CASS Talk: Yiğit Bahadır Kaya, "The Incel Movement in Turkey"

Dear Ozu Members,

You are invited to the talk 'The Incel Movement in Turkey: Origins, Ideologies, and Societal Implications', organized as a part of the HSS Critical Approaches in Social Sciences 2023/24 Talk Series. You can see the details below.

"The Incel Movement in Turkey: Origins, Ideologies, and Societal Implications"

Speaker: Yiğit Bahadır Kaya, Kadir Has University, Women's Studies Program

Moderator: Berna Zengin Arslan, Özyeğin University, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences

Date: May 7, 2024, 2:00- 3:30pm 

Location: AB2.345 

Speaker's Bio: Yiğit Bahadır Kaya is a Ph.D. Candidate of Women’s Studies at Kadir Has University, İstanbul. He has a background in Communication Studies and New Media. He has worked as a researcher in academic projects funded by TUBITAK and TUSIAD on gender representation in Turkish TV series and the social media use of young people in Turkey. He is currently working as a researcher in another TUBITAK project on dating app use of young people in Turkey.  He is interested in anti-gender movements, technology, digital subcultures, and masculinities.

Abstract: The Involuntary Celibate (Incel) movement has emerged as a significant social phenomenon with implications for gender relations, mental health, and societal well-being. Coined in the early 90s (Beauchamp, 2019) and attracting media attention after acts of violence since 2010s, the incel movement is a misogynistic, anti-feminist, and digitally organized hate group with its own language and manifesto. This talk delves into the origins and ideologies of the Incel community, and explores its evolution in Turkey, from digital platforms through online-world actions. By examining the underlying societal and political factors contributing to the rise of the Incel movement, such as masculinity, patriarchy, and precarity; I aim to foster a deeper understanding of its members' positionalities. The argument of this talk is that the incel movement should be regarded as an online subculture (Clarke et al., 1991) with inherent social, political, and economic motives; and that their masculinities, which stem from incel’s gendered and patriarchal perspectives, should be located within a “hegemonic masculinity” (Connell & Messerschmidt, 2005) they aspire to be.  The talk will introduce a case study from the YouTube page of a famous incel group in Turkey, and convey a thematic analysis (Clarke & Virginia, 2006) to establish the main themes of discussion in deliberating characteristics of Turkish incels as well as deciding on their subjectivities, changing power positions, and resistance tactics. The preliminary analysis of the data showcases 5 main themes which will be intersectionally elaborated in the talk: misogyny, victimization, solidarity, nostalgia, and Islam. By shedding light on the complexities of the Incel movement, their subjectivities, and their political and cultural perspectives, which carry risks of violence, this talk aims to stimulate an interactive discussion addressing the underlying issues fueling the growth of incel movement and about online or offline measures to be taken to effectively deal with possible acts of violence.

References 

- Beauchamp, Z. (2019, April 23). Our incel problem. Vox. https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/4/16/18287446/incel-definition-re...

- Clarke, J., Hall, S., Jefferson, T., & Roberts, B. (1991). Subcultures, Cultures and Class: A Theoretical Overview. In S. Hull, & T. Jefferson (Eds.), Resistance Through Rituals: Youth Subcultures in Post-War Britain (pp. 9-74). Routledge. DOI:10.4324/978020322494

- Clarke, V., & Virginia, B. (2006). Thematic Analysis. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 12(3), 297-298. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2016.1262613

- Connell, R. W., & Messerschmidt, J. W. (2005). Hegemonic masculinity rethinking the concept. Gender and Society, 19(6), 829–859. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243205278639