Study links internalized pornographic standards to body image issues among incel men

A recent study published in the Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy suggests that men who identify as involuntary celibates consume more pornography and experience greater bodily dissatisfaction than other men. The research provides evidence that frequent adult media use, combined with the belief that women expect men to look like pornographic actors, tends to worsen how these men view their own bodies.

Involuntary celibates, commonly known as incels, are men who deeply desire romantic and sexual relationships but feel entirely unable to attain them. This group tends to form a specific online identity centered around rigid and fatalistic beliefs. They generally believe that society is organized into a strict hierarchy based entirely on physical appearance.

From their perspective, incels are trapped at the very bottom of this social hierarchy due to permanent and unchangeable physical flaws. Because of these beliefs, they frequently experience intense loneliness, depression, and a severe lack of social support. Many harbor negative attitudes toward women, believing that women are shallow and only interested in highly attractive men.

Scientists Brandon Sparks and Robyn Mooney wanted to better understand how pornography fits into this specific worldview. Sparks and Mooney noted that pornography often serves as a primary source of sexual information for young men. Because incels lack real world sexual experience and romantic partners, they might rely heavily on adult media to learn about intimacy.

“I have been doing incel research for several years related to their social and emotional health and I came across some really interesting research from Charest and Kleinplatz (2021) that looked at where men and women get their sex information from,” said study author Brandon Sparks, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of New Brunswick.

“By and large, participants reported getting their knowledge about the ‘fun’ parts of sex from friends and intimate partners. But incels do not generally have this social network, nor previous intimate partners to draw this information from. Which gets at the only meaningful gender difference Charest and Kleinplatz (2021) found, which was that men rated pornography as much higher in informative value. So the question became whether this may be where incels were getting their information from.”

“Conceptually, it seemed to map: some incel forums discuss sex as transactional, which is how it is portrayed in pornography; incels appear to have a lot of concerns about their physical image, which is also associated with men’s pornography use; and lastly, there was some likelihood that incels may engage in more pornography use to ameliorate their elevated levels of loneliness and lack of sexual outlets. So really, it ‘fit’ from a number of angles.”

For their study, the scientists recruited 137 men through an online university research system, the social media platform X, and various communities on Reddit. After removing participants who did not complete enough of the survey, the final sample consisted of 121 men. This group included 45 men who self-identified as incels and 76 men who did not.

The participants were mostly heterosexual and had an average age of twenty-nine years old. They completed a series of online questionnaires designed to measure their pornography viewing habits. The researchers provided a standard definition of pornography to ensure all participants were answering based on the exact same concept.

The surveys asked the men how frequently they viewed pornography and how much time they spent watching it in a single sitting. Participants also answered questions about whether they viewed pornography as a realistic portrayal of actual sexual encounters. Another section of the survey asked participants if they believed adult media was a primary educational source for them regarding sex.

In addition to viewing habits, the researchers measured several aspects of the men’s psychological and emotional well-being. They asked the participants about their daily levels of social and emotional loneliness. The surveys also measured how often the men used masturbation as a way to cope with everyday worries and negative feelings.

The researchers also evaluated the men’s satisfaction with their own physical appearance. This involved asking participants how satisfied they were with their muscularity, body fat, and height. A separate questionnaire asked the men to rate their satisfaction with the overall size and appearance of their genitals.

Another central part of the survey focused on relationship expectations. The scientists measured what the men expected from future romantic partners regarding physical attractiveness. They also asked what the men believed those same female partners would expect from them in return.

Specifically, the questionnaires asked if the men felt that future partners would expect them to look and perform sexually like the male actors seen in pornography. Finally, the participants answered questions about whether their pornography habits had negatively affected their personal views of women. Once the surveys were complete, the researchers used statistical software to compare the answers of the two groups.

The results showed distinct behavioral and psychological differences between the two sets of men. Incels reported consuming significantly more pornography than the men who did not identify as incels. They also engaged in much higher levels of masturbatory coping, meaning they frequently used masturbation to manage daily stress and forget their worries.

Additionally, the incel group reported much higher levels of social isolation and daily loneliness. When it came to the adult content itself, the incel men viewed pornography as significantly more realistic than the other men did. They were also more likely to concede that watching pornography had worsened their views of women over time.

The two groups did not differ in what they expected a female partner to look like. Both incels and non-incels had similar aesthetic expectations regarding female pornographic actors. However, the incel group reported much stronger beliefs that future female partners would expect them to match the physical standards of male pornographic actors.

This specific belief was strongly associated with negative feelings about their own physical traits. The researchers found that incels experienced significantly more dissatisfaction with their general body image. They also reported much higher levels of dissatisfaction with their genital image compared to the other men.

The scientists used statistical models to explore how these different factors influence one another. They found that the belief that women expect men to look like pornographic actors acted as a bridge between being an incel and having severe body image issues. Essentially, identifying as an incel and internalizing the physical standards seen in adult media tends to predict intense bodily dissatisfaction.

“Compared to non-incel men, incels reported more concerns about their overall physical appearance and their genitals,” Sparks told PsyPost. “This was explained, in part, by their belief that women will watch pornography and expect other men to look and perform to that same standard. So in other words, it seems that the more incels consume pornography, the more they are internalizing this belief that they will fail to live up to women’s expectations.”

“When I was designing this study, I was emailing back and forth with an incel who suggested that I include some way to capture the perceptions and expectations I mentioned above. And he was bang on. So although I ultimately went into the study with this hypothesis, it wasn’t one I originally had when I was first conceptualizing the study.”

While the study offers new insights into the psychological struggles of socially isolated men, it is not without limitations. The sample size of 121 men is relatively small for psychological research. The researchers note that this is common when studying incels, as the group generally harbors deep mistrust toward academics and outsiders.

The study also relied on a cross-sectional design, meaning the researchers cannot draw conclusions about causality. It is not entirely known if consuming pornography directly causes body image issues, or if men who already have poor body image simply tend to consume more pornography.

“This study was cross-sectional, meaning that all of the data was collected at a single time point,” Sparks noted. “Therefore, I cannot confirm that there is a causal relationship here. Conceptually, it makes sense, and it makes sense based on what the incel I was corresponding with told me, but it needs more rigorous testing under different paradigms to really flesh out the mechanisms.

“It’s also worth noting that incels’ internalization of porn standards (towards themselves) does not completely account for their elevated rates of body and genital image concerns. So there are other factors to consider as well.”

To build on these initial findings, the scientists plan to broaden their scope to include other isolated online communities.

“I have started doing some research on female incels (femcels) to see if some of the same trends exist in them that we see in male incels,” Sparks explained. “I am also going to be looking into relationship and sex concerns among incels and femcels.”

Ultimately, the researchers hope their work fosters an objective and empathetic approach to a highly stigmatized group.

“I think it is important to make sure, especially with incel research, to ensure we are humanizing our participants,” Sparks said. “This research isn’t meant to position incels in any sort of light (good or bad), but to help us understand some of the issues that they are dealing with so we are better positioned to support them with it.”

The study, “Pornography Consumption, Body Image, and Sexual Schemas Among Incel and Non-Incel Men,” was authored by Brandon Sparks and Robyn Mooney.