Examining Incel Ideology in Online Spaces with NLP Techniques

The Incel community, part of the online misogynistic”manosphere,” has gained significant attention due to its toxic ideologies promoting misogyny, violence, and toxic masculinity. This study conducts a comprehensive linguistic analysis to identify and understand communication patterns within incel discourse. We analyzed two million comments from the banned subreddit r/incels using advanced natural language processing techniques, including sentiment analysis, vocabulary analysis, clustering, and topic modeling. We examined language patterns related to gender references, profanity usage, and discourse structure. Our analysis revealed distinct communication patterns that characterize incel ideologies, specifically high levels of hostility toward women, pervasive self-pity among community members, and specific linguistic markers that distinguish incel discourse from other online communities. This research provides critical insights into incel mentality and communication strategies, offering evidence-based understanding of how harmful ideologies spread through online discourse. These findings highlight the urgent need for targeted monitoring and intervention strategies to prevent the propagation of extremist ideologies and their potential real-world consequences.