The Incel Phenomenon: Connections with Gender-Based Violence

Involuntary celibates (incels) define themselves as unable to find romantic and sexual relationships due to genetic, cultural and social causes. "ey hold violent and misogynistic beliefs and have been linked to ter- roristic a!acks. Empirical literature contribution to the incel phenomenon is sparse; thus, this project aims to fill the gap and improve its knowledge. "e inceldom grade was measured in an Italian sample using an adapted version of Passmann’s Degree of Inceldom scale. Among the 149 subjects recruited, 33 were self-declared incels, also confirmed through a manipulation check. "e internal consistency of the adapted scale was good (α=0.886). A)er an independent sample t-test, the inceldom total score mean was higher for self-identified incels (M= 3.25, SD=1.08) than the other group (M= 1.63, SD=0.693). Since the sample groups were uneven (non-incels=116; incels=33), the same analyses were run with evened groups: 33 non-incels participants were randomly picked. "e results still stood significant. "e difference between groups in terms of inceldom degree was supported. "is study is a good starting point towards validating Passmann’s scale, suggesting that the instrument may be well responsive to the Italian population and could be used as an incels-detection tool.