Reading Response #2

“Our Incel Problem,” by Zack Beauchamp, is an essay that focuses on learning about the online community of incels. The group include members who have difficulty in forming romantic relationships. The members originally described their romantic troubles as “involuntary celibacy”, but later this phrase developed and became the term incel. 

Patterns Mr. Beauchamp decided to include in his essay was how the members viewed themselves, and why they considered themselves incels. Each individual in the community shares some sort of insecurity. This insecurity causes them to be shy which creates the awkwardness in their relationships.  According to Miguel, a member of this community, incels have either been bullied, or have autism, or unattractive faces. These traits are said to lead himself as well as others to rejection by women. John, a 30-year-old incel, describes his personal trauma with the community. He says that he tried everything he could think of to succeed in the dating field. Nothing worked, and when he went to his female friends for help in searching for women to date, his friends never described him as being attractive or cute. With these conceptions John concluded that he was ugly and hopeless with women, which led him to the community.

Reading Zack Beauchamp analysis on the incel community I was able to conclude that the incel community is misguided. Mr. Beauchamp concluded in the excerpt that the incel community was filled with misogynistic rage. A perfect example of this misogynistic rage and misguided energy would be when incel individuals began to call for acid attacks and advocate for killers who destroyed relationships.  In most of the personal stories, originally each individual that joined the incel community came to the internet for help. They were in search of new ways/methods to improve on their insecurities, so that they can pursue romantic relationships. The wider context is that if the community does not change they will go down a path of hatred instead of pursuing their original goals. 

 

Comments ( 3 )

  1. Elizabeth Cayetano
    I like the fact that you mentioned that incels went down a bad path and steered away from their original purpose which was to find others like them and help each other out when it came to dating.
  2. Yaya Camara
    I agree with your analysis. I also feel like their rage is rooted in their insecurity within themselves. And as a result of their words and beliefs, they are subconsciously pushing potential partners from them.
  3. Milton Isaiah Rivera
    I feel like Incels have been divided into a spectrum in today's age, we have the radicals on one side and the ones who just have anger about their features not being good enough for women. But when we have this divide into the extreme should non-radical incels still call themselves incels?

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