Wanting sex and willing to kill: Examining demographic and cognitive characteristics of violent “involuntary celibates”

Abstract

Over the past several years, an online community of self‐described “incels,” referring to involuntary celibates, has emerged and gained increased public attention. Central to the guiding incel ideology and master narrative are violent misogynistic beliefs and an attitude of entitlement, based on male gender and social positioning, with respect to obtaining desired and often illusory sexual experiences. While violence and hate speech within the incel community are both common, there exists a notable subset of incels who have been willing to act on those violent beliefs through the commission of acts of multiple murder. This study explores the demographic, cognitive, and other characteristics of seven self‐identified incels who have attempted and/or successfully completed homicide. The findings suggest that although self‐perceptions tend to reflect either grandiosity or self‐deprecation, homicidal incels share similar demographic characteristics and dense common clusters of neutralization techniques, cognitive distortions, and criminal thinking errors.

Incels, violence and mental disorder: a narrative review with recommendations for best practice in risk assessment and clinical intervention

“…In 2018, Nikolas Cruz killed 17 students and injured 17 more on Valentine's Day, having previously posted online 'Elliot Rodger will not be forgotten' and complaining about his isolation (Hoffman 2020). This was followed by Alek Minassian's van attack in Toronto in 2018, resulting in the deaths of 10 female victims and injury to another 16 (Williams 2021). It was later revealed that Minassian had hailed Elliot Rodger as his hero (Speckhard 2021) and explained that following Rodger's attack he felt proud and radicalised, stating that it was 'time to take action rather than fester in his own sadness' (Regehr 2022).…”

“…However, hopelessness is not enough to trigger extreme violence among those incels who transition from depression and loneliness to a mission-oriented plan to ‘punish’ those they deem responsible for their frustrations (van Brunt 2021). Hopelessness, significantly exacerbated by cognitive distortions such as over-generalisations, all-or-nothing thinking (across multiple contexts), misattributions, lack of empathy, neutralisation and victim stances, provides a justification for subsequent acts of extreme violence (Williams 2020, 2021). In all attacks by incels, perpetrators misattributed blame to women for frustrations in their life, specifically for sexual frustration (Murray 2017; Williams 2020).…”

“…The literature suggests that there may be a specific relationship between autism and incel-related activity (Williams 2021). In one online survey, almost a quarter of incels self-reported autism symptoms (Speckhard 2021) and analysis of seven incel-related cases of violence suggested that more than half showed characteristics of autism (Williams 2021).…”

“…The literature suggests that there may be a specific relationship between autism and incel-related activity (Williams 2021). In one online survey, almost a quarter of incels self-reported autism symptoms (Speckhard 2021) and analysis of seven incel-related cases of violence suggested that more than half showed characteristics of autism (Williams 2021). Some of the difficulties associated with autism may increase vulnerability to being drawn into the ‘rule-based’ incel ideology and increase risk of radicalisation (Williams 2021).…”

A solider and a victim: Masculinity, violence, and incels celebration of Marc Lépine

“…Research suggests incels celebrate mass murders as a means to recruit other men, to justify their violence, and to situate violence as a means to achieve policy changes that benefit men (Baele, Brace & Coan, 2019;O'Donnell & Shor, 2022;Sugiura, 2021). Indeed, Minassian, who murdered 11 people, claimed his violence was inspired by online incel discourse (Williams et al, 2021). We advance this literature by demonstrating how incels use Lépine to justify their violence and position themselves as both hegemonic killers and subordinate victims (Connell, 1995).…”