocent people in her home city.

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[–] gurnu@lemmy.world 67 points 1 week ago (2 children)

“It’s a hit job,” said one Reddit user, who goes by the username DarkMageOfTruth99.

Oh geez I snorted so hard at the username I farted

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[–] troyunrau@lemmy.ca 62 points 1 week ago (5 children)

Not the onion. Check any of the forums on reddit, like r/mensrights, and they're furious indeed.

I had to explain to someone what the manosphere is, as a result of watching this show together. She had no idea that men were getting radicalized like this.

[–] AFC1886VCC@reddthat.com 65 points 1 week ago (7 children)

Imagine if the "manosphere" actually did things like raising awareness for testicular and prostate cancer, teaching men how to be good dads/husbands/sons, how to be financially sensible, how to build a career, etc. instead of blaming all their problems and all the world's problems on women and feminists lmao

[–] troyunrau@lemmy.ca 69 points 1 week ago (3 children)

The current manosphere is basically a pipeline to the alt-right and additional radicalization. The distance between incel to proud boys is quite small.

The problem is that any attempt to make a pro-men group with any of the positive agendas you list will attract the same people as an audience that are already in the manosphere. And then you have the Nazi bar problem.

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[–] fluffykittycat@slrpnk.net 38 points 1 week ago (8 children)

Ironically feminism gets you closer to this than anything they've cooked up over a very long period of time

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[–] Bacano@lemmy.world 51 points 1 week ago (38 children)

I identify as an incel. I don't visit the incel web spaces though and I don't blame women for it.

I'm an incel because I can't afford to date. Like every week I'm barely able to get by living in poverty. Dating takes time and at least some money. If I got a little more of either, I'd have to use it to better my situation before dating.

I bring this point up because, as toxic as incel culture is, I rarely see it tied back to the shitty economy. Just people pointing fingers at each other as though the Male Loneliness phenomenon were entirely the result of people's personalities.

[–] Bongo_Stryker@lemmy.ca 7 points 6 days ago (2 children)

And yet, I have seen places of abject poverty where people sing to eachother and sing together, they have joys and romance. Dirt poor people are making sweet love together and having kids and I don't know how but they just keep on going.

So the economy is part of it, yes, but poverty isn't a barrier to gettin some lovin, because it doesn't cost anything to get a woman's attention.

There must be more to the story, there is something else going on with our culture and our society that makes it seem impossible.

[–] Bacano@lemmy.world 5 points 6 days ago

I agree, I think there's more to the story.

As for the example, I agree that there are impoverished places where people get along fine in their socio-economic status, meaning wealth is not a necessary factor.

I think the key difference with what's going on now in the western world is that young males are disproportionately being pushed to the bottom of the socio economic ladder with the cultural expectation that they have the same resource capacity as their older counter parts.

Another commenter noted the loss of third spaces and I'd add communities in general. People used to date within their communities more, I assume.

So I think it's more to the story like you said. Probably some perfect storm, of which, the general loneliness in the world is but one expression of.

[–] theacharnian@lemmy.ca 5 points 6 days ago (1 children)

The places you talk about still have a public social life, 3rd spaces, etc. In advanced capitalist countries, there is no public space without some sort of consumption.

[–] Bongo_Stryker@lemmy.ca 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Yes that's definitely an issue.

Still, it seems clear to me that for many, (like the kid in the story whose mind was poisoned even before his first attempt) the biggest barrier to achieving relationship bliss with someone special is the belief that it's simply not possible, and all the attendant self reinforcing red pill misogynistic bullshit beliefs one finds online.

One mustn't forget Jlo's informative musical statement: "even if you were broke, my love don't cost a thing".

[–] theacharnian@lemmy.ca 5 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I'm inclined to think that these kinds of thought distortions are a product of the hyper commercialization and hyper commodification of our lives. People don't meet other people unmediated by consumption or a screen, so the ideas of what it means to connect are distorted.

[–] Bongo_Stryker@lemmy.ca 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Careful, Archarnian. That sounds like anti-capitalist talk.

[–] theacharnian@lemmy.ca 3 points 6 days ago

[and i'm tired of pretending it's not]

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 42 points 1 week ago (3 children)

I would stop identifying yourself as an incel. It's more than just being involuntarily celibate and you seem far too well-adjusted.

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[–] orcrist@lemm.ee 33 points 1 week ago (4 children)

You are looking at the etymology of the term "incel" and then assuming that's the actual meaning. But it isn't. Incel culture is not about people who are too poor to date. If it were, they'd be complaining about minimum wage in the next paragraph, right? But that is not what we see.

I see incel culture tied to sexism, selfishness, and often an willingness to try hard. Do we see it waxing and waning together with the economy? I don't think we do, so I don't think it's closely connected.

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[–] RedFrank24@lemmy.world 39 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)

I would call Adolescence a very surface-level view of incel culture. It's fairly accurate, but you'd need a much longer series to truly get the culture across. Contrapoints' video on incels is a really good breakdown of the mindset.

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[–] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 36 points 1 week ago (13 children)

Adolescence is an incredible and immersive experience. Stephen Graham deserves to be showered with awards for this. It's all about the micro-expressions in his performance.

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[–] TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com 34 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (14 children)

I had no idea that incel was a term that people used to self-identify.

I thought it was only a slur.

[–] glimse@lemmy.world 41 points 1 week ago (1 children)

When the term was first coined, it was not an insult. It was from a support group for people who had trouble finding a partner.

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