From "Alpha" to "Asset": Social Media Platforms and the Commodification of Masculine Anxiety

Research at the intersection of masculinity studies and social media increasingly centers upon the so-called Incel community. Deriving their name from a portmanteau of “involuntary celibate,” the group is defined loosely as “an online subculture of men who identify with their perceived inability to establish sexual relationships,” and have recently risen in prominence/notoriety for their grievance-based activism and denigration of women (Costello et al., 2025, p. 1815). Studies focused upon the group have emphasized the frequency of mental illness diagnoses among its members (Moskalenko et al., 2022). More relevant for my approach, however, is a study conducted by William Costello, Joe Whittaker, and Andrew G. Thomas, who approached the community via the application of the 3N (needs, narrative, and network) theoretical model. These scholars suggest that, based upon their findings, ideological adherence and poor mental health are considerably more predictive of harmful beliefs and attitudes than the networking that takes place within such online communities (and which has recently considerable attention) (Costello et al., 2025). In this brief analysis, then, I hope to consider noteworthy shifts in the ideological foundations of the Incel community—namely, changes in how they conceptualize manhood.