The online community of incels is becoming increasingly more prominent. This group comprises men who are unable to develop a relationship with women. But what started as a community to offer support and relationship advice developed into a misogynistic group of men who blame women for their lack of sexual activity. Moreover, some members of the group have committed violent crimes in the name of inceldom.

This article will cover:

• Who are incels?
• What are the core beliefs of the incel community?
• Extremist views and violence

Who are incels?

The term incel refers to ‘involuntary celibate’ [1]. It is an online sub-culture of heterosexual men who are unable to form romantic or sexual relationships with women, despite wanting to do so [1].  Paradoxically, this online community was established by a woman named Alana in 1997 [1, 4]. She created a website called ‘Alana’s Involuntary Celibacy Project’ to discuss and seek advice on her sexual inactivity. In its beginnings, the community was neither exclusively male, nor showed any hate or violent tendencies. However, during the 2000s this online community began to exclude women and became a place for men to vent about rejection.

Any demographic and psychological information about incels come from self-reports. Many incels claim that they are on the autism spectrum, suffer from depression and experienced early childhood trauma [8]. Moreover, they experience a sense of sexual frustration and loneliness. Preliminary findings suggest that they have high feelings of entitlement to sex and sexual frustration [9] and might score lower on personality factors such as agreeableness, extraversion, conscientiousness and high on neuroticism [2].

What are the core beliefs of the incel community?

Just like other subcultures, they have their own language [4]. Females are generally referred to as ‘femoids’ while the sexually active attractive women are called ‘Stacies’. Sexually active, attractive alpha males are referred to as ‘Chads’ (White), ‘Tyrones’ (Black), ‘Changs’ (Asian) or ‘Chaddums’ (Arabic).

Incels’ core belief is that they are victims of lookism [7]. They see themselves as unattractive but ‘nice guys’. According to them, it is their unattractiveness which explains their inability to find a partner, because women are evolutionary predetermined to only pursue attractive men and will rather stay single than be with an unattractive man [5]. This is referred to as ‘hypergamy’.  Incels believe that over the past few decades, women became more sexually liberated and highly promiscuous [4]. They believe that Chads now ‘have’ all the Stacies because women are more selective when picking a partner. This is also referred to as the 80/20 rule [1]. There are about 20% of Chads among the male population and roughly 80% of Stacies is only interested in them. Moreover, they believe that dating apps and websites promote lookism and give attractive men an even bigger advantage in the dating world.

Furthermore, another core belief is that women owe them sex and by refusing to engage in sexual activities with them, they are violating their basic human right [4]. They paint themselves as victims of injustice committed by women. They believe in ‘gynocentrism’, which is the idea that society benefits women and oppresses men, especially the unattractive ones. According to them, feminism spreads lies in order to maintain this gynocentric system [5].  

All these beliefs are encompassed within the ‘pill ideology’ (it has origins in the movie The Matrix). The ‘blackpill philosophy’ argues that dating success is determined by one’s attractiveness and thus predetermined since birth [1]. Being ‘bluepilled’ means living in blissful ignorance and believing that personality is just as important as looks. On the contrary, being ‘redpilled’ means seeing the world how it really is, which for incels means that women only pursue attractive men.

Extremist views and violence

As with any social group, there are more and less extreme members. Not all incels share the most extreme beliefs nor are they all violent. However, research shows that they pose a considerable threat and show overlap in beliefs of other far-right groups [10].

Incels are openly misogynistic and engage in slut-shaming as can be seen from the language they use to talk about women [7]. Moreover, they share views with other extremist groups such as homophobes, white supremacists, terrorists or racists. Scholars argue that incels are a part of the ‘manosphere’ which is a combination of several groups who share misogynistic and violent ideals [6].

Some of their most problematic views include [5]:

• the belief that sex workers must be available for them at all times
• the encouragement of sex tourism
• belief that age of consent should be decreased so that they have access to more virgins
• belief that women’s financial, personal and reproductive rights should be removed
• sexual Marxism - redistribution of sex to allow every man to have a sexual partner

Personal violence

Suicidal ideation and self-harm are common within the community [5]. In fact, incels believe that suicide is a solution to their problems and is encouraged. Even more so, homicide-suicide is encouraged. Moreover, psychiatry is looked down upon and the members of the incel community are discouraged from seeking mental health support [5].

Interpersonal violence

Individuals who identify as incels and have committed mass murders or engaged in any sort of violence against women are celebrated and idealised and this is facilitated by social media [10]. Moreover, social media serves as a means to stalk and sexually harass women [3].

The most infamous member of the incel community is Elliot Rodger. In 2014, he attempted to attack sorority girls at the University of California [8]. When he failed to gain access into their sorority house, he proceeded to target random passers-by, killing 6 and wounding 14 others [4]. He wrote a manifesto from which it was clear that the main driving force behind his actions was his involuntary celibacy.

The deadliest terrorist attack motivated by inceldom was committed by Alek Minassian. In 2018, he drove a van into a crowd of people in Toronto, killing 10 and wounding many more [4]. Right before this, he paid homage to Rodger on social media.

These two tragedies are only some of the more serious examples of violent crimes committed by the members of the incel community who were driven by their persistent hatred towards women. Scholars agree that the group poses a serious societal threat and thus must be monitored and researched more thoroughly to prevent such occurrences in the future.

Extra resources:

1. YouTube video on incels: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20ZvGkLL-V0

2. YouTube video about Elliot Rodger: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfzFRauXlqQ

References

1. Beauchamp, Z. (April 2019). Our incel problem. Retrieved on July 11, 2021 from https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/4/16/18287446/incel-definition-reddit

2.     Bieselt, H. E. (2020). Personality of Incels and its extent as predictor of involvement and activity in the Incel community (Bachelor's thesis, University of Twente).

3. Byerly, C. M. (2020). Incels online reframing sexual violence. The Communication Review, 23(4), 290-308. https://doiorg.eur.idm.oclc.org/10.1080/10714421.2020.1829305

4.     Collins, P. (2019). Incel: How an online subculture has led to violence against women. Blue Line Magazine, 31(5), 14–15.

5.     Forensic Psychiatry Institute. (April 29, 2021). Incel: How an online subculture led to violence against women and its association with suicidal behaviour, autism spectrum disorder and extremism. [Video] https://www.forensicpsychiatryinstitute.com/webinar/

6.     Ging, D. (2017). Alphas, betas and incels: Theorizing the masculinities of the manosphere. Men and Masculinities, 20(10), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1097184X17706401

7. Halpin, M. (July 7, 2021). Incels are surprisingly diverse but united by hate. Retrieved on July 11, 2021 from https://theconversation.com/incels-are-surprisingly-diverse-but-united-by-hate-163414

8.     Hoffman, B., Ware, J., & Shapiro, E. (2020). Assessing the threat of incel violence. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 43(7), 565-587. https://doiorg.eur.idm.oclc.org/10.1080/1057610X.2020.1751459

9.     Konutgan, S. (2020). To what extent are Incels’ misogynistic and violent attitudes towards women are driven by their unsatisfied mating needs and entitlement to sex? (Bachelor's thesis, University of Twente).

10.  Young, O. (2019). What Role has Social Media Played in Violence Perpetrated by Incels? https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/peace_studies_student_work/1