Reclaiming sexuality through violence? Italian incels, the Sex robot fantasy, and the ‘right to Sex’

This article investigates how members of the Italian incel community construct meanings around intimacy, gender relations and exclusion within their online interactions. Rather than treating sex robots as the primary object of inquiry, the study uses them as an analytical vantage point to understand how technological imaginaries become entangled with narratives of male disadvantage, self-victimisation and resentment toward women. Drawing on digital ethnography and reflexive thematic analysis, the research explores how discussions about sex robots serve as symbolic resources through which users negotiate feelings of marginality, articulate frustrations linked to sexuality and envision alternative scenarios of relational control. By foregrounding the cultural and emotional dynamics of the incel sphere, the study contributes to a deeper understanding of how emerging technologies are woven into broader discourses of masculinity, vulnerability and gendered power in contemporary online cultures.