Incels, or involuntary celibates, are a community of people who today are mostly known for their misogynistic beliefs and anti-feminist ideals. They predominantly consist of men, and there are many forums across different social medias such as reddit and discord where they congregate to mainly spew their concerns with our current social structure and how oppressed they are in society.
The term 'incel' was initially coined by Alana, a queer woman, in 1997 with hopes to build a community of people who were seeking romantic relationships but couldn't - thus the involuntary celibacy. This community was initially a very supportive environment and was not based in violent and misogynist rhetoric. User 'ReformedIncel' states that it was in fact incels seeking support from one another in forums with similar experiences in an inclusive manner.
This all changed in the early 2000s, when the incel community was split between two forums - IncelSupport and LoveShy. IncelSupport was exactly what Alana envisioned for the community; kind self-identifying incels who supported eachother through their lack of romantic experiences, with a focus on forming friendships and self-love. The forum was open to men and women, and any misogynistic rhetoric was banned from the site. Comparatively, LoveShy did not have the same intolerance for misogyny on their forum. LoveShy as a result was male-dominated and consisted of men blaming women for their lack of sexual and romantic endeavours. Furthermore, this toxic forum heavily intermingled with 4chan, an alt-right wing site, the "manosphere" which includes "men's rights" activism and other general male-dominant perceptions.
The incel subculture had turned into a toxic misogynistic mess by the 2010s, however it was mainly contained in online niche forums. That was until 2014, when Elliot Rodger, a self-identifying incel, went on a killing spree in California resulting in the death of his 2 roommates and 4 others, and injured 14 more including himself by the end of his spree. This was a defining moment for the incel community, especially since Rodger had written a manifesto which was partially a biography outlining his overall beliefs where he just wants to "love women but their behavour has only earned [his] hatred". The manifesto turned into an inspiration for the incel community, where a select few coined his as an incel "saint". He kickstarted what we now know as modern incel culture, completely overshadowing the kind community that it initially started off as.
Today, incel culture is vast and very complex - using terms that are only understandable if you are deeply entrenched in the spaces. The general message was of rage and hatred towards women, and a belief in a 'sexual class system' where men's sexual success was directly determined by biological traits - nearing very close to eugenics. This belief in such a hierarchy thus resulted in these men blaming mainly women for their lack of romantic relations, with a sprinkle of antisemitic and racist conspiracy theories.
Contrary to popular belief, the issue with incel subculture does not lie in all men who do not have romantic or sexual relations. User ReformedIncel is proof of that, who 'still has trouble dating' but regardless remains critical about incel subculture as it exists today. He has been a part of these forums since the beginning, commiserating about these shared experiences and instead of turning into a forum full of hate and rage towards others, it was instead a way for people to find a safe space and form connections that they were unable to make in a romantic or sexual way. The way that incel forums, especially on reddit, are moderated so poorly is a direct cause of the toxicity present in the subculture today. People who may have previously looked into incel subculture to find an environment that fosters connections and gives “advice on how to overcome shyness in the real world” now find themselves going into deep dives on forums like r/Braincels which largely consists of men ranting about how awful women are, calling them "bitches" and turning this somewhat universal experience of loneliness into a misogynistic hate-piece.
This outpouring hatred for women and marginalized folks in incel communities has many real-life consequences - many experts on mass violence are concerned about what is being glorified in these forums. Carvin, a political scientist, says that it is great that many people on these forums are not violent, however a small number of people among these communities have violent tendencies and are in fact encouraged to act upon them. Especially once you factor the glorification of Rodger, the mass shooter, and more recently, the Toronto van attack by Alek Minassian who killed Sohe Chung in 2018. It is clear how the content being distributed can embolden select individuals to act on their violent beliefs.
Incel culture also impacts individual interactions, even more so, which may be more insidious due to the small scale that this harm takes place in. There are cases of self-identifying involuntary celibates who openly admit to sexual assault on these forums - without remorse. The posts themselves are too graphic to share, but it goes to show how the presence of such forums has encouraged such heinous acts. Emily Rothman, an expert on intimate sexual violence, says that exposure to such violent content shapes ones behaviour in all kinds of ways, which is why the socialization of such forums can be so damaging to folks who are perhaps just looking for a place to find camaraderie. These views are taken to the extreme, and results in further and further abstraction away from the term incel and more towards an idea that perpetuates harm towards women and society.