Incels (a portmanteau of the term Involuntary Celibates) are members of a group/online community who believe that they are inherently incapable of forming intimate/romantic relationships due to a number of factors, including the idea that they are unable to compete with others who are better looking, physically more acceptable etc. Prior to the early 2000’s, most research into celibacy focused on individuals who had decided not to pursue/engage in sexual activities, rather than those who wished to but were unable to do so. The term first came to light in the early 1990’s through a number of discussion boards, which were originally meant to be supportive and discuss why some people had difficulty finding partners and others didn’t etc. However, over time many participants began to form online communities where they would talk and discuss the unfairness of the world, and how societal norms actively worked against them, preventing them from having intimate relationships and sex etc., both of which they desired. These websites, forums and groups started to become avenues that promoted self-loathing, and violence towards the women (who chose to ignore “Incels”), often referred to as “Stacy”, and the men (“Chads”), who “outcompeted” them in the sexual/relationship “marketplace”. Many people first became aware of the existence of Incels in 2018 when Elliot Rodgers went on a shooting spree killing seven people in Santa Barbara, California. Prior to his rampage killing he posted a video to YouTube, where he explained and justified the actions he was about to engage in, stating that it was revenge upon women for rejecting him, and on the men that they chose over him etc. Rodgers said in his statement, “If I cannot have it [an intimate/sexual relationship], I will do everything I can do to destroy it [those who have intimate/sexual relationships]”. Rodgers is often referred to as a “Saint” in Incel communities and groups. In March 2022, the US Secret Service published a report detailing the rising threat(s) of violence from these groups, and those that identified as Incels, based on several years of research. In this article I want to look at some of the views that are commonly expressed within these groups/communities and how these are used to justify pedophilia, rape, and racism, and encourage those who identify as Incels to engage in acts of violence.
One of the foundations of the Incel “philosophy” is that there is a certain inequality regarding the way in which gender is defined i.e., that “womanhood” is defined biologically by puberty whereas “manhood” is defined socially and culturally. This means that anyone female automatically achieves “womanhood”, whereas not every male does e.g., some are unable to achieve this status, because of looks, body type and/or the ability to conform to society’s idea of “masculinity”. This perceived injustice often underlies a lot of online misogynistic and violent rhetoric, that justifies rapes and sexual assaults against women. Such attacks are often justified in these terms, as well as the argument that bystanders and third parties shouldn’t intervene when they see such assaults occur etc. As with many extremist subcultures there is often an attempt to legitimize the group’s doctrines and beliefs, using accepted science or re-interpretations of mainstream ideas – this is often necessary to communicate with and attract “new” members, who may not have yet adopted the group’s extremist doctrine and manifesto. Using concepts from Evolutionary Psychology and natural selection, Incels will promote the idea that women are wholly driven by reproductive urges, which results in them being narcissistic, selfish, and judgmental etc., in their pursuit to find the “perfect mate”. This leads to a bio-deterministic world view which affirms a society where men do and should have more power than women. For Incels, Feminism is simply a hypocritical and false claim of oppression, and a tool for women to use in order to gain illegitimate power over men. All of these arguments are used to legitimize and promote violence against women. Many Incels echo Rodgers’s sentiment, that if they are unable to engage in reproduction there is no purpose to their lives, so their goal should be to prevent others from doing so. This view also promotes violence against men; those who they term as “Chads” – attractive men.
Unsurprisingly, they believe women in their reproductive “prime” i.e., young women, to be the most attractive to men, and cite the injustice of society harshly judging older men who are attracted to young women and labelling them pedophiles/hebephiles etc. The idea of “Young Love” is something that is widely promoted online in Incel forums. Many Incel men, feel/believe that because they missed out on dating women during their teenage years, that they have missed a major reproductive opportunity. Viewing older women – mid-twenties and older - as inferior, and fixating their attention on younger women, as they get older, they feel that the opportunities to reproduce are slipping away from them – not due to their fault, but because society/women judged them as being inferior during their teenage years etc. Women are largely seen as having only one purpose, which is reproduction, and Incels will often refer to them as female humanoids or “Foids”, stating that they are childlike, simplistic, and not equal to men in any capacity. Any time a group is looked on as inferior, whether it is a matter of race, class, nationality of gender it opens the door for, and justifies, the use of violence against them.
Before the advent of social media and the internet it would have been difficult for a subgroup such as Incels to form, as such individuals would have been socially isolated and geographically remote from each other. They would also have had to present themselves to each other in person rather than by online personas, that offer a degree of anonymity and allow them to discuss highly personal viewpoints and promote negative personality traits knowing that they wouldn’t be judged or have to feel ashamed about them. When a group is centered around an injustice, caused by another group who is judged inferior, then the justification to use violence is ever-present. In the privacy of online communities members are free, and may feel pressure, to present more extreme viewpoints in order to please the group, and so promote and encourage the use of violence against women, and men who are judged as overly-masculine. Elliot Rodgers is not the only Incel who has engaged in mass/spree killings.