Welcome to Spooktober, the month when we break down the scariest things happening in 2018. This instalment covers the cesspit that calls itself the incel community. Incels: the men that blame womxn for their lack of sex.

Considering the week women have had with the Brett Kavanaugh monstrosity, you would think that we might need a break. In fact, we’re angrier than ever. It’s time to take on the filthy community of men that will have taken great pleasure in this week’s results. Oh yes, isn’t it a scary time for young men.

I suggest you sit down and finish eating, things are going to get pretty nasty.

Trigger warning: rape culture, sexual assault, domestic violence, shooting.

Disclaimer: Before I begin I want to make something perfectly clear. Yes, there are individuals who struggle to gain or maintain sexual or romantic relationships. No, not all of these people are incels. No, this is not always due to physical appearance. Yes, I understand that incels say they are not ONLY interested in sex.

If individuals identify as incels, they are contributing or being party to a dangerous, frightening and violent dialogue. This community perpetuates violence, rape culture, male dominance, women-as-object ideas and violent misogyny. These communities also encourage other social prejudices. Incels generally discriminate against other minorities; partaking in vicious homophobia, hatred of gender fluid or non-binary individuals, immigrants and people of non-white ethnicities. It’s bad.

If you identify as an ‘incel’ and don’t hate, want to hurt or blame women; I’m not sorry for this post. Remove yourself from that community. Real, intelligent, sentient human beings are afraid of you.

Incels: Involuntary Celibate, Meninists, Men’s Rights = DANGER

Incels are a community of men who have congregated online to complain about not getting laid. This is where it came from but this is not where it ends. The ‘suffering’ of these men has created an echo chamber effect online and has provided a space for violence and hatred to fester. Incels are considered a hate group in the eyes of many. Incels are part of the ‘manosphere’ or male supremacy group which Southern Poverty Law Centre includes in their list of hate groups. The manosphere includes ‘men’s rights’ activists and meninists.

Incels: Who are they?

Incels are members of an online community which reside on web 2.0 platforms such as Reddit, 4Chan and other forum websites. The general idea is that the men in these communities don’t have or have never had any sexual partners. Or, they are unable to get into a romantic relationship, despite wanting it. Their defining feature is that they blame this situation on women. There is an insistence from this community that it is not all about sex. They insist that romantic relationships and emotional intimacy are also a priority. It is clear that this is not the case. These communities are typically made up of white, heterosexual men. They say that the reason for their ‘inceldom’ is due to the following factors:

1. Looks and perceived attractiveness - They believe that they are below average in appearance, that this is unavoidable and responsible for their lack of sexual/emotional relationships. This is the main reason why many of the individuals in these communities think they are ‘undersexed.’
2. Insecurity - They believe that their lack of confidence is related to their inability to find a sexual partner. This is often related to looks but is also closely related to monetary earnings and status to many of these men.
3. Mental illness - They believe that mentally ill individuals are less likely to find a sexual or romantic partner. (Incels who are in this situation call themselves ‘MentalCels’)

The belief system appears (please correct me if I’m wrong) to be as follows:

A man is denied sexual or romantic relationships by women. This man is innocent and a product of his genetics and environment. You may notice that perceived attractiveness, insecurity and mental illness are often factors outside of someone's control. Therefore if these are the perceived reasons for rejection, it is not the individual's responsibility.

Incels believe that sex is a basic human right and to deny someone of it is like denying food to a starving child. Women are only sexual resources. The government should pay for women to date men and there should be a sexual redistribution scheme so that everyone gets a go.

Women who deny sex to men are called disgusting names. Women are deserving of sexual and physical violence, emotional abuse, stalking and catfishing. Women are malevolent, spiteful and stupid.

Women are not able to be incels, neither are gay men; both of these groups apparently have it too easy. Life is not worth living and a person is not worthy if not for a sexual or romantic relationship. Men and women who have sex are bad. Feminism is the bane of the earth. Heavier or unattractive women who are sexually active are the ultimate oppressor - because how could they have sex when we can’t

It goes on and gets worse, but that’s the basic idea. In a nutshell, these guys are seeking sexual activity with attractive, supplicant woman. They believe it is their genetics that has rendered them unable to do so and has nothing to do with their intrinsic hatred of women. They encourage violence against women, sexually active men, the gay community and, usually, non-whites. Their communities are breeding grounds for hate and encourage self-harm, nihilism and violence. They also, generally, love Trump.

Stacys and Chads: The Language of Resentment

If you choose to look into this group (please don’t) you will notice the references to ambiguous but much hated Chad, Stacey and Becky. These are the names that incels have come up with to describe sexually active people.

Chad’s are sexually active men, characterised as being tall, muscular, charismatic, confident and good looking. As if all men that have sex or relationships meet these requirements.

Stacey is an attractive, sexually active woman - these are her only characteristics.

Becky is a less attractive, sexually active woman - these are her only characteristics. Not to be confused with a ‘Becky’ in discussions of white privilege and racism.

Chad is everything incels think they aren’t. And to be perfectly honest, all these things together make up a pretty high standard. Under the ideology of incels, sexual activity MUST be dependant on being an unattainable ideal. This definition of a Chad lets incels think they are a minority. They are not, they are generally straight, white men. In reality, very few men fit into this ideal. Shy, boring men have sex and relationships. Short, overweight, ‘unattractive’ men have sex and relationships. Even shy, boring, short, overweight, unattractive, nasty, cruel and rude men have sex and relationships. But of course, this would complicate matters for the incel boys.

Chad does, however, have characteristics other than his appearance, he is confident and charismatic. The female characters do not. Women are also referred to as ‘femoids,’ or ‘foids.’ Women are only defined by their appearance and their sexual utility. You may also notice that there is only one Chad. This is because despite how often incels say looks matter, all the rating of themselves and women they do, they do not believe that appearance should or even really does have an impact on the amount of sex men have - unless it’s them. Women can be attractive and unattractive and all sorts of nasty names. But, men who have sex are just men.

Of course, there are exceptions to the Rule of Chad. What about the ‘ugly guy who gets a 9’? He’s probably rich. What about the guy who treats women like shit and is unattractive and unemployed? Women are stupid - oh, and we have daddy issues.

All of this is designed to dehumanise and devalue ‘normies.’ It’s the same reason that any discriminative community comes up with names for their targets. You can populate the examples of this yourself. It lets them speak about womxn with hatred and violence but without any remorse. If they are just Becky’s and Stacey’s, they are not people, which makes it ok to behave in ways which limit their humanness.

Incels, Blackpill, DarkEnlightenment: Online communities that shouldn’t exist.

If you don’t buy it, you don’t have to look too hard for pretty disgusting examples. For the sake of taste - which is not usually a concern here - we won’t be sharing any comments or posts from these communities. If you want to look into this further, be aware that, at the very least, you will throw your laptop across the room in rage and disgust. Although many of the subreddits have now been banned for hate speech, you can find examples of this community in their own forum websites. Please be aware that these sites are highly triggering and are a saddening and frightening read. I would strongly suggest avoiding these if you have been a victim or any kind of gendered or sexual abuse.

This is where it came from, but this is not where it ends.

To many, it is easy to discount this kind of community as being a group of sad, angry men and boys. These communities are real boys and men and their echo chamber of anger and hatred is harming them and others. The way incels talk to each other encourages self-harm, resistance to professional help or support, self-hate and, often, suicide. There are records of incels who have committed suicide and are lauded as martyrs, heroes, weak or variations on all three. This alone should be enough of a cause of a concern for the mental and physical health of men and boys.

Incels in real life: Killers, mass shooters and ‘Rape Count’

But these communities are not just sitting in their rooms; they are harming others. Many mass killers in the last few years, who by the way are almost always white males, have been connected with the incel community. Elliot Rodger, now lauded as a incel hero, killed 6 people in California in 2014 after releasing an incel manifesto. Alek Minassian, who posted ‘the incel rebellion has begun,’ killed 10 people and injured 14 by driving van attack in Toronto in April of this year. Dimitrios Pagourtzis, a 17-year-old, walked into a school he was recently expelled from for violent behaviour and killed 10 people, injuring 14 more. One of the people shot was a girl who he had repeatedly harassed.

Incels constantly encourage attacking, beating and raping women. Catfishing and emotional manipulation are suggested forms of ‘revenge.’ In the incel community there is even a concept called ‘rape count,’ a way to boast to other incels about how they are taking back their power.

These boys are sick. It is not womxn who are making them sick. Toxic masculinity, the normalisation of hate speech (thank you Donald) and white tears are literally killing people. Incels are hands down the vilest, viscious and acute manifestation of male supremacy and rape culture that we can see today

This community is dangerous, violent, entitled and seriously frightening. Womxn: I am sorry this is happening. We do not owe men anything. Men, squash this behaviour, language and thinking with every essence of your being.

Happy Halloween.