New research delves into the unexplored psychology of Femcels

A new study published in Archives of Sexual Behavior explored the psychology of involuntarily celibate women, or “femcels”, revealing their struggles with sexual frustration, a focus on personal rather than male grievances, and tendency toward non-violent means for empowerment.

“When I first heard the term ‘femcel,’ I was immediately interested and wanted to know more about their communities. When I began exploring their online subculture, I saw so many different directions that our research could take because this is such an understudied population,” said Hannah Rae Evans, a master’s graduate of the University of Alabama’s Criminology and Criminal Justice Program. Evans currently works as the Stepping Up Initiative Coordinator for Tuscaloosa County.

The term “incels,” referring to involuntarily celibate men has been linked to several violent acts and online misogynistic culture, capturing global attention. However, the narrative around “femcels” has been largely unexplored. Despite assumptions that women can readily access sexual and romantic opportunities, many express frustration over the lack of meaningful connections and sexual satisfaction, leading to the creation of online communities like The Pink Pill. In this work, Evans and Adam Lankford delved into the femcel phenomenon.

The researchers collected data from the five most subscribed subforums on ThePinkPill.co, an online femcel discussion website, capturing posts from May 2021 to May 2022. This process yielded a large dataset of 24,525 user posts across 3461 threads. The final sample for focused analysis comprised approximately 1200 posts identified through text search queries for the following terms: sexual, power, revenge, and frustration (and their stemmed versions, e.g., frustrated, frustrating). This study was designed to give voice to femcel experiences by relying on their language and expression.

“First, femcels struggled with numerous types of sexual frustration. All three major types of sexual frustration proposed in Dr. Lankford’s sexual frustration theory—unfulfilled desires to have sex, unavailable partners, and unsatisfying sexual activities—were found in femcel posts,” Evans told PsyPost.

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This suggests there is a deep-rooted concern with the quality and availability of intimate relationships among this population.

“Another key finding is how much in-depth analysis and commentary we found from femcels. This is why we decided to include so many illustrative quotes within our findings and share what the femcels had to say about gender, societal expectations, beauty standards, power dynamics, and more.”

For example, when discussing women and power, the power of beauty was a common theme.  One user wrote “It’s not about just beauty from the objective point, it’s about what you gain with beauty. I want that. That power.”

Another wrote, “Stacys know that they are hot, and they know that this gives them power and money, so they want to maximize their power.”

Femcel discussions predominantly focused on women’s experiences, highlighting the emphasis on the female perspective within the femcel community.

What can we learn by studying this population? Evans said, “Although the femcel discussions in our study contained much less support for aggression and violence than what has been reported about male incels, some did express extreme views.”

“Further studying these populations could help us identify factors that may contribute to radicalization and could aid efforts to prevent escalation of harmful ideologies. Also, researchers can learn more about the mental health challenges associated with involuntary celibacy and sexual frustration. This would give us a better foundation for developing evidence-based support strategies tailored to the specific needs of these populations.”

“One of the most important things to note is that we examined only these femcels’ online statements and discussions and have no way of verifying their offline behavior,” the researcher explained.

“While some postings involved extreme rhetoric, we are not aware of any mass shootings or violence committed by someone who considered themselves a femcel or identified with the femcel community. Additionally, femcels are not ideologically homogeneous and the beliefs of the most extreme members are not indicative of the group as a whole.”

Are there questions that still need answers? Evans responded, “There is still much to learn about the femcel community, their experiences, and the broader societal dynamics that shape their perspectives. For example, further research could investigate femcels’ struggles with social isolation, self-esteem issues, and interpersonal skills. We’d also like to do a direct comparison study of femcels and male incels.”

The study, “Femcel Discussions of Sex, Frustration, Power, and Revenge”, was authored by Hannah Rae Evans and Adam Lankford.