Hierarchized masculinity, appearance, and radicalization: The role of physical appearance in the incel movement

Abstract Incels (short for “involuntary celibates”) are men who struggle to form romantic and sexual relationships. Operating within the manosphere, they share a male supremacist ideology marked by glorification of violence, entitlement to sexual access, and masculine dominance hierarchies. Prior research has emphasized harmful displays of masculinity and heteropatriarchal structures within incel networks, including their links to extremist violence, but has paid less attention to the salience of appearance and masculine hierarchies and their role in sustaining perceived exclusion. This article analyzes incel discourse, focusing on how aesthetic capital constructs masculine hierarchies and functions as a form of currency through “lookism” and related terminology. The findings indicate that while misogyny and pro-violence attitudes are foundational to the incel movement, appearance-focused discourse upholds and amplifies perceptions of victimhood, reinforcing patriarchal, anti-feminist worldviews. Appearance thus emerges as a central marker in incel rhetoric that is tied to the dominance hierarchies that define incel status.