Incel

Incel is a term associated with an <a href="/facts/Internet_culture/3Eyhakbn">online subculture</a> of mostly male and <a href="/facts/Heterosexuality/HDLc2Mna">heterosexual</a> people who define themselves as unable to find a <a href="/facts/Romantic_partner/dzUe2kI7">romantic</a> or <a href="/facts/Sexual_partner/QgTWjEGh">sexual partner</a> despite desiring one. They often blame, <a href="/facts/Objectification/fj56dHsV">objectify</a> and denigrate women and girls as a result. Originally coined as "invcel" around 1997 by a <a href="/facts/Queer/CmoY75C6">queer</a> <a href="/facts/Canadian_people/9y5ceYgk">Canadian</a> female student known as Alana, the spelling had shifted to "incel" by 1999, and the term later rose to prominence in the 2010s, following the influence of misogynistic terrorists <a href="/facts/Elliot_Rodger/kAYwNax3">Elliot Rodger</a> and <a href="/facts/Alek_Minassian/kzyuPMEn">Alek Minassian</a>.
The subculture's online discourse has been characterized by <a href="/facts/Resentment/YQ9u7lg0">resentment</a>, <a href="/facts/Hostility/jDsodz8R">hostility</a>, <a href="/facts/Sexual_objectification/CLbYsEY6">sexual objectification</a>, <a href="/facts/Misogyny/TqDru4F6">misogyny</a>, <a href="/facts/Misanthropy/PwoHqh9q">misanthropy</a>, <a href="/facts/Self-pity/sFUBlhfd">self-pity</a> and <a href="/facts/Self-loathing/o3VXqaEg">self-loathing</a>, <a href="/facts/Racism/SfrqGbu8">racism</a>, a sense of entitlement to sex, <a href="/facts/Blame/tRhnMUxz">blaming</a> of women and the sexually successful for their situation (which is often seen as <a href="/facts/Predetermined/NhvNlAbe">predetermined</a> due to <a href="/facts/Biological_determinism/3m6amPFG">biological determinism</a>, <a href="/facts/Social_Darwinism/LwLkddXI">evolutionary genetics</a> or a rigged game), <a href="/facts/Nihilism/qETgtSKu">nihilism</a>, <a href="/facts/Rape_culture/9AKSonkE">rape culture</a>, and the endorsement of sexual and non-sexual violence against women and the sexually active. Incel communities have been increasingly criticized by scholars, government officials, and others for their misogyny, the endorsement and encouragement of violence, and <a href="/facts/Extremism/2AgIalFJ">extremism</a>. Over time the subculture has become associated with extremism and terrorism, and since 2014 there have been multiple <a href="/facts/Mass_murder/BoUmJhpA">mass killings</a>, mostly in North America, perpetrated by self-identified incels, as well as other instances of violence or attempted violence. 
The <a href="/facts/Southern_Poverty_Law_Center/T25z3Hf7">Southern Poverty Law Center</a> (SPLC) described the subculture as "part of the online <a href="/facts/Male_supremacy/vgBBk68p">male supremacist</a> ecosystem" that is included in their <a href="/facts/List_of_organizations_designated_by_the_Southern_Poverty_Law_Center_as_hate_groups/8u9vShT2">list of hate groups</a>. The <a href="/facts/Global_Internet_Forum_to_Counter_Terrorism/2Gz6F525">Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism</a> states that "the incel community shares a misogynistic ideology of women as being <a href="/facts/Genetics/bu8wne0A">genetically inferior</a> to men, driven by their <a href="/facts/Sexual_desire/gVWj3mJg">sexual desire</a> to <a href="/facts/Reproduction/nNu0F5Dy">reproduce</a> with genetically superior males thereby excluding unattractive men such as themselves" which "exhibits all of the hallmarks of an <a href="/facts/Extremism/2AgIalFJ">extremist ideology</a>", and that it is the combination of a wish for a <a href="/facts/Myth/kG8UTfem">mythical</a> past where all men were entitled to sex from <a href="/facts/Hierarchy/mYJyqFrG">subordinated</a> women, a sense of <a href="/facts/Predestination/yd1eyA0G">predestined</a> personal failure, and <a href="/facts/Nihilism/qETgtSKu">nihilism</a>, which makes the <a href="/facts/Worldview/ppdl5PhI">worldview</a> dangerous. Estimates of the overall size of the <a href="/facts/Subculture/xUYDM25I">subculture</a> vary greatly, ranging from thousands to hundreds of thousands of individuals.

Incel open-in-new

Incel