Finally, the anger around “incels”, in the wake of the #Adolescence phenomenon, has subsided; and the outrage merchants who once so valiantly swung sword and shield, now rub their bleary eyes, and in a drunken, bewildered stupor, toddle off to find the next dragon to vanquish. Those of us who carefully mapped out the ‘Incel crisis’ before their (unwelcome) arrival, having had our work stomped upon, are once again left to pick up the pieces, and start again. And so, it is with great hope, that the experts are already back on the horse, leading the charge; doing the real research, to offer real solutions, based on real lived expeirences, to yet again move the needle of progress. A new study, once again, the biggest of its kind – now working with more than 500 incels – has turned up the resolution a few more notches; presenting complex, intersected, and challenging new perspectives on the so-called “Incel pipeline”. Far more complex than the “let’s ban phones” approach suggested by the Adolescence creative team; which is of no surprise, as Jack Thorne and others of his ilk, have zero experience whatsoever, and no right to make knee-jerk, scientifically bankrupt suggestions, and certainly not in the halls of Westminster. So, what does this new study show us about how some boys turn to harmful inceldom? How does it break down incels from being a monolithic, deeply misunderstood group, to being a heterodoxical one, deserving of delineated, careful, and idiosyncratic solutions? And, as it has been so widely suggested – will banning phones, even if it were possible, have any significant impact on the problem at all? What do you think? ~ The Dual Pathways Hypothesis of Incel Harm: A Model of Harmful Attitudes and Beliefs Among Involuntary Celibates Images by Andrej Lisakov, Szabo Viktor and Ben Sweet.

2025-06-04