"Femoids are evil" : En netnografisk studie om incels språkliga praktik

Sammanfattning: The purpose of the study is to investigate discourses on gender and exclusion constructed in texts written on an internet forum by the group incels, and then to see if and if so how these could contribute to exclusion. The study's questions are centered on how constructions of gender are made visible and maintained, and how exclusion is made visible in the text. The empiric consists of collected threads from an incels forum which is then analyzed on the basis of a theoretical framework based on Butler's theory of gender, as well as in Fairclough's critical discourse analysis. The study is thus based on a text-oriented qualitative approach. The result has highlighted the linguistic practice found on the forum and thereby identified which dominant discourses that sets the framework for what may and may not be said. The texts have shown that these discourses are seldom challenged, whereupon the production of text consistently maintains constructions of, for example, gender. An analysis of the empirics has revealed that the texts consistently express patriarchal structures that position men as superior to women. It has also emerged that men and women are constructed on the basis of the heterosexual matrix and the texts have demonstrated a linguistic practice that constructs and demonizes women. The analysis has also shown a paradox in that the texts express an aspiration for a hierarchy based on the heterosexual matrix, while the users on the forum at the same time position themselves as victims of the ideals of masculinity. The result has thus identified a common protest against the ideal of hegemonic masculinity, while discursive practice produces texts that seek to pursue and achieve such an ideal - which thus becomes a paradox in itself. Overall, the results have identified discourses that dominate the forum and found that these are characterized by a linguistic practice based on misogyny, heteronormativity and incels as victims of modern feminism.