Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
THE INCEL REBELLION has already begun! We will overthrow all the Chads and Stacys! All hail the Supreme Gentleman Elliot Rodger!
In the hours before he drove a rental van into a group of people on Monday, killing 10, 25-year-old Alek Minassian posted this message to this Facebook page.
The incident and post have trained attention on an online world of sexual loneliness, rage and misogyny.
But what is the “Incel Rebellion”? And who are those behind it?
What is an incel?
Self-identified incels, or involuntarily celibates, are an online community of men who describe themselves as being, for various reasons, unable to “enter into a sexual and/or romantic relationship even though they desire such a thing”.
While many facets of the community are vitriolic and deeply misogynistic, the majority are not violent. However, a small contingent argue that an “Incel Rebellion” is a reasonable response to being spurned by women.
Minassian’s post, which praises California mass-shooter Elliot Rodger, who in 2014 killed six people and himself after leaving videos in which he railed at female treatment of him, has revived concerns about violent thoughts and words becoming violent actions.
The incel community is “one of the most violent areas of the internet,” said Heidi Beirich, who tracks hate groups for the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate groups. “It may seem to some people that this is kind of a group of pathetic, victimised white males who just are lonely. It’s not. It’s ugly.”
Yet some incel sites insist they don’t condone violence or misogyny. And Judith Taylor, a University of Toronto professor who focuses on social movements, notes that some participants in incel discussions simply feel forsaken, while others “can become very graphic and very toxic”.
Forums are laced with suggestions from users that at least some of the discussions are merely satire or a way of blowing off steam. While most have a skewed outlook on women, the vast majority of posts do not advocate violence, instead posting about shared experiences.
However last November, Reddit shut down its 40,000-member r/incel forum in a crackdown on content promoting and glorifying violence. However, an incel forum, called Braincels, remains on the site. The Braincels language is more toned down than that of its predecessor, but the tone is similar. The forum’s moderators say that they do not “support, encourage, or glorify any violence or physical harm, or those who commit such crimes”.
The forum promotes “blackpills”, which are generally memes: images that are designed to be shared with others which explain, promote or rationalise the mindset of its users. A blackpill, the forum says is:
A subjective term used to describe the real or perceived socially unspoken realisations that come from being a longtime incel.
Many “blackpills” will refer to women being selfish, cruel, shallow or all three.
Minassian’s post also referred to 4Chan, the anonymous online message board, though that board has no dedicated incel forum.
Where does the phrase come from?
A Canadian woman reportedly coined the term “involuntary celibates” when she launched a website more than 20 years ago to offer support to people struggling to find partners.
But since then the woman, who asked to be identified only as Alana, said she had been saddened to see the phrase — shortened to “incel” — co opted.
“It was meant to be a helpful, supportive movement,” she told The Globe and Mail newspaper, explaining the term was meant to include “people of all genders who find themselves celibate or lonely and not dating.”
“It was a shock to discover that there was someone whose particular reason for violence was that they were lonely and celibate,” she added.
What are “Chads and Stacys”?
Incels refer to attractive sexually active men as “Chads” and attractive women as “Stacys”.
Both of the genders are set up by incels as unattainable ideals. Chads are tall, masculine, muscular but also generally uncaring or abusive. Many incels feel that women’s preference for Chads over them is an example of female vacuousity and shallowness.
Participants “see feminism, and women in general, as a reason their lives are so difficult,” said Maxime Fiset, a self-described former neo-Nazi who now tracks extremist websites for the Montreal-based Center for the Prevention of Radicalisation Leading to Violence.
Bailey Poland, the author of a 2016 book about online misogyny, says the talk of brutality is risky, whatever the posters’ intentions.
It’s “contributing to an environment where that kind of violence is seen as normal and acceptable. So even if you have no actual intent to do that, someone who does is going to see those posts and think they’re not alone,” said Poland, a doctoral student in rhetoric at Bowling Green State University.
Of course, Rodger wasn’t the first killer with a misogynistic mindset. And in 1989, a 25-year-old man who blamed feminists for ruining his life killed 14 women at a Montreal engineering college in Canada’s deadliest mass shooting.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
North America needs a reboot.
@Sheldon: I’d say some of our local Alt-Right Trump fanboys in the comments section here are signing up after reading this! Although I’m not sure their celibate lifestyle is by choice.
@A Piece of Chalk: I wondered who the first idiot to make it a alt right trump thing or a lefty snowflake, well I should have guessed u in fairness chalk u are the sad person who loves to copy other people’s avatars and names
@johnp: Firstly, that’s a great story john (sic), there might even be a movie in it. Secondly, I am quite concerned that you sit around all day wondering what kind of comments people might post on articles on The Journal, is there anyone we can call?
@A Piece of Chalk: so you’re denying that u just copied someone else a/c that’s pretty sad even for this comments section. Also you should learn the meaning of incel you obviously dont know if your first comment is anything to go by, if someone is joining a incel forum then their celibacy is not going to be by choice is it now
“While many facets of the community are vitriolic and deeply misogynistic, the majority are not violent.”
Later in the article
“The incel community is “one of the most violent areas of the internet,” said Heidi Beirich”
Which is it?
@Brian Madden: It’s both, presumably. There is no contradiction here.
@Brian Madden: One is editorial, another is a quote. It’s not a contradiction
@Platypus Parcel: And even if it were one of the most violent areas of the Internet, that would not imply that the majority of its members were violent.
When you get to the point where you think society is the problem…you’re the problem.
@Lurfic: not really , i see alot on people behaving like sheep nowadays.
@Elvis King: in what way, and in what way does it make society the problem?
@Elvis King: eating grass and living in fields?
@Lurfic: I just think alot of people are easaly led and dont stop to think ,and they seem to follow whatever the populer trend is whatever it may be,So basically if people are just following what everyone else is thinking without thinking , it
can affect the whole of society ,
@elvis
Are you easily led too?
Or are you smarter than most people?
If I remember correctly, society in Germany in the 30s and 40s was probably in the wrong.
@john doe: , and to your second ? Thanks
Much has been made of the media and societal pressures on young women. There has been little comment on the representation of role models for men. If you’re an adolescent boy, the expectation is that you will be successful. Even the ‘losers’ and ‘dorks’ on TV are portrayed as loveable and quirky. For men, the world is success obsessed much the same way that for women the world is sex obsessed. Erotica and romance media aimed at women portray the male lead as a successful man (a prince, multimillionaire, CEO, sports star). This level of success is simply unattainable for most young men and it is unhealthy in a modern society. If our society is to progress we need to stop seeing men as success objects as much as we need to stop seeing women as sex objects. The realisation from emotionally damaged young males that they aren’t going to meet this unobtainable goal is what drives a lot of isolated men to rage and misogyny.
@BlueSkyThinking: well said but it’s much easier for normies to just ridicule these poor men than take a look at themselves and society.
@brian mc
So an incel a normie and a snowflake walk into a bar…
For a game of stereotype bingo…
@BlueSkyThinking: you’ve literally just described the patriarchy! There’s way too much pressure on young men to live up to this stupid, unattainable existence. But also men don’t have a right to women and if they get one they are not their possession. We need to teach equality to both sexes.
@Deborah Behan: Hi Deborah, I consider myself a feminist but I don’t see how you can blame the ‘patriarchy’ as the reason why women find successful men more attractive. I would argue that this is the main reason why men want to be successful: to attract the best possible partner. Society as a whole and women in particular need to be less ‘success obsessed’.
I’m a biologist by trade so I view things from that perspective. i.e. Women are attracted to successful men because they are better providers for any future family. Men are attracted to younger women with a specific hip to waist ratio, etc. as they are on average more fertile and produce healthy babies. That’s the biology lesson out of the way. People fall in love not just for the above, there’s also the mental aspect: shared interests, intellectual stimulation, humour etc. I think any discussion of sexism should not ignore our biological urges and should acknowledge that these exist, are natural but they they don’t have to determine you either.
I agree that we need to teach equality to both sexes.
@BlueSkyThinking: It’s not just about success, or lack of, I have short male friends who i have seen time and time again rejected by women shorter and taller then them as most women only find men 6ft and over attractive and unfortunately it frustrates them as they can’t change their heights and have to live with being constantly rejected because of it, i’d imagine it’s a tough way to live.
@Jamie Young: I’m shortish for a guy. I once dated a part-time model who was 2 inches taller than me. I asked her if this was a problem. She said ‘we’re the same height lying down!’ If a lady doesn’t want to date short guys that’s her loss imo. Many women do see beyond height. You can make the same argument for women who are not born conventionally attractive. They were born this way and find it harder to get dates. Men and women should see beyond these things but life is unfair unfortunately.
These sad, sad little people.
If that snowflake term was ever to be used its best used on these individuals who like to blame the world for there issues.
Centuries ago, people who displayed mental illness were locked up in extreme harsh conditions. They were restrained in straitjackets and chains. They were isolated, beaten and tortured.
Those same people would be classified as sane in present day terms when you compare them to the whackjobs that currently exist in society.
As other commenters have stated, its just a group of people finding reasons to justify their ill behaviours.
If these incels had girlfriends, they’d probably be treating them badly.
The reason a lot of these people are in that position is because they’re mean and violent to women.
They lack relationship skills, empathy, love and understanding. In short, a lot of them are a**eholes!
@Puking Tiger: ‘They lack relationship skills, empathy, love and understanding’ AND LOOKS.
Fixed it for you.
@Brian McNamara: Brian, are you one of these headcases? If so….
Bahahahhahahahahhahahahhaahhahabababababababbahahhahahahah
@Chucky Arlaw: you’re just silly
@Brian McNamara: Thanks for making me laugh.
But seriously Brian, what may appear pretty on the outside can be quite ugly on the inside and vice versa. Looks is not a determining factor on who is nice and who is not.
Everybody has their problems. It’s been said that at any point in life either you, a relative or someone close to you will be going through a deeply traumatic event. What a religious person would describe as “everyone has their own cross to bear”.
If someone is prepared to take their own personal vengence upon the world, to kill innocent men, women and children because of this then it’s a reasonable deduction to say they’re deeply disturbed to begin with. The cause of this becomes irrelevant. Something in life was always going to stress them to this level.
Nout as strange as folk
Dangerous losers.
@Brendan O’Brien:
That’s another downside to the so called freedom of Social Media, it gives a voice to every nutcase out there and gives them a platform to organise and legitimise their pathetic causes.
Ah the new propaganda term to be pushed into the public consciousness, like alt right. Give it a few days and the usual sheep will be using it like it’s common parlance.
@Donald West: It is not a propaganda term, the so called incel community started on reddit a couple of years ago and was banned from the site for virulent misogyny
@Donald West: It’s not propaganda if a significant number of people use it to describe themselves and give themselves an identity.
Baaaaaaaaa baaaaaaaa
@Donald West: You ok Don?
@donald
So youre an incel now
@Donald West: I preferred the old days when instead of “alt right” we used the phrase “Neo-Nazi”, far more honest and accurate.
@Ron North: If you want to be really honest you can just call them pr1(ks.
“Self-identified incels, or involuntarily celibates, are an online community of men who describe themselves as being, for various reasons, unable to “enter into a sexual and/or romantic relationship even though they desire such a thing”.
I think that sums up my single life – I was a veteran incel and had no online community to march with – I actually hung out with a gang of incels – or is it a pride of incels – or a flock
@Chewey Bacca: It’s called a ‘blueballs’ of incels.
@I’m not wavy gravy: A frustration of incels?
@Ron North: Haha, I considered that one myself but settled on blueballs. Great minds think alike and fools seldom differ!
@Bat Daly: emotional inadequacy, neediness and harping petulance are unattractive qualities in men from the perspective of women.
It’s not easy being a chad either bloody Stacey’s won’t leave me alone
@johnp: LOL…you’re not helping.
Wow! Incel is a thing!
First heard of it the other day and thought it was a joke.
@Dessie Deratta:
Its a reddit group, you were right
@Dessie Deratta: of course it’s a thing…many men…and some women…are involuntarily celibate due to factors outside their control (unattractive face, manletism, aspergers etc).
I thought it was a joke when they kept using phrases like “chad and stacy” because most people say those names in a joking or ironic way. but these were grown ass men being serious about how they don’t have sex full of rage. some people like us or “normies” were hated when they suggested to the incels that they should seek a someone to talk to
Sad man-children, they need to get out of their bedrooms, stop looking at porn, have a wash and grow up
@DJ François: I’m sure they’ve never heard such useless advice before lol
They need to get a flight to Thailand.
@George Costanza: …so they can Bang Kok?
it’s so strange – he’s not a bad-looking man. one’s own self-perception can be more damaging than anyone else’s. tragic.
“4chan has no dedicated incel forum”. Yes it does and it is called R9K (Robot 9000). Robots and incels were abused by normies their entire lives, badly bullied in school, a lot of them suffer from chronic depression and other mental illnesses as a result. These people often have discussions and threads about how normies refuse to look at their own behavior when interacting with robots/incels, treat them like garbage in social settings, thus becoming at least partly responsible for how they turned out.
And as proved in the comment section by normies calling them losers/basement dwellers/virgin (insults they have had thrown at them all their lives), they refuse to self reflect on their own treatment of the socially awkward and outcast members of society. It’s easier to call them names. And it gets so bad to the point where they want to kill you in response. This terrorism will sadly continue in society as long as we continue to isolate people and treat them like garbage.
@Bat Daly: I don’t think Veronica is crying about not getting the ride tbf!
I wonder if Veronica has her own version of this?
Exclusion Exclusion always ends on a sour note !
I wonder what role the total availability of online porn has in this sense of entitlement to sexual relationships. I do think that future generations will look back at us and wonder WTF we were thinking when we decided that it was all fine and dandy for such material to be so widely available.
@Ciarán Ó Raghallaigh: I think porn has destroyed the idea of intimacy and relationship for a generation. We all want to be loved.
I think if you live in a narrow world of gross stereo-typing and generalisation your responses will reflect your delusional state.
Lads please tell me this is WWN and not the Journal. Or some kind of delayed April fools joke.
it’s real. I’ve seen the subreddit before. if you google them, or search reddit, you can find some old archived posts such as “women should be happy they are raped” posts. I wont go into further detail
Childish
Ha!! And people slag off single women who have cats and call assertive women ‘angry’!!
The original Guardian article I read did not attribute the Incel comment to Minassian – only that it was on his page. There was no “manifesto” or any *evidence* that he was part of the community, in fact the community said they’d never heard of him.
As someone quite familiar with RPT, the incel group strike me as being indentity politics 101 for frustrated males – identify as a group around a category (involuntary celibate), nominate normal inequality ( some guys all the chicks) being equal to injustice, claim victim status, identify your oppressors ( women, society, chads), then ask for society to change instead of you changing. When it doesn’t happen, chuck a tantrum…
Not rocket science people – don’t sexually frustrated males deserve a victimised group identity in the name of equality? Where are all the leftists taking up the banner? What about sympathy and compassion? Seems in short supply…
As far as the comment by a Heidi Bierich who claimed they are *white* males – can I borrow your crystal ball? How can you possible know this? Have an agenda do we?
My two bits..
@Steven Stanley: A very high percentage of incels in the US would be minorities like indians and other asians. Typical to lump them all into the alt-right, angry white male category.
Hosford, why would you lead with the term “rebellion” in covering this subject? It has connotations of at least possible political legitimacy in this country, just in case you’ve forgotten. This incel BS does not even come close to that and never will. If you think this issue merits normalising, there’s something wrong with you.
@Deborah Behan: Ha, never thought of that. You’re probably right there!
Strange an article in the Guardian asked the same https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/apr/25/what-is-incel-movement-toronto-van-attack-suspect
@Jason Gilbert: Not really: it’s highly topical after the Toronto attack.
Revenge of the Nerds
@Jasun Ó Cearnaigh: Incels are not nerds. Nerds are intelligent, educated men. This lot are dangerous misogynists.
@Ciara Ni Mhurchu: They’re not necessarily nerds but quite a few of them might be.
@Ciara Ni Mhurchu: Being intelligent and educated does not preclude a man from being incel.
@Brian McNamara: An intelligent, educated man can get laid. Smart women find intelligence attractive.
@Michael Lang:
Oh shut up Tony!
Morons. Weakminded eejits.
have your say