Description
While incidents of incel violence have thus far predominantly occurred in North America, the ‘incel issue’ has, in the past few years, emerged as a serious topic of debate beyond this context. In Sweden, related public debates largely centre around discussions of young men’s’ loneliness, ‘being left behind’ by girls outperforming them, as well as the digital environment (Bendfeldt, under review). However, in light of the explicitly violent rhetoric and ideology foundational to incel worldviews, discussions of physical violence are never far when thinking about misogynistic online communities of incels. But how is this issue perceived and responded to by those who are in charge of ‘security’? This article examines the understandings of incels and incel violence within the Swedish security sector. It explores how, and to what extent, incel violence and the wider issue of misogyny feature within security considerations; contributing to both understandings of incel violence per se, but also the mechanisms, and politics, of declaring something a matter of security. In particular, this article examines how misogyny and related violence are perceived and responded to, and their political and material implications on people’s everyday lives.
