Gymcels: incels samtida utlöpare på sociala medier

Sammanfattning: In this paper the studied subject is the recent offshoot of incels: gymcels and associated terms such as sigma among others. This study investigates what this subsect implies and does so by defining aspects of conventional incel culture and juxtaposes these with gymcel cultures own differing ones. This includes values, morals, beliefs, concepts and the language used in this community to differ itself from others. Relevant to this discussion is the historical origins of incel culture and forums and as such this paper explores the beginnings of said forums. The conclusion is that socially and emotionally vulnerable and impressionable young men through social media platforms, primarily Tiktok, get exposed to content preying on these factors and indoctrinates them in a similar fashion to the alt-right pipeline on Youtube around 2017-2018. The Gymcel ideology is a hypermasculine extension of conventional incel ideology wherein aspects such att callous views on women and sexuality are heavily present. The gymcels do however differ in their approaches and see the embracing of hypermasculine ideals such as physical fitness as a central part of finding a sexual partner but also in establishing dominance. These ideals have undergone a transformation online and in some ways become synonymous with terms such as sigma which was initially a mocked new proposed position in the dominance hierarchy. The term sigma is now like many other cryptolect terms in a state of postirony where it is somewhat shielded from criticism but also functions as initially intended. The term along with central gymcel ideals and ideas has gained a huge net following on the social media plattform Tiktok, where an increasing amount of genuine support and resonance with it has come to be. Tiktok as the platform of choice is most likely a result of loose restrictions regarding the expressed opinions of gymcels, poor reinforcement of the guidelines there are, sheer amount of content posted to the platform and most importantly the amount of young adults and children on the platform.