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Victim, Violent, Vulnerable: A Feminist Response to the Incel Radicalisation Scale

Description

This article critically examines the Incel Radicalisation Scale (IRS), a tool designed to measure and prevent incel radicalization, highlighting significant concerns about its conceptual and methodological foundations. Drawing on feminist scholarship, the authors question the definitions of key terms like radicalization and misogyny, as well as the reliance on incels' self-representations, which may downplay their harmful online activities. The study argues that the IRS risks legitimizing incel narratives of victimhood while overlooking broader societal harms, such as the normalization of misogynist violence and supremacist ideologies. The authors call for more rigorous research approaches to better understand and address incel radicalization comprehensively.

Related topic

Ethics and gender sensitivity

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