Stu Lucy is an ESRC funded postdoctoral researcher at the University of Portsmouth, UK.Frazer Heritage is Senior Lecturer in Linguistics at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK.Lisa Sugiura is Professor in Cybercrime and Gender at the University of Portsmouth, UK.

This book offers a timely and much needed critique of evolutionary psychological approaches to researching the incel community. While interdisciplinarity is to be welcomed in incel scholarship, it is a matter of considerable concern that theories and ideas from evolutionary psychology form the basis of most incel and manosphere ideas about women, men and the relationships between them. The authors of Researching Incels draw attention to the way in which biological essentialism not only ignores the cultural and social construction of gender, but is also unapologetically and emphatically heteronormative and dualistic. Perhaps most importantly, their detailed critique demonstrates that, while evolutionary psychology is an arm of a historically positivist and thus apparently ‘objective’ science, it is in fact value laden. Researching Incels makes a hugely significant contribution to incel scholarship, and should serve as a reminder to policy makers that framing matters.

• Chapter 1. Introduction Chapter 2. The State of the Art Chapter 3. On Concepts and Methods Chapter 4. On Positionality Chapter 5. Notes for Season Two of Incel Research

Stu Lucy is an ESRC funded postdoctoral researcher at the University of Portsmouth, UK.Frazer Heritage is Senior Lecturer in Linguistics at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK.Lisa Sugiura is Professor in Cybercrime and Gender at the University of Portsmouth, UK.

This book offers a timely and much needed critique of evolutionary psychological approaches to researching the incel community. While interdisciplinarity is to be welcomed in incel scholarship, it is a matter of considerable concern that theories and ideas from evolutionary psychology form the basis of most incel and manosphere ideas about women, men and the relationships between them. The authors of Researching Incels draw attention to the way in which biological essentialism not only ignores the cultural and social construction of gender, but is also unapologetically and emphatically heteronormative and dualistic. Perhaps most importantly, their detailed critique demonstrates that, while evolutionary psychology is an arm of a historically positivist and thus apparently ‘objective’ science, it is in fact value laden. Researching Incels makes a hugely significant contribution to incel scholarship, and should serve as a reminder to policy makers that framing matters.

• Chapter 1. Introduction Chapter 2. The State of the Art Chapter 3. On Concepts and Methods Chapter 4. On Positionality Chapter 5. Notes for Season Two of Incel Research