Dr Kaitlyn Regehr, Lecturer in the Department of Media Studies, has featured in a BBC3 documentary entitled ‘Inside the Secret World of Incels’, which debuted on Saturday 14 July 2019.
The documentary explores the online subculture of ‘incels’ (the word being a portmanteau of ‘involuntary celibate’) who promote hatred, misogyny and racism, and have been linked to hate crimes and mass murders. To produce the documentary, director Simon Rawles gained unprecedented access to incel community members. The resulting documentary explores the how online ideology can push people into extreme behaviour and considers the reasons why this may occur, including mental health issues and trauma.
‘The police should be looking at this in the same way they look at religious extremism online’, explains Kaitlyn in the documentary. ‘I’ve been researching online misogyny for the past five years… I’ve really been looking at the potential for violence to spill off screens and on to streets.’
The documentary features a seminar delivered by Kaitlyn, where Kent Media Studies students discuss the impact of online hate speech.
The documentary contains strong language and some disturbing scenes. It is currently available on the BBC’s iPlayer here:
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p07fvhmw/inside-the-secret-world-of-incels