Inside the murky world of the male celibates

Moments before

Alek Minassian drove into a crowd of people in Toronto last month – killing 10 and injuring 16 – he updated his Facebook account with a post that left the world grappling with a new term.

In the cryptic message, he proudly declared that the ‘Incel Rebellion has already begun!’, while praising a poster boy for the ‘incel’ community – the woman-hating mass murderer Elliot Rodger, who killed six people and injured 14 others in Santa Barbara in 2014.

With that, the term, which stands for ‘involuntary celibate’, burst into the spotlight, referring to a misogynistic movement of men deeply suspicious of women, whom they accuse of denying them their right to sex. Minassian’s attack shone light on a dark corner of the web, where online communities have become home for men whose sexual frustrations regularly explode into talk of violent revenge against women.

They are furious that attractive women, who they call ‘Stacys’, reject them in favour of ‘genetically superior’ men, who they call ‘Chads’. Forums like 4chan and Reddit regularly host their disturbing discussions. But the main platform for their vitriol is a site called Incels.me.

Here, members praise Rodger and Minassian and other misogynistic murderers for their brutal attacks on ‘normies’ (anyone who is not an incel) and celebrate the spreading of the incel ideology. Last week, one user wrote, ‘ The message is getting out. We’re mainstream now.’ Another said, ‘Honestly, reading all the comments on the news only JUSTIFIES what the van killer did.’ And a third, who calls himself Saintmarclepine after a Canadian mass murderer who killed 14 women in 1989, called for more severe attacks. ‘Someone needs to get some acid, hook it up to a sprinkler and just spray concerts and festivals,’ he says.

But when I get in touch with the admin coordinator of Incels.me – who, as a self-proclaimed incel, wants to remain nameless – he insists the vast majority are not violent and condemn aggressive attacks. So then why does he allow chauvinistic hate to be posted all over the site?

‘ We provide a space for incels to be open about their feelings,’ he says. ‘ The topics discussed depend on the community, and nowadays I don’t really have time to read much with all the work [on] the site.’

He won’t reveal his age but says he’s never had a girlfriend, is ‘unable to find a partner’ and swears he doesn’t have a problem with women. So, can women be incels too?