By Laura Doherty, Christopher Dowling and Meg Dickens

Online communities of ‘incels’ (involuntary celibates) have become synonymous with the promotion of misogyny and violence against women, particularly in light of recent violent incidents connected to them. Understanding how men stop engaging with these online communities is therefore important for broader violence prevention efforts. This study used a qualitative survey of self-identified former incels to determine motivations for disengagement, strategies to facilitate disengagement, and whether and how their attitudes towards violence against women changed with disengagement. Findings indicate that, while motivations to disengage varied, the strongest was disillusionment. This motivation in particular often led to improved attitudes towards women upon disengagement.