Incel terror
A Toronto teenager has become the first Canadian ever charged with carrying out an “incel”-inspired terror attack.
The 17-year-old boy is accused of fatally stabbing a woman in February.
Incel, short for “involuntarily celibate,” is an online subculture focused on members’ perceived inability to find romantic or sexual partners.
Well, that’s a very forgiving way of putting it. It’s an online subculture focused on the evil of women who think they have a right to refuse demands for sex. It’s a male online subculture that rages at women’s sexual autonomy.
The suspect, who cannot be named because he is a minor, had already been charged with murder shortly after the incident, which took place at an erotic massage parlour…
When Toronto police learned the crime may have been motivated by an extremist ideology, they contacted Canada’s federal RCMP, which ultimately decided to press terrorism charges.
It’s not all that far-fetched to see rape as a form of terrorism against women. It’s not just a quick and convenient way to grab sex, at least not always. It’s also an expression of misogyny and a warning to The Others.
“Incel” is short for “involuntarily celibate”. It generally – though not exclusively – refers to online groups of men who feel they are unable to enter into sexual relationships. They blame women for their grievances, which they discuss in internet forums.
Again, it’s not so much that the men “feel they are unable to enter into sexual relationships” – it’s that they feel rage and hatred toward women who refuse to Put Out. Women are withholding bitches who have that thing between their legs but won’t share it.
In 2018, Alek Minassian allegedly drove a van into a busy Toronto commercial street killing 10 people and wounding 16.
He later told police the attack was retribution for years of rejection by women, and that he identified as a member of the incel movement. He was charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder and 16 counts of attempted murder, but he was not charged with terrorism.
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Minassian was allegedly inspired by Elliot Rodger, who killed six people in a stabbing and shooting spree in Isla Vista, California, in May 2014.
Because those sorority bitches wouldn’t spread for him.
How dare they refuse? They must’ve all been Karens…
What’s the word ‘allegedly’ doing in there? He confessed to the crime, and was sentenced for it.
17 seems pretty young to decide you’re going to be an involuntary celibate the rest of your life.
I think being upset that nobody likes you in a romantic way is a perfectly normal reaction, but this whole incel thing is encouraging deranged behavior. At 17 you shouldn’t be throwing in the towel. And at no point should you be killing people.
Maybe they could also charge some of the clowns who egged him on.
But the issue isn’t being upset, it’s being angry. Of course it’s normal to be sad about it, but it’s not normal to feel entitled to vagina-access as a matter of right.
Also, “in a romantic way” pretties it up in just the way the Guardian did. The word is “incel” for involuntary celibate – it’s sex they think they’re owed.
The first part of that sentence was referring to the normal reaction of people feeling sad about not being liked rather than to the deranged incel version of the reaction, which, yes, is more being enraged about lack of sex, so I think we’re in agreement.
I still think it’s striking someone would give up at age 17. I knew plenty of late bloomers that had nothing going on at 17 but did fine later in life. You should at least try the fresh start of college or a new career before you throw in the towel…and even then you shouldn’t turn to murder.
I don’t have sympathy for murderers, but I do believe otherwise normal people can be steered down the wrong path. If this teenager didn’t have this poison poured into him, maybe he wouldn’t have turned into a horrible killer because he felt he was sexually washed up at age 17.
Yes, agreed. 17 seems grotesquely early…but then I gather that high school life can be weird that way (with social pressures, bullying, shunning, etc). Which is probably your point.
Hey people of 17: it gets better! Really it does. Don’t make any drastic choices until you get the hell out of high school.
I distantly recall being young…
Back then I had no idea how to talk to girls, at least not in any way that might lead to anything other than being friends. If only I’d understood at the time that that was pretty much the main thing that’s required. From what I recall, the angst I felt, the angst my peers felt, was about what was wrong with me/us that no-one wanted us. Were we lovable? Would anyone ever want us? The idea of turning that into anger and violence against others is inconceivable to anyone of right mind. And to many of not so right mind I suspect.
Part of me finds it deeply sad that these boys and men are not getting mental health help. Part of me suspects that many of them are more just deeply unpleasant human beings, rather than mentally ill as such.
These boy-men are unable to relate socially with women. They’ve been raised in a toxic bubble of pop-culture, ‘purity’ culture, and porn. Rather than follow their sexual feelings out of that morass, they double down into lunatic alt-right fantasy.
They all seem to spout ‘evo-psych’ bullshit to justify their sexism…when that ideology is teaching them that THEY are inferior and should accept their marginalization as ‘natural.’
Rob, that’s so good a description of what most boys I knew felt (though I didn’t know it at the time, being a girl). And the opposite side is, a lot of girls feel that way, too. I had no boyfriends, did not date, and imagined that all the kids laughed at me. A lot of them did, but there were boys who noticed me. I didn’t know that. Both the boy and me were too uncertain and afraid of being unloveable that we never managed to mix.
In short, incel isn’t just a “guy thing”. Girls go through the same angst. We aren’t out there with our dance cards (sex cards?) all filled up with Chad and Jeremy; we struggle with the stress of feeling unloved, too, and being mocked or rejected by those to whom we are attracted.
JtD, I think that’s part of it, but there is also entitlement. All of that, on top of a sense that they deserve sex and have a right to it is toxic.
One more thing, and then I will shut up for the moment: I am not sure the incel culture is as put upon as it believes itself to be. I have a nephew who is deeply involved in that culture, and several other online misogynist cultures. He is not an incel, though he seems willing to claim the title. He has a girlfriend (has had others), and they have had three children together. He had a child with his former girlfriend. In short, not celibate, whether voluntary or involuntary.
I wonder how many other incels are actually not celibate, but have just joined this culture to hate on women?
I’m not a parent, nor will I ever be as I am childless by choice. But I don’t understand how kids remain so childlike as they mature. The teen years suck, and they always will, even if high schools improved their ability to beat bullying.
I grew up with exactly zero advantages beyond my own intelligence and the drive to escape the confines of poverty. Did I whine about it? Looking at my richer friends who were dating cool, sexy people? Sure, I’m human. But I sucked it up, worked hard and clawed my way out of the poverty trap. Why? Because I’m a goddamn adult.
If these assholes were all overprivileged kids with no experience of being refused anything they wanted (like Trump and his spawn), I’d at least understand how their emotional growth was stunted. But many of these ‘incels’ aren’t in that class. They’re like me, growing up in an environment where nothing was guaranteed, not even food in your mouth or a roof over your head. How do boys like that grow into men with such a sense of entitlement? Is it all about the parenting?
Claire, I’ve been noticing that in my classes. Grown up college students who have the attitudes and minds of juveniles – and often the vocabulary and writing skills to go with it. Many of these students have children of their own, and I wonder how you manage to raise children when you are so immature yourself. (I wondered that about my sister, too, until all her kids were taken away because she couldn’t raise them properly.)
The local high school drama departments all put on kid’s shows in their plays. When I was in high school drama, we wouldn’t have been caught dead being in children’s plays. But the schools don’t think they are ready for “adult” plays (I put quotes on because I don’t mean erotica or language, just grown-up). My students watch children’s movies, Disney being the most popular among these 20-somethings. Not with the kids, not as a now and then just for a break from serious adulthood, but ALL THE TIME.
Into this world, where children grow up to be children, crashed the internet. And misogyny. It was a perfect storm.
Huh, that’s interesting. I have noticed the same thing – the phenomenon of people in their 20s and 30s who are obsessed with various branches of children’s entertainment – Harry Potter, anime, cosplay, all that.
I think there’s a number of key thoughts/points above. So much of the anger and misunderstanding prevalent in our society is due to people not thinking and acting like adults.
Sure, they has always been a chunk of the population that look adult, but aren’t really. Sure, there is nothing wrong per se with having a hobby more frequently associated with a younger person (gaming or whittling, or making dolls clothes or whatever).
The issue comes when people can’t form coherent thoughts and express these while staying grounded in the real and having consideration for a larger societal context. The issue is having the impulse control of a 2 yo because you’ve never learnt that you’re not the centre of the universe.
This isn’t (sadly) a left/right thing. It’s not even entirely a young/old thing, although I have to say I meet many millennials in their late 20’s or even 30’s who I just don’t regard as serious grown up people. By that I don’t just mean that they have a childish hobby or interest, I mean they lack the ability to function as independent adults.