Discussions about incels and incel culture have been on the rise in the past few years, now spurred on even more by the popularity of Netflix’s bombshell new show ‘Adolescence’. We want to know – are you worried about incel culture?
The word ‘incel’ has been a a much talked about issue over the past few years. The short version of ‘involuntary celibate’, ‘incel’ is the name of an online – and increasingly also offline – community.
According to the Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats, incel culture is a “loose conglomerate of online anti-woman communities known as the ‘manosphere’.”
Despite being a worldwide, diverse community, a large proportion of incels are heterosexual men who define themselves as being unable to find a romantic or sexual partner despite wanting one.
This practice also generally involves putting the blame for an incel’s lack of partner on the people (usually women) who ‘refuse’ to be involved with them, as well as misogynist values and general anger towards women and feminity in general.
One major thing about incel culture is the view that attractiveness is genetically pre-determined, and that there is a specific set of features and/or qualities that all women find attractive in men. If you can’t see the poll above, please click here.
For many incels, there is a belief that not having these traits or features – or being unable to achieve them – has left them doomed to a life of ‘involuntary celibacy’.
Netflix’s ‘Adolescence’ has brought a lot of attention to incels and incel culture, due to the child protagonist Jamie’s misogynistic view of the women around him, and his anger at Katie’s bullying of him due to his romantic interest in her.
In the show, Jamie idolises his dad. The only kind words he has about his mum are that she makes ‘a good roast’.
Within incel culture, there is a general belief that women are ‘genetically inferior to men’, and are ‘driven by a sexual desire to reproduce with genetically superior males’. These men are sometimes referred to as ‘alphas’ or ‘high value men’.
In Adolesence, Jamie stabs Katie for bullying him and rejecting him, reflecting the belief in incel culture that violence towards women is justified if they do not appreciate a man’s ‘value’. This has sometimes been referred to as ‘toxic masculinity’.
Well known incel figures include Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan, Elon Musk, podcast host Joe Rogan, and writer Jordan Peterson. These men are important figures in the manosphere, and are known to utilise false statistics and misogynist memes in an effort to recuit and radicalise young men into following them.
One sentiment that incel culture often repeats is that men are losing their masculine identities and that women are to blame for it.
Conversations and knowledge of incel culture can often be difficult to have, but many feel that it is important to have them for safety reasons. So, we want to know – are you worried about the rise in incel culture? Let us know by taking our poll and in the comments below.