To Örebro University

oru.seÖrebro University Publications
Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Who Holds the Power? Gendered Experiences of Involuntary Singlehood in the Age of Online Dating
Örebro University, School of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-7766-8696
Örebro University, School of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-4908-1783
Linnaeus University, Växjö, Sweden.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-3186-9054
2025 (English)In: Sociological inquiry, ISSN 0038-0245, E-ISSN 1475-682X, article id soin.70037Article in journal (Refereed) Epub ahead of print
Abstract [en]

Although singlehood is a desired lifestyle for an increasing number of heterosexual women and men, many are involuntarily single, struggling to find a partner. Meanwhile, popular debates about dating are sharply polarized along gendered lines. While “incels” see themselves as victims on a dating market ruled by women, relatively mainstreamed feminist sensibilities frame heterosexuality as marked by men's power. This article investigates how Swedish heterosexual long-term involuntary singles experience and make sense of the gendered conditions of contemporary dating. Addressing the tendency in online dating for women to receive significantly more attention and responses from men than men do from women, we reveal substantial tensions in how the participants understand this gendered dynamic, with the men tending to interpret it as a matter of women's power, while the women's experiences and perspectives complicate this notion considerably. By identifying some key mechanisms involved in producing these divergences in women's and men's perspectives, our analysis deepens understandings of contemporary gendered conflicts around love, while also shedding light on the antifeminist dynamics of the incel community.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
John Wiley & Sons, 2025. article id soin.70037
Keywords [en]
emotional labor, gender, gender-based violence, heterosexuality, incels, involuntary celibacy, involuntary singlehood, manosphere, online dating, singlehood
National Category
Gender Studies
Research subject
Gender Studies
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-124764DOI: 10.1111/soin.70037ISI: 001607243700001OAI: oai:DiVA.org:oru-124764DiVA, id: diva2:2010990
Funder
Swedish Research Council, 2021‐01130Available from: 2025-11-03 Created: 2025-11-03 Last updated: 2025-11-18Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

Other links

Publisher's full text

Authority records

Gunnarsson, LenaJohansson Wilén, Evelina

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Gunnarsson, LenaJohansson Wilén, EvelinaWemrell, Maria
By organisation
School of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences
In the same journal
Sociological inquiry
Gender Studies

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar

doi
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
urn-nbn
Total: 155 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf