Incel

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Incel ( suitcase word from in voluntary , the English word for 'involuntary', and cel ibate , the English word for ' celibacy ') is the self-name of an internet subculture developed in the USA of heterosexual men who, according to their own statements, involuntarily have no sexual intercourse and to adhere to the ideology of a hegemonic masculinity . Beliefs and feelings expressed by Incels are shaped by misogyny , the right to have sex, self-pity, and the approval and use of violence against women and against sexually active men. This separates Incels from Absolute Beginners and Love-shyness . Incel communities are considered part of the so-called Manosphere .

history

The term "Incel" was originally purely descriptive and goes back to a Canadian student who wanted to give shy people of all sexual orientations a forum in 1997 with the online self-help group "Alana's Involuntary Celibacy Project" . After leaving it in 2000, it evolved into a hate forum for heterosexual men who adopted the term as a self-denotation. The scene is attributed to the anti-feminist men's rights movement , which is particularly well represented on the Internet. It differs from activism for men's rights in that its followers propagate misogyny in connection with violent fantasies or racist attitudes. The inccel scene only came into the focus of the media after the rampage in Toronto in 2018 . The assassin was an avowed incel. He had previously written on Facebook about the "Incel Rebellion" and referred to Elliot Rodger, the perpetrator of the Isla Vista rampage , who is celebrated as a hero by parts of the Incel community. In November 2018, a 40-year-old man broke into a yoga studio in Florida and shot two women before killing himself. In YouTube videos, he had declared himself to be Incel and a sympathizer of Rodger, as well as expressing hatred of women and right-wing extremist views. As a schoolboy he had already written texts in which he fantasized about raping and killing women. In connection with these acts, the mass murder of Anders Behring Breivik , who acted out of contempt for women in addition to anti-Muslim motives, is discussed.

The publicist Veronika Kracher sees the origin of the incel ideology in pop culture , especially in series like Friends or The Big Bang Theory , in which male protagonists ignore a woman's possible no to her desire and are unable to accept friendship relationships with women cultivate or talk about feelings.

ideology

“Incels” often see themselves as second-class men who feel rejected by women but are convinced that they are entitled to sex. Or they are failed “ pick-up artists ” for whom women have become enemies of their sexual needs. You also speak of women as "Femoids" or "Female Humanoids", female human-like creatures. According to the social psychologist Rolf Pohl, the main ideological tools would be the masculinist and men's rights movements . "They are the theory, the hatred and the willingness to use violence are the practice." The rhetoric has become increasingly extreme, the scene has become politically radicalized and shows overlaps and connections with right-wing nationalism, which in the USA is particularly prevalent in the old Right movement formed. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center , misogyny has increasingly become the “gateway drug for extremists”. Researchers count almost 50 victims of homicides committed by Incels (as of April 2020).

Followers and Spread

Supporters of the movement in the USA belong to the generation of heterosexual predominantly white men whom Michael Kimmel describes as "angry white men" and who live out their anger in misogyny. A study from 2019, however, found no clear indications of a dominance of white men, but assumes a racial diversity within the scene. The journalists of a film by Y-Kollektiv stated that the majority of the members of the scene, with whom they had contact during their research, are not white and therefore feel rejected. Starting in the USA and Canada, the phenomenon has now spread across the entire English-speaking world. Thousands of Incels have come together in online communities, such as in “The Red Pill”, a channel of the Reddit forum community , the subforum “PhilosophyOfRape”, where “ corrective rape of feminists” was discussed, or on 4chan and others. If one forum is closed, the "Incels" come together in another.

Situation in Germany

A scene with this name is not known in German-speaking countries. But radical misogyny is also spread on platforms and in forums by anti-feminist men's rights activists such as WGvdL and the indexed WikiMANNia . In addition, the English-language incel forum lookism.net is operated from Berlin and, according to its own information, has many German-speaking members. There is currently no monitoring of specific forms of hate on the Internet that are directed against women (as of December 2018).

During the terrorist attacks in Halle in October 2019 and in Hanau in February 2020, an anti-feminist agenda and hatred against women were identified in both right-wing extremist assassins. The Hanau attacker complained that he had never had a partner because feminism was to blame. The perpetrator in Halle claimed that feminism was to blame for the falling birth rates in the West.

The author Eike Sanders, employee of the anti-fascist press archive and education center (apabiz) and member of the research network Women and Right-Wing Extremism , stated that in extreme right-wing conspiracy ideologies, feminism is seen as a door opener to migration and multiculturalism. Feminists are called traitors there who do not have children. "Right-wing misogyny and the Incels are unfortunately all too often played down." Right-wing extremism offers the ideal breeding ground for anti-feminist and sexist ideologies.

Research by the Y collective on behalf of ARD and ZDF in various Internet forums showed in 2020 that some German Incels called online for attacks and announced them. In addition, users are said to have asked and incited each other to commit suicide and to have called on them to kill other people in the process.

literature

  • Angela Nagle : Kill All Normies. Online Culture Wars from 4chan and Tumblr to Trump and the Alt-Right. Zero Books (John Hunt Publishing) 2017, ISBN 978-1-78535-543-1 .
    • The digital counter-revolution. Online cultural struggles of the New Right from 4chan and Tumblr to the Alt-Right and Trump. Transcript, Bielefeld 2018, ISBN 978-3-8376-4397-8 .
  • Takis Würger : Male, single, life-threatening. In: Der Spiegel . 34/2014, pp. 50-54 ( spiegel.de ).
  • Tanya Falenczyk: Incel Movement. The unloved. In: Zeit Campus . No. 2/2019, February 5, 2019 ( zeit.de ).
  • Kracher, Veronika: Incels - history, language and ideology of an online cult . Valve publisher. ISBN 978-3-95575-130-2

documentation

  • Y collective : Suicide, violence, misogyny: how dangerous are Incels in Germany? , 2020

motion pictures

  • A Young Man With High Potential (Thriller), Director: Linus de Paoli, Germany 2019

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Zoe Williams: 'Raw hatred': why the 'incel' movement targets and terrorises women. In: The Guardian. April 25, 2018 ( theguardian.com ).
  2. ↑ Michael Schilliger: The Toronto gunman was an incel - but what is that actually? An explanation. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung. April 25, 2018 ( nzz.ch ).
  3. ↑ Tilman Richter: The hatred of the "Incels". Men without sex. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. April 29, 2018 ( faz.net ).
  4. ↑ a b Steve Hendrix: How male supremacy fueled an incel attack on a florida yoga studio. In: The Washington Post. June 7, 2019 ( washingtonpost.com ).
  5. ↑ a b Inga Barthels: Misogyny and right-wing nationalism. The revenge of insecure men. In: Der Tagesspiegel. March 20, 2019 ( tagesspiegel.de ).
  6. ↑ Toxic Masculinity - The Pop Culture Roots of the Incel Movement. In: Deutschlandfunk. Retrieved on August 25, 2020 (German).
  7. ↑ Philipp Bovermann: rampage from Toronto. What is an "incel"? In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. April 25, 2018 ( sueddeutsche.de ).
  8. ^ Rachel Janick: "I laugh at the death of normies": How incels are celebrating the Toronto mass killing. Southern Poverty Law Center, April 24, 2018 ( splcenter.org ).
  9. ↑ a b Veronika Kracher: hurt masculinity. In: Jungle World . January 3, 2019, accessed July 8, 2019 .
  10. ↑ The dark world of "Incel". «Misogyny acts of violence are not isolated cases». Interview by Beat Soltermann with Rolf Pohl, SRF, May 5, 2018.
  11. ↑ Bruce Hoffman, Jacob Ware, Ezra Shapiro: Assessing the Threat of Incel Violence . In: Studies in Conflict & Terrorism . tape 43 , no. April 7 , 2020, ISSN  1057-610X , p. 565-587 , doi : 10.1080 / 1057610X.2020.1751459 ( tandfonline.com [accessed May 20, 2020]).
  12. ↑ Walter S. DeKeseredy et al. (Ed.): The Routledge International Handbook of Violence Studies. Taylor & Francis, London, 2018, ISBN 978-1-138-28344-2 , p. 409.
  13. ↑ Abby Ohlheiser: Inside the online world of 'incels,' the dark corner of the Internet linked to the Toronto suspect. In: The Washington Post. April 2018.
  14. ↑ Jaki et al: "Online hatred of women in the Incels.me Forum" in "Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict" (2019). doi : 10.1075 / jlac.00026.jak
  15. ↑ a b Y collective: Suicide, violence, misogyny: How dangerous are Incels in Germany? , 2020.
  16. ↑ Misogyny: Reddit closes “men's group” with 40,000 members. In: The Standard. ( derStandard.de ).
  17. ↑ Federal Testing Office for Media Harmful to Young People, Decision N ° 6300 on Procedure Pr 0955/2019
  18. ↑ Holger Kreitling, Heike Vowinkel: Hatred of women and the dream of a revolution. In: The world. April 29, 2018 ( welt.de ).
  19. ↑ Max Eberle: Incels: On Lookism.net men insult each other for their appearance. In: Vice. June 5, 2020, accessed June 18, 2020 .
  20. ↑ Brigitte Theißl: Misogyny . "Incels": right to sex as a radical ideology. In: The Standard . December 2, 2018 ( derstandard.de ).
  21. ↑ Lisa Santos and Mirjam Ratmann: Man, Man, Man. In: Fluter.de. Federal Agency for Civic Education, accessed on July 21, 2020 .
  22. ↑ Incels announce rampage against women. In: Deutschlandfunk. Retrieved August 5, 2020 .
  23. ↑ A computer earth becomes a murderer. Linus de Paoli in conversation with Gesa Ufer, In: Deutschlandfunk Kultur, March 7, 2019.