Exploring incel discourse through topic modeling: insights from Spanish-speaking contexts on X

Abstract

Incels (involuntary celibates) may be understood as a subculture of men frequently associated with misogynistic and racist ideologies, which have been examined from multiple perspectives at the international level. Within this field of inquiry, incel communities have increasingly attracted scholarly attention, particularly in the Anglophone sphere. However, in Spanish-speaking contexts, there is a lack of empirical evidence about this community’s discourse. This research addresses that gap by analyzing the online discourse of the Spanish-speaking incel community and comparing it to the Anglo-American context. Specifically, it aims to: (1) analyze the topics present in the discourse of the Spanish-speaking incel community on X; and (2) examine its particularities in comparison with the Anglo-American discourse. For this purpose, a sample of 10,581 posts from opinion leaders of this community was collected, from 26 January 2023 to 10 February 2024. Subsequently, a Topic Modeling Analysis (LDA) was performed using word filtering to extract the main topics from this discourse. The resulting model consists of 24 topics, which were grouped into 9 categories: (1) misogyny, (2) men, (3) immigration, (4) politics, (5) incel community, (6) football, (7) social networks, (8) sex-affective relationships and (9) humorous and metaphorical expressions. The results obtained suggest that the discourse of the Spanish-speaking incel community aligns with previous empirical findings, despite some minor differences in the content of each topic across countries (e.g. “The fall of the West”). The analysis reveals that the main themes in Spanish-speaking incel discourse such as misogyny, gender dynamics and sociopolitical critiques are also prevalent in Anglo-American discourse. However, the Spanish-speaking users incorporate their cultural nuances, such as references to humor and football. These findings underscore the need to develop strategies aimed at mitigating the potential impact of these narratives on social cohesion, preventing the radicalization of vulnerable individuals, and further investigating the phenomenon within digital environments.