This page is dedicated to providing you with useful information for either learning more or taking action. One of the biggest barriers to solving the problem of the incel and red pill movements is a lack of knowledge and resources, so this page provides a healthy dose of both.
Important Note: Because these sources are informal and come from a more first-person perspective, the language used is often directly pulled from incel or red pill sources and can include profanity or hateful terminology. This can be jarring, but there is value in hearing things directly from the source and from people who have firsthand experience with these communities.
Books and Published Media
Carlos Andrés Gómez: Man Up: Reimagining Modern Manhood
discusses the flaws with modern interpretations of masculinity and what can change for the better
Clarisse Thorn: Confessions of a Pickup Artist Chaser
discussion and explanation of the pickup artist community and its perspective on relationships through a feminist and sex-positive lens
Note: this book is made up of an assembly of blog posts, so there is a repetition of some definitions and the language is more informal than a traditionally published book
Cynthia Payne: Red Pill Ideology: Lifting the Shiny Wrapping from the Manosphere
a deeper dive into the red pill ideology, aiming to examine the roots and philosophies of the community
Videos
F.D Signifier: Dissecting the Manosphere
discusses the manosphere and its roots, as well as the motivations of those who become involved in it
Dr. Todd Grande: What is an INCEL? |Involuntarily Celibate Mental Health & Personality
discusses the ideology and mentality associated with extremists within the incel community
CBC News: Understanding Incel: The dark subculture explained
a news segment aired after the 2018 Toronto van attack explaining more about incels, including an interview with University of Toronto sociology professor Judith Taylor
Websites and Blogs
ADL: Incels (Involuntary celibates)
provides background and further explanation of the incel subculture, along with a short list of definitions for some commonly-used terms
Southern Poverty Law Center: Male Supremacy
a general overview of the history, growth, and relevance of misogynistic and pro-patriarchal men's groups, including incels and other manosphere groups
Southern Poverty Law Center: Misogyny: The Sites
lists many popular manosphere websites and describes their content or focus so you know what to watch out for
Warning: Some of the content of these sites may be uncomfortable to read due to the subject matter.
Edutopia: Are We Facing a Mental Health Crisis for Boys?
discusses the mental health troubles faced by young boys and teen boys and provides suggestions for how this could be addressed to better support them
Reddit: r/exredpill
This is a subreddit dedicated to individuals who are current or former members of the Red Pill community and who are looking for a way to change their perspective. This is a useful resource if you want to learn more about the perspectives of those involved or if you want to provide support for someone in your life who wants out.
Notable Post: Red Pill Detox First Aid Kit - Start Here!
Paging Dr. NerdLove: Reclaiming Manhood: Detoxifying Toxic Masculinity
explains what toxic masculinity is and why it is harmful to both men and women
Paging Dr. NerdLove: What's Wrong With "Taking The Red Pill"
further explanation of the red pill and its appeal to young men written in response to a letter sent in by a sister concerned about her brother's recent adoption of the red pill ideology
Greater Good Magazine: Is the Drive to Be Masculine Hurting Your Mental Health?
a quick look at how striving to fit the mold of a masculine ideal can hurt boys and men, and a potential path to fixing things through addressing mental health barriers
Independent: Andrew Tate: How can we stop losing vulnerable men to the 'manosphere'?
discusses the growth of the manosphere and why red pill messaging may appeal to men, and offers some suggestions on how to deal with it
This section contains links to informal sources such as videos, websites, or books that have not been peer-reviewed. They have been selected because the information provided is presented in a more accessible way. These are created by people who have firsthand experience with the incel and red pill communities or who have a firmly-established understanding of internet culture.
This section contains links to all official U.S. state legislative sites as well as some links to helpful resources for staying connected with your government. You can be the change, and it starts with knowing who your representatives are, and what you can do to make a difference in your community.
APA Quick Guide: if you are unfamiliar with the APA citation format, citations can look like another language, so here is a quick guide to help you better find what you are looking for:
The first section of each citation contains the names of the authors or any associated organizations and the date of publication.
The second section contains the title of the article.
Then comes the name of the journal or collection where the publication is found, along with issue, volume, and page numbers.
The last portion of the citation (the link that starts with "doi") is the official link to the source, which links to the page where it is located in the form cited. You can click this link and it will take you to the journal, but note: there may be a paywall or account required to access the material.
Example: Name, Name, & Name (Year). Title. Journal, Issue(volume), pages. doi link
There are exceptions to this format, and there are different rules that depend on the type of source material, but this is a good general interpretation. For more information, you can visit the Purdue OWL guide for APA
The doi links for each source link to the site where information used in research for this toolkit was pulled from. However, if you have trouble accessing the literature using these links, you can copy and paste the article titles + author list into a search engine and you will likely be able to find other journals where the article can be found.
Literature:
Baele, S. J., Brace, L., & Coan, T. G. (2021). From “incel” to “saint”: analyzing the violent worldview behind the 2018 toronto attack. Terrorism and Political Violence, 33(8), 1667–1691. https://doi.org/10.1080/09546553.2019.1638256
Besnier, E., Thomson, K., Stonkute, D., Mohammad, T., Akhter, N., Todd, A., Rom Jensen, M., Kilvik, A., & Bambra, C. (2021). Which public health interventions are effective in reducing morbidity, mortality and health inequalities from infectious diseases amongst children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs): An umbrella review. PLoS ONE, 16(6), e0251905. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0251905
Bhavsar, V., Bhugra, D., & Persaud, A. (2020). Public policy, mental health and a public health approach to violence. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 66(7), 629–632. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020764020915236
Bhui, K., & Jones, E. (2017). The challenge of radicalisation: a public health approach to understanding and intervention. Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, 31(4), 401–410. https://doi.org/10.1080/02668734.2017.1354908
Browne, K., & Hamilton-Giachritsis, C. (2005). The influence of violent media on children and adolescents: a public-health approach. The Lancet (British Edition), 365(9460), 702–710. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(05)70938-7
Broyd, J., Boniface, L., Parsons, D., Murphy, D., & Hafferty, J. D. (2022). Incels, violence and mental disorder: a narrative review with recommendations for best practice in risk assessment and clinical intervention. BJPsych Advances, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1192/bja.2022.15
CDC. (2022). The public health approach to violence prevention[Infographic]. https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/about/publichealthapproach.html
David-Ferdon, C., Vivolo-Kantor, A. M., Dahlberg, L. L., Marshall, K. J., Rainford, N. & Hall, J. E. (2016). A comprehensive technical package for the prevention of youth violence and associated risk behaviors. National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/yv-technicalpackage.pdf
Davis, M. M., Howk, S., Spurlock, M., McGinnis, P. B., Cohen, D. J., & Fagnan, L. J. (2017). A qualitative study of clinic and community member perspectives on intervention toolkits: "unless the toolkit is used it won't help solve the problem". BMC Health Services Research, 17(1). http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12913-017-2413-y
Dickel, V., & Evolvi, G. (2022). “Victims of feminism”: exploring networked misogyny and #MeToo in the manosphere. Feminist Media Studies, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2022.2029925
Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D., & Schellinger, K. B. (2011). The impact of enhancing students’ social and emotional learning: a meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions. Child Development, 82(1), 405–432. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.14678624.2010.01564.x
Ebbrecht, C. K. (2022). Systematic review: Risk factors and mechanisms of radicalization in lone-actor grievance-fueled violence. Nordic Psychology, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print), 1–35. https://doi.org/10.1080/19012276.2022.2074524
Ellis, B. H., Miller, A. B., Sideridis, G., Frounfelker, R., Miconi, D., Abdi, S., Aw-Osman, F., & Rousseau, C. (2021). Risk and protective factors associated with support of violent radicalization: variations by geographic location. International Journal of Public Health, 66, 617053–617053. https://doi.org/10.3389/ijph.2021.617053
Ging, D. (2019). Alphas, betas, and incels: theorizing the masculinities of the manosphere. Men and Masculinities, 22(4), 638–657. https://doi.org/10.1177/1097184X17706401
Gotell, L., & Dutton, E. (2016). Sexual violence in the “manosphere”: antifeminist men’s rights discourses on rape. International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy, 5(2), 65–80. https://doi.org/10.5204/ijcjsd.v5i2.310
Han, X., & Yin, C. (2022). Mapping the manosphere: categorization of reactionary masculinity discourses in digital environment. Feminist Media Studies, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2021.1998185
Hopton, K., & Langer, S. (2022). “Kick the XX out of your life”: an analysis of the manosphere’s discursive constructions of gender on Twitter. Feminism & Psychology, 32(1), 3–22. https://doi.org/10.1177/09593535211033461
Ike, K. G. O., de Boer, S. F., Buwalda, B., & Kas, M. J. H. (2020). Social withdrawal: an initially adaptive behavior that becomes maladaptive when expressed excessively. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 116, 251–267. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.06.030
Jones, C., Trott, V., & Wright, S. (2020). Sluts and soyboys: MGTOW and the production of misogynistic online harassment. New Media & Society, 22(10), 1903–1921. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444819887141
Leistedt, S. J. (2016). On the radicalization process. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 61(6), 1588–1591. https://doi.org/10.1111/1556-4029.13170
Lobban, F., Glentworth, D., Haddock, G., Wainwright, L., Clancy, A., Bentley, R., & React Team (2011) The views of relatives of young people with psychosis on how to design a relatives education and coping toolkit (REACT). Journal of Mental Health, 20(6), 567-579. https://doi.org/10.3109/09638237.2011.593592
MacArthur, G., Caldwell, D.M., Redmore, J., Watkins, S.H., Kipping, R., White, J., Chittleborough, C., Langford, R., Er, V., Lingam, R., Pasch, K., Gunnell, D., Hickman, M., Campbell, R. Individual‐, family‐, and school‐level interventions targeting multiple risk behaviours in young people. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2018, 10, https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD009927.pub2
Masur, P. K., DiFranzo, D., & Bazarova, N. N. (2021). Behavioral contagion on social media: effects of social norms, design interventions, and critical media literacy on self-disclosure. PloS One, 16(7), e0254670–e0254670. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254670
Mendelson, T., Mmari, K., Blum, R. W., Catalano, R. F., & Brindis, C. D. (2018). Opportunity youth: insights and opportunities for a public health approach to reengage disconnected teenagers and young adults. Public Health Reports (1974), 133(1S), 54S–64S. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033354918799344
National Threat Assessment Center. (2021). Hot yoga tallahassee: a case study of misogynistic extremism. NTAC Case Study - Hot Yoga Tallahassee_0.pdf
Nicovic, A., Zivanovic, M., & Markovic, M. V. (2021). Contextual and psychological predictors of militant extremist mindset in youth. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 622571–622571. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.622571
O’Malley, R. L., Holt, K., & Holt, T. J. (2022). An exploration of the involuntary celibate (incel) subculture online. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 37(7-8), NP4981–NP5008. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260520959625
Preston, K., Halpin, M., & Maguire, F. (2021). The black pill: new technology and the male supremacy of involuntarily celibate men. Men and Masculinities, 24(5), 823–841. https://doi.org/10.1177/1097184X211017954
Rottweiler, B., & Gill, P. (2022). Individual differences in personality moderate the effects of perceived group deprivation on violent extremism: evidence from a united kingdom nationally representative survey. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 790770–790770. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.790770
Scotto di Carlo, G. (2022). An analysis of self-other representations in the incelosphere: between online misogyny and self-contempt. Discourse & Society, 95792652210993–. https://doi.org/10.1177/09579265221099380
Stahl, G., Keddie, A., & Adams, B. (2022). The manosphere goes to school: problematizing incel surveillance through affective boyhood. Educational Philosophy and Theory, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2022.2097068
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2012). Preventing suicide: a toolkit for high schools. https://permanent.fdlp.gov/gpo41183/SMA12-4669.pdf
Sugiura, L. (2021). The Incel Rebellion : The rise of the manosphere and the virtual war against women. Emerald Publishing Limited.
Tomkinson, S., Harper, T., & Attwell, K. (2020). Confronting incel: exploring possible policy responses to misogynistic violent extremism. Australian Journal of Political Science, 55(2), 152–169. https://doi.org/10.1080/10361146.2020.1747393
Trip, S., Marian, M. I., Halmajan, A., Drugas, M. I., Bora, C. H., & Roseanu, G. (2019). Irrational beliefs and personality traits as psychological mechanisms underlying the adolescents’ extremist mind-set. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 1184–1184. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01184
Trott, V., Beckett, J., & Paech, V. (2022). Operationalising “toxicity” in the manosphere: automation, platform governance and community health. Convergence (London, England), 135485652211110–. https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565221111075
Vallerga, M., & Zurbriggen, E. L. (2022). Hegemonic masculinities in the “manosphere”: a thematic analysis of beliefs about men and women on The Red Pill and Incel. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 22(2), 602–625. https://doi.org/10.1111/asap.12308
Van Valkenburgh, S. P. (2021). Digesting the red pill: masculinity and neoliberalism in the manosphere. Men and Masculinities, 24(1), 84–103. https://doi.org/10.1177/1097184X18816118
Venäläinen, S. (2022). Nobody cares for men anymore: affective-discursive practices around men’s victimisation across online and offline contexts. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 25(4), 1228-1245. https://doi.org/10.1177/13675494211021097
Important Note: If you are a current university student, you likely have access to many peer-reviewed materials through your campus library. You can also ask your local library if they provide access to academic journals for library patrons.
This section contains links and citations for all peer-reviewed literature used in the process of building this site. All links will take you to the official location for accessing the material, which means that some will require a membership or fee to have access. However, in the interest of maintaining full transparency, all sources have been included.
helpful tips to support parents or caregivers of teens in teaching about the harms of misogyny
Center for Countering Digital Hate: Misogyny
a collection of more resources for learning more or addressing the problem of misogyny in online spaces
Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine: Mental Health Resources for Adolescents and Young Adults
a collection of mental health resources specifically for teens and young adults
National Institute of Mental Health: Digital Shareables on Child and Adolescent Mental Health
a collection of printable or shareable mental health information guides for children and teens
This section contains resources for things such as education or mental health access for the purpose of making it easier to play an active role in supporting young people before they are exposed to dangerous ideologies. Though there is a lot of hate within incel and red pill communities, people often join because they are in a place of pain. If we can be there for them in their time of need then they may not search for help from these communities.
Incels & The Red Pill: What you should know and what you can do
a poster designed to provide a brief background on the topic of incels
Incels & The Red Pill: What you should know about the growth of online misogyny
a bifold pamphlet designed to provide background on the topic of incels and advice for how parents can play an active role in protecting their children from the appeal of manosphere groups
a poster designed to explain what misogyny is, and why it is harmful
This section contains some physical media that you can share or print out for yourself or anyone you think might benefit from the information. This includes an informational pamphlet, poster, and infographic to help inform or start conversations about the topic of incels and the broader problem of online misogyny.