An Asian American Woman's Reflexive Account of Direct Research With Incels

Authors

  • Sarah Daly SUNY Oswego

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-23.3.3932

Keywords:

incels, involuntary celibate, reflexivity, gender, women, interviews

Abstract

Incels, or involuntarily celibate men, have been the subject of increasing attention around the world due to their ongoing association with high-profile violence, misogyny, and hateful online content. While prior researchers have focused on online forums as a resource to study incel issues, in my recent work I involved the recruitment and interviewing of incels using a phenomenological approach to better examine their experiences. Given the nature of incel forum discussions in which particularly Asian women were often maligned and degraded, I provide a reflective and reflexive examination of my identities in the context of this research. In this narrative, I describe my personal reactions to hurtful and hateful content and how I have navigated difficult or uncomfortable situations in interviews. I also describe how they have influenced my perspectives and what this means for the future of my work.

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Author Biography

Sarah Daly, SUNY Oswego

Sarah E. DALY is a senior consultant for a private IT and business consulting firm and a visiting scholar with the Department of Criminal Justice at SUNY Oswego in the United States. In her research, she focuses primarily on involuntarily celibate men, or incels, and she is the co-founder and co-editor of the Journal of Mass Violence Research.

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Published

2022-09-30

How to Cite

Daly, S. (2022). An Asian American Woman’s Reflexive Account of Direct Research With Incels. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 23(3). https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-23.3.3932

Issue

Section

FQS Debate: We Are Talking About Ourselves!