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=== Coinage ===
=== Coinage ===
The terms ''incel'' and ''involuntary celibate'' were coined by a female college student with the alias Alana from Toronto, Ontario in 1993, when she created a website in order to discuss her perceived inability to have sexual inactivity with others.<ref name=":7">{{Cite news|url=http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/04/24/incel-sexual-frustration-rebellion-at-center-toronto-attack.html|title='Incel' sexual frustration 'rebellion' at center of Toronto attack|last=Schallhorn|first=Kaitlyn|date=2018-04-24|work=Fox News|access-date=2018-04-25|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-the-incel-community-and-the-dark-side-of-the-internet/|title=The ‘incel’ community and the dark side of the internet|last=Ling|first=Justin|date=April 24, 2018|work=The Globe and Mail|access-date=2018-04-25|publisher=|last2=Mahoney|first2=Jill|last3=McGuire|first3=Patrick|last4=Freeze|first4=Colin}}</ref> The website, titled "Alana's Involuntary Celibacy Project",<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-the-incel-community-and-the-dark-side-of-the-internet/|title=The ‘incel’ community and the dark side of the internet|last=Ling|first=Justin|date=2018-04-24|work=The Globe and Mail|access-date=2018-04-25|last2=Mahoney|first2=Jill|last3=McGuire|first3=Patrick|last4=Freeze|first4=Colin}}</ref> was used by people of all genders to share posts about the topic. After starting the website, she said she began to have more confidence in herself and began to date both men and women. She later gave the site to a stranger. After reading about the [[2014 Isla Vista killings]], she wrote, "Like a scientist who invented something that ended up being a weapon of war, I can't uninvent this word, nor restrict it to the nicer people who need it."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.elle.com/culture/news/a34512/woman-who-started-incel-movement/|title=The Woman Who Accidentally Started the Incel Movement|last=Baker|first=Peter|date=March 1, 2016|work=Elle|access-date=April 24, 2018|language=en-US}}</ref>
The terms ''incel'' and ''involuntary celibate'' are reported to have been coined by a college student with the alias Alana from Toronto, Ontario in 1993, when she created a website in order to discuss her sexual inactivity with others.<ref name=":7">{{Cite news|url=http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/04/24/incel-sexual-frustration-rebellion-at-center-toronto-attack.html|title='Incel' sexual frustration 'rebellion' at center of Toronto attack|last=Schallhorn|first=Kaitlyn|date=2018-04-24|work=Fox News|access-date=2018-04-25|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-the-incel-community-and-the-dark-side-of-the-internet/|title=The ‘incel’ community and the dark side of the internet|last=Ling|first=Justin|date=April 24, 2018|work=The Globe and Mail|access-date=2018-04-25|publisher=|last2=Mahoney|first2=Jill|last3=McGuire|first3=Patrick|last4=Freeze|first4=Colin}}</ref> The website, titled "Alana's Involuntary Celibacy Project",<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-the-incel-community-and-the-dark-side-of-the-internet/|title=The ‘incel’ community and the dark side of the internet|last=Ling|first=Justin|date=2018-04-24|work=The Globe and Mail|access-date=2018-04-25|last2=Mahoney|first2=Jill|last3=McGuire|first3=Patrick|last4=Freeze|first4=Colin}}</ref> was used by people of all genders to share posts about the topic. During her college career and after, she realized she was [[queer]], and became more comfortable with her identity. She later gave the site to a stranger. After reading about the [[2014 Isla Vista killings]], she wrote, "Like a scientist who invented something that ended up being a weapon of war, I can't uninvent this word, nor restrict it to the nicer people who need it."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.elle.com/culture/news/a34512/woman-who-started-incel-movement/|title=The Woman Who Accidentally Started the Incel Movement|last=Baker|first=Peter|date=March 1, 2016|work=Elle|access-date=April 24, 2018|language=en-US}}</ref>


=== Academic use ===
=== Academic use ===
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Incel communities continue to exist on platforms more lenient of their content, such as [[Voat]]<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/reddit-incels-ban/|title=Why Reddit finally banned one of its most misogynistic forums|last=Hathaway|first=Jay|date=2017-11-10|work=The Daily Dot|access-date=2018-04-25|language=en-US}}</ref> and the message board [[/r9k/]] on [[4chan]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/10/07/incels-4chan-and-the-beta-uprising-making-sense-of-one-of-the-internets-most-reviled-subcultures/|title=Incels, 4chan and the Beta Uprising: making sense of one of the Internet’s most-reviled subcultures|last=Dewey|first=Caitlin|date=2015-10-07|work=Washington Post|access-date=2018-04-26|language=en-US|issn=0190-8286}}</ref> Such communities frequently overlap with topics such as [[Seduction community|pickup artistry]] and [[Men's rights movement|men's rights activism]].<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" />
Incel communities continue to exist on platforms more lenient of their content, such as [[Voat]]<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/reddit-incels-ban/|title=Why Reddit finally banned one of its most misogynistic forums|last=Hathaway|first=Jay|date=2017-11-10|work=The Daily Dot|access-date=2018-04-25|language=en-US}}</ref> and the message board [[/r9k/]] on [[4chan]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/10/07/incels-4chan-and-the-beta-uprising-making-sense-of-one-of-the-internets-most-reviled-subcultures/|title=Incels, 4chan and the Beta Uprising: making sense of one of the Internet’s most-reviled subcultures|last=Dewey|first=Caitlin|date=2015-10-07|work=Washington Post|access-date=2018-04-26|language=en-US|issn=0190-8286}}</ref> Such communities frequently overlap with topics such as [[Seduction community|pickup artistry]] and [[Men's rights movement|men's rights activism]].<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" />


== Mass murders ==
== Notable Suicides and Homicides ==
There have been a number of [[mass murder]]s by men who have self-identified as involuntarily celibate, or whose statements align with "incel" ideologies.
Several men have gained media attention through suicides and/or homicides and leaving notes describing involuntary celibacy. Such individuals include: [[George Sodini| George Sodini]], '''Christopher Harper-Mercer''', [[Elliot Rodger|Elliot Rodger]], '''Wilkes McDermid''', and allegedly, '''Alek Minassian'''.


⚫
The 2014 Isla Vista killings drew attention to the concept of involuntary celibacy, and particularly the misogyny and glorification of violence that is a mainstay of many incel communities. The perpetrator, Elliot Rodger, self-identified as an incel and left behind a 137-page manifesto and YouTube videos discussing how he wanted revenge for being rejected by women.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2014/05/24/the-disturbing-internet-footprint-of-santa-barbara-shooter-elliot-rodger/#73cd7fad77c3|title=The Disturbing Internet Footprint Of Santa Barbara Shooter Elliot Rodger|last=Hill|first=Kashmir|date=May 24, 2014|work=Forbes|access-date=April 24, 2018|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" /> He had been an active member of an involuntary celibacy community called PUAHate (short for "pickup artist hate"), and referenced it several times in his manifesto.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/30/elliot-rodger-puahate-forever-alone-reddit-forums|title='PUAhate' and 'ForeverAlone': inside Elliot Rodger's online life|last=Woolf|first=Nicky|date=May 30, 2014|website=The Guardian|language=en|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=April 24, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://observer.com/2014/05/hating-the-players-elliot-rodger/|title=Hating Women Was His Disease|last=Burleigh|first=Nina|date=May 28, 2014|work=Observer|access-date=April 24, 2018|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite news|url=http://observer.com/2014/05/hating-the-players-elliot-rodger/|title=Inside the terrifying, twisted online world of involuntary celibates|last=Burleigh|first=Nina|date=May 27, 2014|work=Salon|access-date=April 24, 2018|language=en-US}}</ref>
=== George Sodini ===
The perpetrator of the [[2009 Collier Township shooting | 2009 Collier Township shooting and suicide]], George Sodini, killed multiple women before shooting himself at an LA gym. He had an online blog detailing his perpetual rejection by women dating back to 1982, when he had last had sex. In a July, 2009 blog post he wrote, "Last time I slept all night with a girlfriend it was 1982. Proof I am a total malfunction. Girls and women don't even give me a second look ANYWHERE. There is something BLATANTLY wrong with me that NO goddam person will tell me what it is." <ref>{{Cite news|url=http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=8258001&page=1|title=George Sodini's Blog: Full Text By Alleged Gym Shooter|last=ABC News|first=|date=August 05, 2009|work=ABC News|access-date=April 26, 2018|language=en}}</ref> He had also sought dating help to no avail before the shooting.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=8274254&page=1|title=George Sodini Sought Dating Help Before Pennsylvania Gym Shooting|last=Harnden|first=Toby|date=August 05, 2009|work=ABC News|access-date=April 26, 2018|language=en}}</ref>


The perpetrator of the [[2009 Collier Township shooting]], George Sodini, has been embraced by some of the involuntary celibacy communities.<ref name=":3" /> Although the involuntary celibacy forum where Elliot Rodger had been active, PUAHate, shut down soon after his attack, Rodger became something of a [[martyr]] to some communities that remained, and to some of those that began later.<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.newsweek.com/elliot-rodger-toronto-alek-minassian-van-attack-hunger-games-peter-rodger-899955|title=Elliot Rodger's father "very sad" Toronto van suspect Alek Minassian referenced son|last=Fearnow|first=Benjamin|date=April 24, 2018|work=Newsweek|access-date=April 24, 2018|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":11">{{Cite news|url=https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2018/04/24/i-laugh-death-normies-how-incels-are-celebrating-toronto-mass-killing|title="I laugh at the death of normies": How incels are celebrating the Toronto mass killing|last=Janik|first=Rachel|date=April 24, 2018|work=Southern Poverty Law Center|access-date=April 25, 2018|language=en}}</ref> After the October 2017 [[2017 Las Vegas shooting|Las Vegas shooting]] by a man with unclear motive, some of the involuntarily celibate community celebrated the shooter, who they felt was a hero who was targeting "[[Normie (slang)|normies]]".<ref name=":11" /> The trend has since continued—Alek Minassian, the suspect in the [[April 2018 Toronto van attack]], posted on Facebook shortly before the attack, "The Incel Rebellion has already begun! ... All hail the Supreme Gentleman Elliot Rodger!" After the attack, a poster on a website created to supersede /r/incels wrote about Minassian, "I hope this guy wrote a manifesto because he could be our next new saint."<ref name=":11" />
=== Elliot Rodger ===
⚫
The 2014 Isla Vista spree killing and suicide drew considerable attention to involuntary celibacy. The perpetrator, Elliot Rodger, self-identified as an incel and left behind a 137-page manifesto and YouTube videos discussing how he wanted to torture sexually active men and women who he thought wronged him.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2014/05/24/the-disturbing-internet-footprint-of-santa-barbara-shooter-elliot-rodger/#73cd7fad77c3|title=The Disturbing Internet Footprint Of Santa Barbara Shooter Elliot Rodger|last=Hill|first=Kashmir|date=May 24, 2014|work=Forbes|access-date=April 24, 2018|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":6" /> He had been an active member of an anti-[[seduction community|pickup-artist]] community called PUAHate (short for "[[Seduction community|pickup artist]] hate"), and referenced it several times in his manifesto.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/30/elliot-rodger-puahate-forever-alone-reddit-forums|title='PUAhate' and 'ForeverAlone': inside Elliot Rodger's online life|last=Woolf|first=Nicky|date=May 30, 2014|website=The Guardian|language=en|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=April 24, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://observer.com/2014/05/hating-the-players-elliot-rodger/|title=Hating Women Was His Disease|last=Burleigh|first=Nina|date=May 28, 2014|work=Observer|access-date=April 24, 2018|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite news|url=http://observer.com/2014/05/hating-the-players-elliot-rodger/|title=Inside the terrifying, twisted online world of involuntary celibates|last=Burleigh|first=Nina|date=May 27, 2014|work=Salon|access-date=April 24, 2018|language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Wilkes McDermid ===
In 2015, celebrity [[food critic]] '''Wilkes McDermid''' jumped off the City restaurant Coq d’Argent’s roof-terrace to his death. In his final blog post, in the finals our of his death he wrote, “I have concluded that in the realm of dating and relationships the primary characteristics required for men are as follows,” he wrote. “Height: above 5ft 10ins; race: huge bias towards caucasian and black; wealth: or other manifestation of power. From my observations and research it appears that you need two of the three criteria for success ... What this ... means [is] that it’s ‘game over’ for me.”. A friend of his told the [[Evening Standard]] that he had lots of friends but never had a girlfriend by age 39, the time of his death. <ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/london-life/he-couldn-t-find-the-connection-he-was-looking-for-not-just-a-girlfriend-but-in-the-world-wilkes-10041117.html|title=‘He couldn’t find the connection he was looking for — not just a girlfriend but in the world’: Wilkes McDermid's friends on the man behind the smiles|last=Butter|first=Samantha|date=Feb 12, 2015|work=Evening Standard|access-date=April 26, 2018|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/wilkes-mcdermid-dead-prominent-food-blogger-falls-to-his-death-from-roof-terrace-of-city-restaurant-10035119.html|title=Wilkes McDermid dead: Prominent food blogger falls to his death from roof terrace of City restaurant Coq d’Argent|last=Pavon|first=Amara|date=Feb 10, 2015|work=Independent.co.uk|access-date=April 26, 2018|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2945756/Man-39-plunges-80ft-death-restaurant-popular-City-workers.html|title='That's all folks': Foodie blogger, 39, Tweets link to his final meal - a 400g Ribeye steak with triple cooked chips - before plunging 80ft to his death from another top City restaurant|last=Smith|first=Jennifer|date=Feb 9, 2015|work=Daily Mail|access-date=April 26, 2018|language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Alek Minassian ===
The last suspected incident of killings involving an involuntary celibate is Alek Minassian and his [[April 2018 Toronto van attack | April 2018 Toronto van attack and attempted suicide]]. The suspect in the [[April 2018 Toronto van attack]], posted on Facebook shortly before the attack, "The Incel Rebellion has already begun! ... All hail the Supreme Gentleman Elliot Rodger!" After the attack, he requested a policeman shoot him in the head, which the officer declined.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/04/24/toronto-van-suspect-shouted-shoot-head-police-officer-hailed/|title=Toronto van suspect shouted 'shoot me in the head' at police officer who is hailed a hero for not opening fire|last=Crilly|first=Rob|date=April 24, 2018|work=Telegraph.co.uk|access-date=April 24, 2018|language=en}}</ref>


=== List ===
=== List ===
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!Description
!Description
!Main article
!Main article
|-
|August 4th, 2009
|[[Collier Township, Pennsylvania|Collier Township]], [[Pennsylvania]]
|United States
|48-year-old George Sodini killed 3 people by shooting into a women's aerobic's class at LA fitness before shooting himself. George Sodini had left behind a lengthy online blog detailing his perpetual rejection from women, his inability to understand or do anything about it, and a previous attempt to so something at the gym that he, "chickened out", of.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/5978615/George-Sodinis-blog-tells-of-years-of-rejection-by-women-before-gym-shooting.html|title=George Sodini's blog tells of years of rejection by women before gym shooting|last=Dewey|first=Caitlin|date=May 27, 2014|work=Washington Post|access-date=April 24, 2018|language=en-US|issn=0190-8286}}</ref>
|[[2009 Collier Township shooting]]
|-
|-
|May 23, 2014
|May 23, 2014
|[[Isla Vista, California|Isla Vista]], [[California]]
|[[Isla Vista, California|Isla Vista]], [[California]]
|United States
|United States
|22-year-old Elliot Rodger killed 6 people and injured 14 others before shooting himself near the campus of [[University of California, Santa Barbara]] before killing himself. He left a lengthy manifesto and YouTube videos detailing his hatred for women and his involuntary celibacy.<ref name=":6">{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2014/05/27/inside-the-manosphere-that-inspired-santa-barbara-shooter-elliot-rodger/|title=Inside the ‘manosphere’ that inspired Santa Barbara shooter Elliot Rodger|last=Hardnen|first=Toby|date=August 5, 2009|work=Telegraph.co.uk|access-date=April 24, 2018|language=en-US}}</ref>
|22-year-old Elliot Rodger killed 6 people and injured 14 others near the campus of [[University of California, Santa Barbara]] before killing himself. He left a lengthy manifesto and YouTube videos detailing his hatred for women and his involuntary celibacy.<ref name=":6">{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2014/05/27/inside-the-manosphere-that-inspired-santa-barbara-shooter-elliot-rodger/|title=Inside the ‘manosphere’ that inspired Santa Barbara shooter Elliot Rodger|last=Dewey|first=Caitlin|date=May 27, 2014|work=Washington Post|access-date=April 24, 2018|language=en-US|issn=0190-8286}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/02/us/elliot-rodger-killings-in-california-followed-years-of-withdrawal.html|title=Elliot O. Rodger’s Killings in California Followed Years of Withdrawal|last=Nagourney|first=Adam|date=June 1, 2016|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 24, 2018|last2=Cieply|first2=Michael|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|last3=Feuer|first3=Alan|last4=Lovett|first4=Ian}}</ref>
|[[2014 Isla Vista killings]]
|[[2014 Isla Vista killings]]
|-
|February 9, 2015
|[[City of London]]
|United Kingdom
|29-year-old William McDermid jumped off the restaurant Coq d’Argent’s roof-terrace's to his death. Hours before his death, he left a blog post detailing standards for dating he felt he could not live up to. He died without ever having a girlfriend despite trying for decades.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/london-life/he-couldn-t-find-the-connection-he-was-looking-for-not-just-a-girlfriend-but-in-the-world-wilkes-10041117.html|title=‘He couldn’t find the connection he was looking for — not just a girlfriend but in the world’: Wilkes McDermid's friends on the man behind the smiles|last=Butter|first=Samantha|date=Feb 12, 2015|work=Evening Standard|access-date=April 26, 2018|language=en-US}}</ref>
|
|-
|-
|October 1, 2015
|October 1, 2015
|[[Roseburg, Oregon|Roseburg]], [[Oregon]]
|[[Roseburg, Oregon|Roseburg]], [[Oregon]]
|United States
|United States
|26-year-old Chris Harper-Mercer shot and killed 9 people and injured 8 others at the [[Umpqua Community College]] campus before killing himself. He left a manifesto at the scene, outlining his interest in other spree killings, anger at not having a girlfriend, and animus towards the world. Before the attack, when someone on an online message board had speculated he was "saving himself for someone special," Harper-Mercer had replied, "Involuntarily so."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/03/us/chris-harper-mercer-umpqua-community-college-shooting.html|title=Oregon Killer Described as Man of Few Words, Except on Topic of Guns|last=Healy|first=Jack|date=October 2, 2015|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 24, 2018|last2=Lovett|first2=Ian|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y-MlDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22involuntary+celibacy%22+incel&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjHje2c19TaAhVE0FMKHbt5AdMQ6AEIUjAH#v=onepage&q=incel&f=false|title=Kill All Normies: Online Culture Wars From 4Chan And Tumblr To Trump And The Alt-Right|last=Nagle|first=Angela|date=2017-06-07|publisher=John Hunt Publishing|isbn=9781785355448|language=en}}</ref>
|26-year-old Chris Harper-Mercer shot and killed 9 people and injured 8 others at the [[Umpqua Community College]] campus before killing himself. He left a manifesto at the scene, outlining his interest in other mass murders, anger at not having a girlfriend, and animus towards the world. Before the attack, when someone on an online message board had speculated he was "saving himself for someone special," Harper-Mercer had replied, "Involuntarily so."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/03/us/chris-harper-mercer-umpqua-community-college-shooting.html|title=Oregon Killer Described as Man of Few Words, Except on Topic of Guns|last=Healy|first=Jack|date=October 2, 2015|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 24, 2018|last2=Lovett|first2=Ian|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y-MlDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22involuntary+celibacy%22+incel&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjHje2c19TaAhVE0FMKHbt5AdMQ6AEIUjAH#v=onepage&q=incel&f=false|title=Kill All Normies: Online Culture Wars From 4Chan And Tumblr To Trump And The Alt-Right|last=Nagle|first=Angela|date=2017-06-07|publisher=John Hunt Publishing|isbn=9781785355448|language=en}}</ref>
|[[Umpqua Community College shooting]]
|[[Umpqua Community College shooting]]
|-
|-
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{{Further|Sexual frustration}}
{{Further|Sexual frustration}}


Involuntary celibacy is not a medical or psychological condition, but some of those who identify as incels suffer from physical disabilities or psychological disorders. A 2001 [[Georgia State University]] study found that people who self-identified as incels tended to feel frustrated, depressed, and angry regardless of why they felt they were involuntarily celibate. These researchers found that involuntary celibacy was often correlated with [[Major depressive disorder|depression]], [[neuroticism]], [[anxiety]], and [[Autism|autistic disorders]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/10/07/incels-4chan-and-the-beta-uprising-making-sense-of-one-of-the-internets-most-reviled-subcultures/|title=Incels, 4chan and the Beta Uprising: making sense of one of the Internet’s most-reviled subcultures|last=Dewey|first=Caitlin|date=October 7, 2015|work=Washington Post|access-date=April 25, 2018|language=en-US|issn=0190-8286}}</ref>
Involuntary celibacy is not at this moment officially recognized by a major psychological or psychiatric institution as a medical or psychological disability or disorder. But involuntarily celibates who have been studied were found to be likely to have had unusual life circumstances. The [[The Journal of Sex Research]] notes that celibate men are more likely to be conceived later in their parents life than the general population and are more likely to be lower class and unemployed. The involuntarily celibate men they studied tended to work in sex-segrated jobs, had more education than involuntarily celibate women, and followed particularly masculine life trajectories to a degree that it hindered their ability to meet women. Involuntarily celibate women were also found to follow life trajectories particularly close to feminine gender roles.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Donnelly|first=Denise|last2=Burgess|first2=Elisabeth|last3=Anderson|first3=Sally|last4=Davis|first4=Regina|last5=Dillard|first5=Joy|date=2001|title=Involuntary Celibacy: A life course analysis|url=http://cda.morris.umn.edu/~meeklesr/celibacy.html|journal=The Journal of Sex Research|volume=38|pages=159–169|via=}}</ref> At the end of the study, the researchers conluded there was not enough scientific research done on the causes of involuntary celibacy writing, "Until the phenomena of involuntary celibacy has been fully investigated, and the results disseminated, it will remain a taboo topic, cloaked in mystery and ignorance, and an untold number of persons will continue to suffer in silence and isolation".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Donnelly|first=Denise|last2=Burgess|first2=Elisabeth|last3=Anderson|first3=Sally|last4=Davis|first4=Regina|last5=Dillard|first5=Joy|date=2001|title=The Sexuality and Society Reader|page=270}}</ref>


==See also==
==See also==

Revision as of 03:15, 27 April 2018

The incel (for involuntary celibate) subculture consists of online communities whose members define themselves by being unable to find a romantic or sexual partner, a state they describe as involuntary celibacy or inceldom.[1] Self-identified incels are almost exclusively male.[2]

Discussions in incel forums are often characterized by bitterness, misogyny and the endorsement of violence against women and more sexually successful men.[2] The Southern Poverty Law Center has described the subculture as "part of the online male supremacist ecosystem",[3] and self-described incels have committed several mass murders in North America.

Origins and use of the term

The term "involuntary celibacy" was first used in 1993. After a period of academic use, the term came to wider public notice with the banning of the /r/incels subreddit, and a series of mass murders committed by men who self-identified as involuntarily celibate or who shared similar ideologies.[4][5][6]

Coinage

The terms incel and involuntary celibate are reported to have been coined by a college student with the alias Alana from Toronto, Ontario in 1993, when she created a website in order to discuss her sexual inactivity with others.[7][8] The website, titled "Alana's Involuntary Celibacy Project",[9] was used by people of all genders to share posts about the topic. During her college career and after, she realized she was queer, and became more comfortable with her identity. She later gave the site to a stranger. After reading about the 2014 Isla Vista killings, she wrote, "Like a scientist who invented something that ended up being a weapon of war, I can't uninvent this word, nor restrict it to the nicer people who need it."[10]

Academic use

In a study of an incel online-forum, a 2001 paper in The Journal of Sex Research defined the term involuntary celibate as someone who wishes to have sex, but has not been able to find a willing partner in the past six months. Noting the choice of six months is arbitrary, the researchers concluded, "for this project, the important thing is whether or not the person defines themselves as an involuntary celibate."[11] Other definitions do not include a time frame.[12] The term also encompasses people who are in sexless marriages or other relationships but wish to be sexually active.[11] Researchers using the term have distinguished involuntary celibacy from asexuality and from voluntary sexual abstinence.[11]

In popular usage, the term primarily refers to the online communities of people who self-identify as involuntarily celibate. These communities are characterized by misogyny, the glorification of violence, and racism.[13][14][15][16] According to The New York Times, involuntary celibacy is an adaptation of the idea of “male supremacy,”[17] an ideology the Southern Poverty Law Center has begun including in their list of hate groups.[18]

In these online communities, the term "involuntary celibate" or "incel" is used alongside other terms, such as "love-shy" (social anxiety or excessive shyness preventing romantic success).[19][20] The German author Maja Roedenbeck Schaefer uses the English-language term "Absolute Beginner" to describe individuals who are celibate, but not through personal choice.[21] Some online communities use more specific terms to quantify specific kinds of incels, such as "truecel", someone who has never had any form of physical intimacy, "mentalcel", someone whose involuntary celibacy is caused by a mental health issue, or "fakecel", someone who pretends to be incel.[22]

Ideology of the "black pill"

Beliefs that are common in incel communities, such as being cursed, nihilism,[23] fatalism and defeatism for unattractive people, are collectively referred to as the black pill.[24] Incels also believe that modern society is gynocentric,[25] where women have the power to choose or reject sexual partners, and that women using this power are predisposed to selecting men based on their perceived genetic fitness.[26]

The concept of the "black pill" distinguishes incels from the men's rights movement, and their popular reference to the red pill, an allusion to the dilemma in the movie The Matrix, where the protagonist must choose to remain in a world of illusion (taking the blue pill) or to see the world as it really is (taking the red pill). For these, "taking the red pill" means seeing a world where "feminism is a lie [and] women are really on top" leading many to "hit the gym, get jacked, take up the paleo diet, become a 'pick-up artist'”. In comparison, the black pill was described by The Independent as the "red pill’s nihilistic cousin", leading not to self-improvement or sexual aggressiveness, but to self-loathing and violence.[27]

The term black pill was coined on the blog Omega Virgin Revolt, where the term commended despondency in order to distinguish incels from the pick-up artist communities.[28] If someone has metaphorically "swallowed the black pill",[29] or been "blackpilled",[30] or LDAR (which stands for "lay down and rot")",[31] it refers to what one incel forum called Braincels, also a subreddit, defined as "the real or perceived socially unspoken realisations that come from being a longtime incel."[32] The adjective blackpilled can also refer to someone who is not an incel, yet believes in the black pill.[33]

Online communities

The misogynistic and violent rhetoric[13][14][16][15] of Incel communities has lead to numerous bans from websites and webhosts. /r/incels was a Reddit community (known as a subreddit) that offered a forum for people who identified as involuntarily celibate. The subreddit was known as a place where men blamed women for their involuntary celibacy, sometimes advocated for rape or other violence, and were generally misogynistic and often racist.[14][34] Members of the group described women as "femoids" or "stacys" and described men who were able to have sex with these women as "chads".[14][35] One post titled "general question about how rapists get caught" was asked by a member pretending to be a woman, saying they wanted to know how a woman who was drugged and raped would begin finding her rapist.[14][36] Others glorified Elliot Rodger, the perpetrator of the 2014 Isla Vista killings.[36]

On October 25, 2017, Reddit announced a new policy that would ban "content that encourages, glorifies, incites, or calls for violence or physical harm against an individual or a group of people."[34] On November 7, 2017, the /r/incels subreddit was banned for violating this policy. At the time of the ban, the community had around 40,000 members.[37] Incel.life was created in December 2017 in response to the Reddit ban. In February 2018, journalists at Babe, a subcategory of the news site The Tab, informed the web host and domain registrar about rape apologism and advocacy of violence on the website. Within two hours, the website was taken down.[38]

Incel communities continue to exist on platforms more lenient of their content, such as Voat[39] and the message board /r9k/ on 4chan.[40] Such communities frequently overlap with topics such as pickup artistry and men's rights activism.[5][41]

Mass murders

There have been a number of mass murders by men who have self-identified as involuntarily celibate, or whose statements align with "incel" ideologies.

The 2014 Isla Vista killings drew attention to the concept of involuntary celibacy, and particularly the misogyny and glorification of violence that is a mainstay of many incel communities. The perpetrator, Elliot Rodger, self-identified as an incel and left behind a 137-page manifesto and YouTube videos discussing how he wanted revenge for being rejected by women.[42][43][44] He had been an active member of an involuntary celibacy community called PUAHate (short for "pickup artist hate"), and referenced it several times in his manifesto.[41][45][6]

The perpetrator of the 2009 Collier Township shooting, George Sodini, has been embraced by some of the involuntary celibacy communities.[41] Although the involuntary celibacy forum where Elliot Rodger had been active, PUAHate, shut down soon after his attack, Rodger became something of a martyr to some communities that remained, and to some of those that began later.[6][46][47] After the October 2017 Las Vegas shooting by a man with unclear motive, some of the involuntarily celibate community celebrated the shooter, who they felt was a hero who was targeting "normies".[47] The trend has since continued—Alek Minassian, the suspect in the April 2018 Toronto van attack, posted on Facebook shortly before the attack, "The Incel Rebellion has already begun! ... All hail the Supreme Gentleman Elliot Rodger!" After the attack, a poster on a website created to supersede /r/incels wrote about Minassian, "I hope this guy wrote a manifesto because he could be our next new saint."[47]

List

Date Location Country Description Main article
May 23, 2014 Isla Vista, California United States 22-year-old Elliot Rodger killed 6 people and injured 14 others near the campus of University of California, Santa Barbara before killing himself. He left a lengthy manifesto and YouTube videos detailing his hatred for women and his involuntary celibacy.[44][43] 2014 Isla Vista killings
October 1, 2015 Roseburg, Oregon United States 26-year-old Chris Harper-Mercer shot and killed 9 people and injured 8 others at the Umpqua Community College campus before killing himself. He left a manifesto at the scene, outlining his interest in other mass murders, anger at not having a girlfriend, and animus towards the world. Before the attack, when someone on an online message board had speculated he was "saving himself for someone special," Harper-Mercer had replied, "Involuntarily so."[48][5][49] Umpqua Community College shooting
April 23, 2018 North York City Centre, Toronto, Ontario Canada A van driver, suspected to be 25-year-old Alek Minassian, killed 10 people and injured 14 others. Minassian was arrested soon after the attack. Shortly before the attack, Minassian had posted on Facebook that "the Incel Rebellion has already begun" and applauded Elliot Rodger, the self-identified incel attacker in the 2014 Isla Vista killings.[50][17] Toronto van attack

Psychology

Further information: Sexual frustration

Involuntary celibacy is not a medical or psychological condition, but some of those who identify as incels suffer from physical disabilities or psychological disorders. A 2001 Georgia State University study found that people who self-identified as incels tended to feel frustrated, depressed, and angry regardless of why they felt they were involuntarily celibate. These researchers found that involuntary celibacy was often correlated with depression, neuroticism, anxiety, and autistic disorders.[51]

See also

References

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  2. ^ a b Wilson, Jason (25 April 2018). "Toronto van attack: Facebook post may link suspect to misogynist 'incel' subculture". the Guardian. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  3. ^ Janik, Rachel. "How incels are celebrating the Toronto mass killing". Hatewatch. Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  4. ^ Louie, Sam (June 21, 2017). "Involuntary Celibacy". Psychology Today. Retrieved April 24, 2018. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  5. ^ a b c Baker, Peter (February 29, 2016). "What Happens to Men Who Can't Have Sex". Elle. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  6. ^ a b c Burleigh, Nina (May 27, 2014). "Inside the terrifying, twisted online world of involuntary celibates". Salon. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
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  11. ^ a b c Donnelly, Denise; Burgess, Elisabeth; Anderson, Sally; Davis, Regina; Dillard, Joy (2001). "Involuntary Celibacy: A life course analysis". The Journal of Sex Research. 38: 159–169.
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  38. ^ Shukman, Harry (2018-02-06). "We just got the worst site on the internet taken down". babe. Retrieved 2018-04-25.
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  41. ^ a b c Woolf, Nicky (May 30, 2014). "'PUAhate' and 'ForeverAlone': inside Elliot Rodger's online life". The Guardian. Retrieved April 24, 2018. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  42. ^ Hill, Kashmir (May 24, 2014). "The Disturbing Internet Footprint Of Santa Barbara Shooter Elliot Rodger". Forbes. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  43. ^ a b Nagourney, Adam; Cieply, Michael; Feuer, Alan; Lovett, Ian (June 1, 2016). "Elliot O. Rodger's Killings in California Followed Years of Withdrawal". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
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  47. ^ a b c Janik, Rachel (April 24, 2018). ""I laugh at the death of normies": How incels are celebrating the Toronto mass killing". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
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  49. ^ Nagle, Angela (2017-06-07). Kill All Normies: Online Culture Wars From 4Chan And Tumblr To Trump And The Alt-Right. John Hunt Publishing. ISBN 9781785355448.
  50. ^ Bowden, John (April 24, 2018). "Toronto rampage suspect referenced extremist male 'incel' movement". The Hill. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  51. ^ Dewey, Caitlin (October 7, 2015). "Incels, 4chan and the Beta Uprising: making sense of one of the Internet's most-reviled subcultures". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
  • The dictionary definition of incel at Wiktionary
  • The thesaurus entry for incel at Wiktionary
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