The first time I heard about ‘inceldom’ was the 2018 Toronto van attack in which 10 people were killed and 14 were injured; definitely not the best first impression. By that point, the ‘incel’ community was already fairly substantial – far more substantial than I had realised. This attack wasn’t the first, in fact, the attacker was inspired by Elliot Rodger, a kind of ‘hero’ for many ‘incels’ – scrolling through any ‘incel’ forum it’s easy to lose count of the number of profiles using Rodger’s picture or name, interspersed with references to SS soldiers. This might give the impression that Rodger was an inspiration for the more radical side of the ‘incel’ community: but Rodger’s influence was far more negative and sinister.

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Scrolling through any ‘incel’ forum it’s easy to lose count of the number of profiles using Rodger’s picture or name

He gained notoriety after murdering six people and posting an 137-page manifesto entitled ‘My Twisted World’. Over the years, the community has continued to grow, both in membership and number of violent attacks; and yet it is one of the least talked about radical groups. Most people have heard of the recent rise of far-right groups like the English Defence League and Neo-Nazism, however, ‘incels’ still remain relatively unknown, existing on an easily accessible yet dark corner of the internet. 

An ‘incel’ is usually a self-imposed title literally meaning ‘Involuntary Celibate’. It is an almost exclusively male and western community that exists mostly on forums like Reddit and 4Chan. However, the term ‘incel’  rarely refers simply to someone who hasn’t had sex in a while, instead it represents a community of men who feel entitled to sex, often manifesting in misogynistic, sometimes even dangerous views, as seen with Elliot Rodger.

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It is an almost exclusively male and western community that exists mostly on forums like Reddit and 4Chan

For context, ‘incels’ communicate sometimes seemingly almost in an entirely different language, here are some of the most common terms: Stacy: ‘a highly attractive woman, often depicted with a ‘determined’ attitude. The ultimate embodiment of every wicked, depraved aspect of feminine nature’, Chad: ‘someone who can elicit near universal positive female sexual attention at will’, essentially the ultimate man, and Femoid/foid: short for ‘female humanoid organisms’. This is a derogatory term used to refer to the female population in general. Often linked particularly with feminists.

Not a lot of research has been done into the community yet as it is still relatively new, however, some psychologists are beginning to study ‘incel’ behaviour in order to better understand how we can help them. The way I’ve always understood it has been a kind of ‘echo chamber effect’, a phenomenon where ‘certain ideas, beliefs or data points are reinforced through repetition of a closed system that does not allow for the free movement of alternative or competing ideas or concepts’. This is something I have noticed is common on forums as non ‘incels’ are often entirely banned or have to communicate on a ‘bluepill’ section of the website, leading to radicalisation. After watching the BBC’s ‘Inside the Secret World of Incels’, it appeared to me that these forums initially began as a pretty harmless place for men to get advice on how to attract girls, resulting from low self-esteem and a lack of confidence. Some of the less extreme forums, such as IncelsWithoutHate and ForeverAlone, are generally less overtly anti-feminist and advise men on how to be more confident talking to women – not an inherently bad thing. However, immersed in ‘incel’ forums, they come across posts like ‘you can’t turn a whore into a housewife’ and post after post expressing the view that ‘being Chad is the only way to go’. Essentially, they get plied with endless anecdotes describing the various ways that women have wronged men, and thus need to be stopped. I’ve seen so many posts on these forums rating women based on their appearance (often a 4/10 is deemed generous) swiftly followed by rants from men who believe that these women would still be able to have sex with Chads, despite their perceived unattractiveness. This is often seen particularly to be a problem in major cities as women have more choice over who they date and have sex with, meaning ‘incels’ get left behind. Once exposed to these posts, they are gradually radicalised and begin to develop the same beliefs shared by many ‘incels’: that the world would be better off without women, that women should be assigned to men or that women should be oppressed and exist purely in a domestic setting. And this is where it starts to get potentially dangerous.

One of the worst things I’ve noticed about the most radical parts of the ‘incel’ community is a sense of sexual entitlement to women. They generally blame their celibacy on feminism which has enabled women to have more autonomy and dating apps which favour more conventionally attractive ‘Chads’.

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Once exposed to these posts, they are gradually radicalised and begin to develop the same beliefs

Beginning with Elliot Rodger, I believe the ‘incel’ community has gradually been shaped into a far more dangerous place, creating the ‘Incel Rebellion’ by Alek Minassian, the Toronto van killer mentioned above. Rodger arguably made the community more mainstream, boosting numbers into the tens of thousands on some forums. Obviously not all members are violent or misogynistic, however, a small portion of the community is, which is where the danger potentially lies. While it is easy to dismiss them as men simply sitting at home typing misogynistic things behind the anonymity of a computer, we’ve seen examples of the violence that these men are capable of and yet still nothing is being done to try and prevent further attacks. Reddit made a landmark decision in 2017 when they decided to ban the subreddit r/incels which had 40,000 members at the time. Their motivation for shutting this subreddit down was the amount of violence that the group discussed with some members advocating for the rape and murder of women. It could be argued that these are just sick jokes made by people who feel victimised by society, however, we have seen that not all of these posts are jokes and all it takes is the wrong person to see them and take matters into their own hands. I understand that for a lot of people these jokes are just a way for them to express their anger with limited consequences – it is simply a means to vent to other like-minded individuals, but that doesn’t excuse their behaviour. 

Continuing to participate in these dangerous discussions simply repeats the cycle, making the individual more and more radical. I don’t know what the solution is; I wish I could conclude this article explaining how we can all help incels. At their core many are just lonely, isolated individuals whose views have been manipulated and radicalised into misogynistic ideals. Any individual suffering from mental health issues deserves our help and support, whether we agree with their views or not – that’s not to say that their dangerous views can be entirely excused. There is an additional interest to society to help these individuals as they represent a potential threat or danger to women, therefore by supporting ‘incels’ we also help protect those who might be at risk of attack.

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Continuing to participate in these dangerous discussions simply repeats the cycle, making the individual more and more radical

After spending some time on ‘incel’ forums, the general consensus seems to be that the best way to help them is to include them. Reach out to people you think might be at risk of being radicalised, talk to the people who seem quiet or potentially excluded from your friendship group, fulfil the famous cliché to treat others as you’d wish to be treated. There is only so much individuals can do to prevent radicalisation though, it’s often very hard to detect and once noticeable it might be too late to reverse. 

Instead, corporations have a duty to take measures to help reduce radicalisation on their platforms. It’s no secret that Facebook’s guidelines are rarely implemented – Minassian was able to post about his ‘Incel Rebellion’ prior to his attack with little repercussions. More social media networks need to follow Reddit’s example and place restrictions on incel groups that spread dangerous, violent messages. Hopefully once more research begins to be done into the community we will begin to understand the ways that radicalisation can be successfully reversed and in an ideal world, prevented. For now, raising awareness and looking out for each other will have to do.