Blackpill Science

Involuntary Celibacy, Rational Technique, and Economic Existence under Neoliberalism

Bibliographic Data

ID14784277
AuthorsAnthony Burton (0000-0001-6474-0313, Simon Fraser University, corresponding author), Anthony G Burton (Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada)
Year2022
Volume47
Issue4
Pages676-701
Publication date2022-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCanadian Journal of Communication (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0705-3657 • E-ISSN: 1499-6642
PublisherUniversity of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.3138/cjc.2022-07-25
OpenAlexW4306194438
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited17

Background: This article explores the “scientific blackpill,” used by those in contemporary digital incel communities to describe living as involuntarily celibate. To take the scientific blackpill is to both see and develop a rigid social hierarchy that attempts to explains the incel’s sexual and social lacks. Analysis: Through a discourse analysis of the largest web forum for self-identified “incels,” this article finds that the “scientific blackpill” acts as a Foucauldian “technology of the self,” designed to both explain and reverse the incel’s perceived social oppressions. Conclusion and Implications: Designed in an attempt to emulate the objectifying behaviour of masculinity under neoliberalism, the blackpill legitimates the very social behaviours that devalue the incel’s social existence

Celibacy · Epistemology · Hierarchy · Individualism · Masculinity · Neoliberalism (international relations · Political science · Social science · Sociology · Digital Games and Media · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Law · Philosophy · Psychology · Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology · Social Psychology

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