As you stretch your limbs and blink the sleep from your eyes, greet the sun with a scroll through the r/mensrights subreddit. Undress a strange woman online. Ask artificial intelligence (AI) what to have for breakfast. It’s a good day to be an incel.
Originating in the perceived failure to find a romantic or sexual partner, the term “incel” has evolved past its most basic definition of being involuntary celibate. Now, it characterizes a predominantly online community of straight men, whose hostile sexism includes sexual objectification, violence, and dehumanization of women. The philosophy lies fundamentally in male victimhood and oppression: Its followers believe that women are naturally inclined towards evil, manipulating wealthy and attractive men into relationships, while depriving those who don’t fit this model of a Chad from sex.
Under this belief system, and as a result of overlapping with alt-right hate groups, the ideology has adopted an ultra-aggressive bitterness towards women’s rights and acquired other extremist values and techniques. There exists significant overlap between incel and white supremacist groups—the stormcels faction draws inspiration from the KKK-affiliated Stormfront website—and throughout the 2010s, mass violence increasingly came from the hands of those affiliated with the movement. In 2015, Christopher Harper Mercer, a frequent poster on incel forums, killed ten people.
Over the past few years, the relentless march of conservatism into both power and mainstream popularity has crafted the conditions for incel culture to thrive. As those in power drag society to the right, the Reddit surfers and Twitch streamers, previously ridiculed for how they’ve crafted personas around an inability to attract women, find new company in their increasingly accepted views.
As the online communities promoting toxic masculinity and misogyny known as the manosphere have expanded, American politics now more than ever reflects them. If states are forcing women to carry children to the detriment of their health and well-being, is it really such a far cry to say that they owe men sex, a prevailing view among incels? If the country grants its highest office to a man accused of serial sexual violence, does this not amount to support for his actions?
More and more, a growing conservative culture is validating the rancor of this group, encouraging them to step out from the shadows of their parents’ basements to bring their beliefs—ones full of hatred towards any kind of female autonomy—out into public. As Nick Fuentes said on the night of the 2024 presidential election, “Your body, my choice. Forever.”
But beyond the far right, increased technology, especially generative artificial intelligence, is aiding the incel community. With the ever-increasing power of programs like ChatGPT, people can now simulate friends, girlfriends, or therapists willing to bow to any whim or desire. Individuals who built their belief systems around loneliness can now experience the companionship they crave from the comfort of a gaming chair.
The most disturbing example of this came earlier this year on X, Elon Musk’s rebranded form of Twitter. After the app introduced AI image generation via Grok’s AI tool, users began asking the chatbot to edit existing images of real people into adult content. Requests abounded for full nudity, explicit positions, and sexual situations of unknowing and unconsenting women and children. After about a week of unadulterated mayhem, Grok began to limit requests for AI images to premium users, essentially affording clemency to those willing to shell out $8 a month to Elon Musk. After two weeks, X took a step further, blocking the generation of such content in locations where it would be illegal. Notably, the restriction is not universal and does not seem to apply to the standalone Grok site.
It isn’t a surprise that advancing technology is aiding the incel movement; after all, it’s a community that was formed through computer screens, one whose existence depends on the power of the internet to create spaces for those feeling isolated and misunderstood in their real lives. But as we have recently seen, the abilities of AI have created unprecedented privileges for the self-described “black-pilled” members of society, a reference to the film “The Matrix” where a pill reveals the world as it truly is.
With the acceptance of far-right views into the cultural zeitgeist, the recent increased accessibility to deepfake porn, and the substitution of AI for interpersonal relationships and connections, it has never been better to be an incel. Combined, the threat of the growing power of conservatism and advanced internet technology is fueling the incel movement, attracting a younger audience that just keeps on multiplying. Manosphere creators target young boys and men struggling with isolation and seeking community. They seem to infect every space in the digital landscape, appearing across social media, gaming communities, and dating apps to teach men that masculinity comes from outward appearance, material wealth, and emotional and physical dominance over women. And with the algorithmic methods and echo chambers of social media, once you’re in, it’s hard to get out.
Alexandra Lee is a member of the class of 2029 and can be reached at ahlee@wesleyan.edu.
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