Unravelling disengagement: Communal reactions, emotional echo chambers, and political masculinity in the incel anti-public sphere

Abstract This article analyzes the dynamics of online incel communities in the context of disengagement, highlighting the symbolic fracture created by the withdrawal of a key figure who went by the username ‘Komesarj’. Drawing on Davis's (2021) concept of the anti-public sphere and extending it through the framework of emotional echo chambers, we analyze qualitative data from X.com and the incel.is forum. Our findings show that Komesarj's disengagement destabilized the community's emotional and ideological cohesion, generating a moral panic expressed through misogynistic discourse, betrayal narratives, and intensified boundary work. Rather than interpreting disengagement merely as a crisis of belief, we argue that it functions as a collective violation that unsettles the emotional infrastructure of the incelosphere. The responses reveal how objectification of women and reaffirmation of black-pill ideology operate as mechanisms of group cohesion, reinforcing incel identity through shared grievance and resistance to feminist and democratic ideals. By situating disengagement within the politics of affect, political masculinity, and anti-public discourse, this study contributes to debates on digital extremism, gendered radicalization, and the cultural sociology of online communities.