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victims of domestic violence face increased risk
self-isolation makes abuse victims more vulnerable.
incel culture is not mental illness. it runs much deeper
incel-inspired violence is just one part of a larger culture that permits and celebrates sexual violence against women.
incels are an extreme and distorted subculture of the toxic culture that enacts violence against women that is commonplace in our society.
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in 2014, a 22-year-old man killed six people and wounded 14 in a mass shooting in santa barbara, leaving behind youtube videos and a “manifesto” expressing his deep hatred for women, blaming them for his virginity. four years later, a 25-year-old man praised the santa barbara shooter before killing 10 people and wounding 16.
in february of this year, a 17-year-old male murdered a female worker at a toronto massage parlour. police have stated he was inspired by the “incel” ideology and this week, crown attorneys have updated his first-degree murder charge with terrorist activity. what is going on with these young men?
in a paper entitled, ‘who are incels? recognizing the violent extremist ideology of ‘incels,’ researchers describe the incels’ view that women who choose their own partners is a ‘theft’ of their entitled access to women’s bodies.
“these (mostly) young men are frustrated at a world they see as denying them power and sexual control over women’s bodies. in their eyes, they are victims of oppressive feminism, an ideology which must be overthrown, often through violence,” they write.
the incel movement is deeply steeped in strong misogyny and a traditional patriarchy, says tim kelly, the executive director of changing ways, an assault response organization dedicated to working with men to prevent violence against women. kelly also works with caring dads, a specialized intervention program that works with fathers who abuse their children or have exposed their children to abuse of their mother.
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“when you think about what that means, being a misogynist, or any of the ‘-isms’ like racism or sexism, there is an embedded belief system that allows for someone to behave in a certain way,” says kelly. “whether it’s an individual psychological issue or a much-broader social context issue, it’s a complicated issue to conflate those things. it’s both. when you look across canadian culture, there is an undercurrent of patriarchy and misogyny.”
incels aren’t a surprise, considering society’s treatment of women
forâ jooyoung lee, an associate professor at the university of toronto who teaches mass shootings, dismissing incels as “sick individuals acting out because they’re frustrated” is too easy. he believes it’s dangerous to assume sexual violence begins and ends with this group.
“on the one hand, incels identify as a distinct group. the views and ideas they hold are repugnant and misogynistic and as a society, we tend to think of them as something apart from us,” he says. “but if we really think reflectively about many of the misogyny rampant in our media we consume, our hiring practices that discriminate women, our institutions, our general culture around blaming victims of sexual assault.”
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“they might be depressed or have some lingering mental health issues, but it becomes so easy to kind of attach this kind of violent behaviour and the ideas that they espouse to mental health problems,” says lee. “but i really don’t think what these individuals do, and stand for, is that much different from the softer versions of toxic masculinity that exists everywhere.”
lee asks his students to think about the sexual violence in highly-acclaimed shows like game of thrones, where characters like sansa stark get raped repeatedly.
“if we look at ourselves, our own cultural consumption habits, the same ideas and beliefs about men’s rights to women’s bodies exist,” he says. “things we elevate in our culture as examples of great tv shows, movies, or art we appreciate. incel culture is not really distinctive from mainstream society, it’s really this extreme version of it.”
lee says incels are not the genesis of sexual violence against women, pointing to canada’s long history of missing and murdered indigenous women. it starts as early as teaching children that “boys will be boys” and can end with ascend to power like that of u.s. president donald trump, presumptive democratic nominee joe biden, and supreme court justice brett kavanaugh, despite numerous accusations of sexual assault.
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“we turn a blind eye to it. even though it does receive attention and we talk about it, these are still the white men in power in the most powerful political positions in the u.s.,” he says. “these issues are much deeper than incels. incels are really just the case studies that get us talking about these problems that are endemic and rampant. incels didn’t create sexual violence, they’ve just given it a face and forced us to really confront it.”
treating incels requires dismantling our own culture
banning online communities like r/incels, reddit’s main incel community, helps, but just getting rid of incel forums or controlling how they spread their hateful ideas won’t make them go away.
“mass shootings and incel-inspired violence is just one part of this larger culture that permits and even celebrates sexual violence against women,” says lee. “the problem is so much bigger than incels.”
“we have a culture that normalizes this violence, and yet, when young, disturbed men go out and enact this violence, we act shocked and surprised as if they haven’t been consuming these messages since day one,” says lee. “i think we have to take a harder look at ourselves and our culture and society.”
lee he says. “it’s too easy to pin blame on mass shooters and incels who go on to attack women, it’s much harder to take a step back and think about these broader influences that shape that identity and beliefs about masculine entitlement to women’s bodies and violence as a way to resolve issues when you’re denied access to women’s bodies.”
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the fact that the 17-year-old toronto male who killed a massage parlour worker was upgraded to a charge of terrorism sends a strong message to society as a whole of what’s given permission in the realm of masculinity.
“that’s a really clear statement from the criminal justice system to say that men’s extreme violent behaviour is regarded as terror,” says kelly. “that’s a powerful message to put out.”
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