The article, “Our Incel Problem,” by Zack Beauchamp investigates the incel community. 90% of the people who tend to be part of the culture are men under the age of 30 – this information from an informal poll. They are also likely to reside in countries in Europe or North America, with half identifying as White and the others classifying as Asian, Black, and Latino. All have suffered from some form of rejection by society leading them to agree with the core concepts of the culture. The insiders conclude that they are too physically unattractive to receive love from the opposite gender. Incels also believe that women will inevitably choose an attractive partner. The members also exhibit a great deal of anger towards women and the circumstances they’re in.

By informing the reader of these trends, we can get a sense of how the community has come to be at its current state. These patterns tell us that these men are lacking in support or advice outside of these groups. They seek comfort online from those who can understand their situation, gaining guidance from men whose attitude have already been set. Beauchamp takes his research on the incel community and relates it to a much bigger problem. The mindset of incels now is very much rooted in misogynistic ideologies. Beauchamp believes that incels are just a reflection of the dominant principles that are present in Western society. His analysis within a wide context forces the reader to think about the situation at hand: how incels empower the contemporary obstacles women face on a day to day basis.

Mohammed Hossain

Shamecca Harris

English

4-6-20

The essay by Zack Beauchamp is about an online community lead by incels. While reading the essay, I have noticed many patterns about this community. For example, most of the people in this community are men who are considered unattractive, been cheated on, bullied, or a loner. Also, most are from Europe or America. These are the people who have trouble making friends and are afraid to open up to others because of their insecurities. This leads them to isolate themselves from the outside world and spend most of their time online communicating with the group. Also, this group was made to help the people who have these issues but later this group became something else. In a way, the incel was fueled with rage and was jealous of others who are not like them. In April 2018, a college student in Toronto named Sohe Chung and her roommate, So Ra, was walking to the library. “Chung and So never made it to the library. On the way there, a van hopped the curb onto the sidewalk and slammed into pedestrians. Chung was one of 10 killed; So was one of 16 wounded.” (Beauchamp). This was done by an incel. Also, they were calling for other incels to follow up with “acid attacks” and “mass rape.” (Beauchamp) This goes to show that they are becoming criminals. Their hate for others is not doing any justice to them. I feel like, these are the reasons why there are attacks on schools because most of the people create their friend circle early in schools. Being a loner for all those years can be very hard for anyone in general. Also, I watched many documentaries online about serial killers and surprisingly, most of them were loners.

While reading Beauchamp’s essay I noticed a big trend within the incel community, which is these men are unattractive, insecure, and bullied (she also notes that some of these men may have autism). These traits, in the mind of an incel, make them unattractive to women, and make women reject or just plain out treat them as though they are not human. One could sympathize for them, but the misogyny of these men simply can’t be ignored, and I feel conflicted whether to be sympathetic or disgusted by their ideology that women are selfish. So, with this being said they also have some rage, and the radicals of this group have off ramped the whole objective of the group by killing actual human beings since they aren’t accepted by women. The reader of the essay is informed that the incels of today’s day and age, the radical ones, aren’t the ones of the past, and that when creating this original group it was a safe space for men to talk about their experiences (a safe space for misogynistic remarks as well). The reader is informed that these men have had it rough due to their looks, and this is why they behave in this way, but the reader should keep in mind that their behavior isn’t excusable. Beauchamp’s essay gives us a view into a wider context through these men because if one group can be derailed like this, imagine other groups with the same demographic. This essay reminded me of the New Zealand shooting that happened last year where a group of men shot up a mosque, and used the phrase “sub to pewdiepie” while doing so. This completely devasted the YouTuber, and led to him telling his fans to stop using the phrase because it had been soiled by these men. So, if incels want to continue to use forums to talk about women or their own life experiences they should find another name, one which doesn’t carry the deaths of human beings.