Product details
- ISBN 9781785908941
- Publication Date: 03 Apr 2025
- Publisher: Biteback Publishing
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
- Language: English
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
Incels - involuntary celibates - are often cast as violent, misogynistic loners, consumed by resentment towards women. With shocking tragedies like the 2014 Isla Vista killings and the 2024 Bondi Junction stabbings heightening fears about the threat they pose, understanding this phenomenon has never been more crucial.
But it's important not to view incels as aliens who came down to earth on women-hating spaceships from a distant women-hating planet. Though their belief system - referred to as the 'blackpill' - is no doubt extreme, they haven't constructed it from nothing. These young men are shaped by the media they consume and the society that surrounds us.
In Blackpilled, Meadhbh Park takes an unflinching look at the incel movement through the lenses of masculinity and media studies. Drawing on interviews with incels across the globe and analysing cultural touchstones such as The Matrix, Fight Club, Taxi Driver, Euphoria, Joker and Blade Runner 2049, Park uncovers the origins of their beliefs and what they really think. She also examines potential ways to help incels break free from the nihilistic and hate-fuelled grip of the blackpill.
With extremist misogyny on the rise and governments debating whether incels should be labelled a terror threat, Blackpilled delivers urgent, thought-provoking conclusions that couldn't be more timely.
Meadhbh Park is a researcher and practitioner focused on the manosphere - the loose network of online communities that promote rigid views on gender roles and misogyny - specifically in relation to young people. Her work spans multiple countries, including the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Germany and the United States, where she has contributed to research on groups such as incels and the Proud Boys. Meadhbh seeks to deepen our understanding of young men drawn into extremist ideologies, with a focus on finding practical solutions to help them move away from these harmful belief systems. Her insights have been featured on the BBC, SXSW EDU, The Guardian and the New Zealand Listener.
