New guidance for secondary school pupils in England will focus on ‘incel’ culture and the links between pornography and misogyny.
The statutory government guidance, published on Tuesday, July 15, focuses on “myths about women and relationships that are spread online in the ‘manosphere’” and warns educators about “stigmatising boys for being boys”.
The topic of incel culture, especially among boys and young men, was brought to life this year in the Netflix series Adolescence, starring Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne.
The series examines how social media affects children and how easy it is to find radicalised viewpoints online.
In an interview with Sky News, Graham said that he was inspired to develop the show after coming across incel attacks.
He said: “I read an article about a young girl who was stabbed to death by a young boy, and then a few months later, on the news, there was a young girl who, again, had been brutally stabbed to death by a young boy in a completely different part of the country.
“If I'm really honest with you, that hurt my heart and I just thought, why? Why does this kind of thing happen? What is this society? Why have we reached this point where this kind of thing is happening? What was the reason?”
Official statistics released in 2023 have shown a worrying rise in the number of suspected incels being referred to the Prevent counter-terrorism scheme, with police saying the movement is not “currently considered a terrorist ideology” but has the “ability to inspire terrible acts of violence”.
“Children today are bombarded by content – whether it’s Instagram influencers with impossible expectations for how we should look, or algorithms that trap young people in a vortex of vices from gambling to drugs,” said education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, as reported by the Guardian.
“Our new relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) curriculum will equip kids to develop positive attitudes from the get-go, building their resilience to harmful content in an age-appropriate way, right from the start of school.”
But what actually is incel culture and how does it show up in practice? Here’s a closer look.
What is an incel?
An incel is an abbreviation for “involuntary celibate”. This is an online subculture for those who say they are unable to find a romantic or sexual partner despite desiring one.
The term was coined by a woman named Alana in the late 1990s, who started an online forum for others like her who were experiencing loneliness and unable to find romantic or sexual partners. It was intended to be a supportive environment for people to share their experiences.
However, the term incel was co-opted by lonely young men who blamed women for their predicament. It has since lent its name to a misogynistic online movement.
Online incel forums are often underlined by discussions of resentment and hatred, misogyny, misanthropy (contempt for people in general), and racism.
The incel community has its own terms for attractive women and men: Stacys and Chads.
They desire Stacys, but also ridicule them, and hate them for choosing so-called Chads. Incels often believe that Stacys are manipulative.
Chads are successful, attractive men who are able to attract romantic partners, they say. Incels often believe themselves genetically inferior to Chads, unable to compete with them in attracting Stacys.
Incel culture online and in real life
Specific people and events have been tied to incel culture, including Andrew Tate, who has gained notoriety for his misogynistic views that went viral on social media and led to a ban on Instagram and - temporarily - on X.
Tate’s recent media coverage has sparked conversations around incel culture. Although he does not identify himself as an incel, many of his fans are lonely young men who consider themselves “involuntarily celibate”.
The influencer’s misogyny plays into the incel idea that women owe men sex, and that men can treat women however they please.
Tate has previously said that women should “bear responsibility” for being sexually assaulted, that they “belong in the home”, and that they are a “man’s property”.
He has also said that “probably 40 per cent of the reason” he moved to Romania was because it was easier to evade rape charges.
The online movement has real-life, serious consequences. It has resulted in violent attacks and murders.
At a time when parents are concerned about what their children are consuming online, it’s important to understand the communities that they may be exposed to.
A report published on February 20 concerning mass shooter Jake Davison read: “It is possible that Davison may have started planning the shooting during his final days, as he searched online for information about anti-terror policing in the UK, incel serial killers, and instructions on reloading firearms.”
Jake Davison shot five people, including a toddler, in the worst mass killing of its kind in the UK since a taxi driver killed 12 people then shot himself in a rampage in Cumbria, northern England, in June 2010. Davison had previously discussed the misogynistic incel movement in an 11-minute YouTube video before the murders.
On August 12, 2021, Davison murdered his mother before leaving the house and finding his next targets, which included a three-year-old girl, her father, and two other passersby.
Only a few days before the atrocity, Davison had “searched for incel serial killers online”, a watchdog revealed.
An investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said Davison had “posted prolifically” about incel culture on social media.
“Policing has got to learn lessons from [the Plymouth shooting], whether it’s in controlling firearms and licensing, or our understanding of incel behaviour. This is an international conversation,” added Assistant Commissioner Matt Jukes.
Timeline of incel attacks
In 2014, Elliot Rodger killed six people in a stabbing and shooting spree in Isla Vista, California, before killing himself.
Before the rampage, the 22-year-old also uploaded a YouTube video outlining his motives for the attack. He said this was his revenge on women for rejecting him after previously describing himself as an incel.
In 2018, Alek Minassian killed 10 people by driving a van into pedestrians and said that he drew inspiration from the incel movement.
He had praised Rodger on Facebook, saying: “The Incel Rebellion has already begun! We will overthrow all the Chads and Stacys! All hail the Supreme Gentleman Elliot Rodger!”
Meanwhile, solo traveller Annie Makeeva spoke to the BBC about an incel attack she experienced in Vietnam in 2022 while hiking.
She said: “As they walked past me, the first man reached out and grabbed me. He then said something in Vietnamese to his friend who was on the other side of me. And I looked to see if this friend was coming to my rescue, or was he also going to attack me. And it turns out, yes, he wanted to attack me as well.
“They were both groping me. I shouted for help and realised no one could hear me.”
Luckily, Ms Makeeva was able to escape and alerted the Foreign Office, which has since “updated” the Foreign Office's advice for female travellers in Vietnam.
It is currently not known whether the Vietnamese police have taken any action against the allegations.
What is the black pill philosophy?
The black pill philosophy refers to a set of commonly held beliefs among the incel community.
People who have “taken the black pill” believe they are hopeless cases, who will never have any success romantically or sexually.
The black pill theory is the idea that incels are the only people who realise that they have been dealt an unfair hand in the genetic lottery.
The term black pill is said to have been coined as an alternative to taking red and blue pills, referred to in the 1999 film The Matrix.
