"Incels are a diverse and loose-knit movement drawn together by two things: a burning misogyny and a nearly cultlike belief that sex is a necessity that should be guaranteed to young men. That has manifested, at times, into attacks on symbolically relevant soft targets: a street full of people enjoying the spring weather; a school full of young adults; and, in February, a massage parlor—a gray-market sex work establishment.
In and of itself, such a movement would be odious, and it might inspire domestic violence—some incels, despite the name, are in relationships but believe that their partners do not match the qualities they “deserve,” such as virginity. But it wouldn’t be a national security threat. For some time, that’s what it was. But, as Minassian recognized in his social media post, that changed when Elliot Rodger, a 22-year-old member of some early incel communities, launched a spree attack in Isla Vista, California, on May 23, 2014.
National security agencies are waking up to the threat. This year’s annual report from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, one of Canada’s main anti-terrorism agencies, singled out “gender-driven violence” as an emerging current of violent extremism—it specifically mentioned the 2018 van attack, as well as the stabbing attack in Sudbury.“Once viewed as a criminal threat by many law enforcement authorities,” a January report from the Texas Department of Public Safety described. “Incels are now seen as a growing domestic terrorism concern due to the ideological nature of recent Incel attacks internationally, nationwide, and in Texas.”
