I spoke to men who swallowed the red pill: what incel culture is really like.

Smith, David

Abstract

Short for involuntary celibates, incels are men who believe a combination of their bad genes and modern feminism have left them romantically/sexually destitute. In short, they consider themselves scientifically unloveable. As a psychologist, I find inceldom equally fascinating and scary. It's one of few subcultures built entirely around inferiority. In this article, I share my findings from interviews with eleven former incels as I tried to find out why they joined in the first place - and how we can help others leave.

Citation

SMITH, D.S. 2025. I spoke to men who swallowed the red pill: what incel culture is really like. Metro [online], 19 March 2025. Available from: https://metro.co.uk/2025/03/19/spoke-men-swallowed-red-pill-incel-culture-really-like-22752536/

• Online Publication Date: Mar 19, 2025
• Deposit Date: Jan 2, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 13, 2025
• Keywords: Incels; Involuntary celibates; Inceldom; Online communities; Masculinity; Male psychology
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/2650580
• Publisher URL: https://metro.co.uk/2025/03/19/spoke-men-swallowed-red-pill-incel-culture-really-like-22752536/
• Additional Information: This article was first published on 18th December 2024 with the title "I interviewed 11 incels: this is what I learned." The version recorded here was republished on the 19th March 2025 with several changes to the main text. The original link ( https://metro.co.uk/2024/12/18/interviewed-11-incels-this-learned-22183966/ ) now redirects to the new version.