An apparent social media posting has linked the man accused of killing ten people with a van in Toronto with a controversial celibacy movement. On April 23, ten people were killed and 16 others injured when a man driving a white van drove into a crowd in North York, Toronto. Alek Minassian, 25, was arrested at the scene.
Shortly after Minassian’s name was made public, a Facebook post spread online that was apparently written by the suspect. The posting read, “Private (Recruit) Minassian Infantry 00010, wishing to speak to Sgt. 4chan please. C23249161. The Incel Rebellion has already begun! We will overthrow all the Chads and Stacys! All hail the Supreme Gentleman Elliot Rodger!” The posting has not been confirmed as legitimate. It was posted on the same day as the van incident.
The writing makes reference to Elliot Rodger. In May 2014, Rodger, 22, shot and killed six people while injuring 14 others before committing suicide close to the campus of the University of California, Santa Barbara. Prior to his rampage, Rodger posted a video on YouTube titled, “Elliot Rodger’s Retribution.” Rodger made the claims that he was killing women because he was a virgin and was targeting sexually active men. As a result, Rodger was considered a member of the Incel Movement, a movement for people who feel they are victims of enforced celibacy.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. A Subreddit for the Incel Movement Was Removed in 2017 Due to Gross Misogyny
2. Many Incel Movement Reddit Users Were Also Active on Alt-Right Pages
The Guardian reported in November 2017 that Reddit had banned a subreddit named, Incels. At the time it was removed, there were over 40,000 members of the page. A common theme on those Reddit pages were “Chads,” men who have casual sex with women.
A Change.org petition that spread in the summer of 2017 accused the group of advocating rape with titles of pages on subreddit including, “All women are sluts” and “Reasons why women are the embodiment of evil.”
The Guardian report adds that users on the subreddit who were viewed as too friendly to women were warned and subsequently banned if their behavior didn’t degenerate. Women were commonly referred to as “Femoids” on the page.
According to a study from Grinnell College on the Incel Movement, another common name for women on the site is “Stacy.” The study reads, “The female counterpart of a Chad is called a “Stacy,” and she is viewed as unattainable. Incels talk about Chads in a reverent way, while talking about Stacies in a hateful way. They strive to be Chads, but demean the Stacies Chad is allegedly having sex with.”
The Grinnell study adds that many in the Incel Movement subreddit were also active in alt-right pages such as “The Red Pill,” “Mens Rights” and “Men Going Their Own Way.” A Quartz piece included words such as “femoids” and “Chad” as being part of a new alt-right dictionary. That same article mentions that some on the subreddit referred to Elliot Rodger as “Saint Elliot” because he “martyred” himself for the Incel cause.
3. Despite the Misogyny, the Incel Movement Was Started by a Woman
4. One Incel Activist Believes that the Members of the Movement Should Be Viewed as a Gender
A former site admin for IncelSupport, Rebecca Freeman, wrote on Quora that the group is “not a movement; we have never protested or made any request for rights — or anything like that. We do not much resemble the stereotypes and tropes many feminist groups like to use against us.”
5. ‘There Is Not That Much Difference’ Between Incels & Those Who Are Just Love-Shy
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