Radicalization of Gender and Anti-democracy: the Case of Incels in Nordic-Europe

On May 23, 2014 in California, Elliot Rodger, aged 22-years and self-identifying as a member of the incel community, murdered six women and injured more than ten people by gunshot, stabbing and vehicle ramming, and also shared these acts on social media.

Alek Minassian, a known member of the incel community, committed a vehicle-ramming attack on April 23, 2018 in Toronto and killed ten people, injuring more than 15. Rodger and Minassian shared the same motive: revenge for sexual and social rejection by women.

Incels are involuntary celibates – a misogynist and antifeminist digital-based community with radical tendencies who commit public shaming of women (slutshaming) or feminicide.

Defined as ‘misogynist violent extremism’ by many social scientists, these attacks have not only been observed in the US and Canada, but also in Europe. The social media play a major role for the incel community, helping them find allies or spread their views. Moreover, incels’ digital culture is very influential in broadcasting anti-feminist ideas.

In this regard, incel communities create a visual culture in which feminicide and gender-based violence (GBV) are signified by heroic, nationalist, conservative symbols and discourses. In relation to other misogynist, extremist and/or alt-right (alternative-right) mobilizations (e.g. Proud Boys, ‘Unite the Right rally’) that take part in masculinist raising, incels take less violent action.

Nonetheless, they are one of the most active communities conveying pro-violence and exclusionary ideas by sacralizing hatred towards women and feminism on a daily basis.

Our research ‘Incel Norms and Masculinities’ (INCELNOR-MA) sheds light on how the incels’ anti-feminist and misogynist ideas are displayed via incel artefacts and aesthetics.