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Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka hur incels talar om våld, vilken betydelse våld har för incel-kulturen och incels identitetsskapande. Incels är ett relativt nytt fenomen, som ägnats mer uppmärksamhet i samband med ett antal våldsamma incel-attacker under 2010-talet. Attackerna har riktat sig mot civilsamhället, och har enligt Totalförsvarets forskningsinstitut (FOI) ofta föregåtts av att gärningsmannen spenderat tid på incel-forum (2020, s. 1). Denna iakttagelse om korrelationen mellan incelforum och incel-attacker föranledde utförandet av den här studien. Studiens material utgörs av 511 inlägg från våldsrelaterade diskussionstrådar på hemsidorna incels.net och incels.is, vilka undersöktes med en kvalitativ analys av meningsinnehåll. Resultatet visade att inlägg av våldsbejakande karaktär var mycket vanligt förekommande. Resultatet visade även att teman som kvinnohat, offerskap och icke-våldsbejakande ofta återkom. Det teoretiska ramverket för studien har varit en triangulering av Agnews teori om General strain, Connells maskulinitetsteori och Goffmans teori om stigma. Utifrån dessa teorier kan våldsbejakande diskurs förstås som en hantering av strain, ett iscensättande av maskulinitet och en reaktion på stigma. Resultatet i den här studien bekräftar till stor del tidigare forskning på incels, men det går att konstatera att ytterligare forskning krävs för att förstå varför incels är våldsbejakande, och vilken betydelse internetforum har för incel-kulturen och incel-attacker., The aim of this study was to examine in what way incels discuss violence, as well as how significant violence is for the incel-culture and their identity. Incels are a relatively new phenomenon, which has been more closely examined following recent attacks perpetrated by incels. The attacks have been aimed at civilians, and according to the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI), these attacks have often been preceded by the perpetrator spending time on incel forums (2020). This observation regarding the correlation between incel forums and incel attacks inspired the approach of this study, which aims to shed light on how incels talk about violence, and what role violence plays within the online incel community. The empirical material for this study consisted of 511 posts made on violence related threads from the websites incels.net and incels.is. The study applied qualitative analysis of data to examine the research questions, and the result showed that pro-violence was a common theme within the material. The result also showed that misogyny, feelings of injustice and anti-violence were recurring themes. Agnew’s General strain theory, Connell’s theory of masculinity and Goffman’s theory of stigma was used as a theoretical framework to analyse the material. Using these theories, the study explains the identified themes as coping strategies for strain, attempted staging of masculinity and a reaction to stigma. The results in this study confirm previous research made on the subject, but more research is needed to fully understand the ways incels talk about violence and the significance of violence within the incel community.

Incel-rörelsen blir allt mer uppmärksammad av media och forskare världen över. Gruppen associeras med ensamma unga män som begår våldsdåd och riktar hat mot kvinnor. Det relativt nya forskningsfältet om incels domineras av granskningar av dem som ett kollektiv och en sub­kultur. Forskarna undersöker sällan konsekvenserna av rörelsens språkbruk och handlingar gentemot kvinnor på ett djupgående plan. Syftet med den här studien är att utforska incel-rörelsens syn på kvinnor, kvinnohat och våld. Det empiriska materialet som studien bygger på består av konversationer och inlägg hämtade från det webb-baserade diskussionsforumet incels.is. Analysen utgår från kritisk diskursanalys med Faircloughs tredimensionella analys­modell som utgångspunkt. Den kritiska diskursanalysen fungerar även som teoretiskt ramverk i studien, tillsammans med genusteorier om hegemonisk maskulinitet och Hirdmans (1988) genus­system, samt begreppen eko-kammare och stigma. Resultatet visar att kommunikationen i forumet karaktäriseras av snedvridna uppfattningar av kön och jämställdhet, där kvinnohat förekommer i allra högsta grad. Diskussionerna präglas av misogynt språkbruk och avhumaniserande kvinnoskildringar, samtidigt som incels framställer sig själva som offer. Deras upplevda offerskap kan kopplas till positionen som underordnad maskulinitet, en roll som väcker frustration, som i forumet riktas mot kvinnor. Kommunikationen antyder att incels vill återerövra maktpositionen de anser sig ha berövats då kvinnor konkurrerar om samma utrymme i en könshierarki. Studien visar att det råder splittrade uppfattningar om kvinnor i forumet. Kvinnor gestaltas dels som makthavare och dels som objektifierande undermänniskor. Värderingarna som delas i forumet går att koppla till äldre kvinnofientliga värderingar som ämnar begränsa kvinnors rättig­heter och legitimerar våld mot kvinnor. The Incel movement is currently experiencing increasing global attention from the media and in research. Incel is a term associated with lonely, misogynistic young men and violent acts against women. The research about this relatively new phenomenon is dominated by reviews of incels as a community and a subculture. Studies rarely present any thoroughly examinations of how the movement's actions and language affect women. This study aims to explore incels views of women, misogyny and violence. The data consists of posts published on the web-based forum incels.is. Fairclough’s three-dimensional analysis model is the main analytical frame­work, performed with critical discourse analysis as theoretical framework. Additionally, the critical discourse analysis is accompanied by gender theories of hegemonic masculinity and Hirdman’s (1998) gender system, as well as the theoretical concepts of eco-chambers and stigma. Our analysis shows that incels communication is characterized by distorted perceptions of gender and equality, where the presence of misogynistic beliefs is vastly noticeable. The discussions are characterized by misogynistic language and dehumanizing depictions of women, and victimized representations of incels themselves. Their self-proclaimed victim­ization can be linked to the subordinate position of masculinity, which raises a frustration that affects incels conversations about women. Incel’s communication implies that they want to regain a position of power, which they consider themselves to have lost, since women compete for the same hierarchical positions as them. In the forum, incel portrays women as matriarchs, but also as objectified sub humans. This representation shows that incels perception of women is shattered. According to the analysis, the values that incels express in the forum can be linked to older misogynistic beliefs that aims to limit women's rights and legitimizes violence against women.

An ordinary gamer - a qualitative analysis of the treatment of women in CS:GO is an essay with the aim to examine the treatment of women who play CS:GO, and the influence of the response and to highlight the player interaction and communication in the game and its influence on the individual. With questions concerning treatment, the consequences of treatment and future interest in gaming and the gaming industry, the paper examines how a selection of women look at the treatment they receive in CS:GO. The essay also focuses on player interaction and communication in the game, and examines the importance of communication in the game, and the impact on the individual. To analyze the result, gender theories regarding femininity, masculinity, queer, gender hierarchy and patriarchal structures was used. The study was conducted with 10 qualitative interviews of girls aged 14-24 years who play or have played CS:GO. The study also uses a more ethnographic method where I play the game to observe the communication, treatment and response at close range. The result show a broad picture of the response to that woman gets, and contains stories about the good, bad and neutral approach. The results also show that the treatment is something very subjective and different for all individuals. Furthermore, the results also shows patriarchal structures within the game and how men use power and violence in order to organize women. Regarding communication and play interaction, is it through interviews and observations clear that communication plays an important role in the game and affect the individual to either play better or worse depending on what type of response and treatment the player gets. Conclusions are that women that play CS:GO are treated in different ways, some take it more personally than other and some are affected bigger than other. Some women choose not to play the game or only play with friends while other choose to play with an anonymous profile and to distort their voice.

Validerat; 20140810 (global_studentproject_submitter)

Denna studie utgår från teorin om patriarkatet som rådande samhällssystem. Kvinnan är förtryckt av mannen som är en dominant grupp i dagens samhälle. Studien kommer att utgå från Teun A. van Dijks tankar om att en dominant grupp i samhället kontinuerligt måste producera och reproducera sin makt med hjälp av bland annat språket. Medlemmarna i den dominanta gruppen gör dock inte detta hur som helst. En person vill inte riskera att skada sitt sociala ansikte vilket gör att hen använder sig av olika strategier för att reproducera sin dominans. Extrema beteenden så som kvinnohat skulle kunna ses som en sådan strategi. Tidigare forskning har visat att extrema beteenden som mobbing eller fysiskt och psykiskt kvinnovåld ofta sker i det dolda, antingen innanför hemmets väggar, skyddade av den privata sfären, eller av Internets anonymitet. I denna studie undersöks patriarkatets reproduktion av dominans på Internet, vilka strategier som används för detta samt hur olika grader av anonymitet eller censur påverkar valet av strategier. För att undersöka detta har åtta artiklars kommentarsfält eller forumtrådar studerats. Sammanlagt har 698 kommentarer analyserats. Denna studie har visat att användandet av subtila strategier är vanligare än användandet av direkta sådana, oavsett grad av anonymitet, vilket visar att medlemmarna i den dominanta gruppen är mån om att skydda sitt sociala ansikte. Dock är extrema beteenden såväl som direkta reproduktionsstrategier vanligare i internetbaserade kontexter med hög grad av anonymitet. Vilket döljer aktören och minskar risken för att denne ska skada sitt sociala ansikte.

Misogyny in gaming culture – a qualitative discourse analysis of the reproduction of patriarchal dominance in the gaming culture is based on Teun A. van Dijk's belief that a dominant group continuously produces and reproduces its social dominance over a subordinate group by using the language. The members of this group do not simply do this by being. A person does not want to risk damaging its reputation which makes the dominant group forced to use various strategies to reproduce its dominance. Extreme behaviors such as misogyny could be one such strategy. With the help of Sylvia Walby’s theories of patriarchy as an oppressive and dominating group and Hillevi Lenz Taguchi’s statements about women and other minorities as inferior against patriarchy, my thesis want to examine how this patriarchal power arises. Previous research has shown that cultures which glorifies violence is in a way a seed for misogyny and that act in turn provides a control over women which keeps them in check. Other research has also shown that there exists an active opposition from private parties against misogyny and discrimination in gaming culture. It examines the dominant groups reproduction on the internet, the specific strategies used for the reproduction, how the material differs depending on the context in which it is written in, how the resistance looks to anti-feminism and misogyny and what kind of strategy exceedance of themes were used. The study has involved analyzing the comment field on a news article and a forum thread on the internet. In total, 272 comments were analyzed. The results have shown that the use of subtle strategies are more common than the use of direct ones. Which shows that the members of the dominant group may be concerned about their social status. However, the extreme behaviors as well as direct reproductive strategies are more common in internet-based contexts which involve a more secluded environment, where the operator is more protected and less publicly undressed for others. Furthermore there was a liaison between van Dijk’s theory and the theory of patriarchy which indicated that when the writers showed reproduction of dominance it was also an indication of patriarchal oppression. Also, three themes were sifted during the analysis of the material. These were used by writers that would legitimize their arguments and were constructed regardless of any strategy used.