Involuntary celibates (hereafter “incels”) are an online community of men who define themselves by their inability to access sex with women. In addition to encouraging violence against women, vocal members of many incel communities endorse white supremacy, suicidal ideation, and attacks against members of the public. Online violent incel communities represent a risk to both health and public safety. Recent attacks by violent incels have put their capacity for real-world harm beyond doubt. The first step in understanding how to engage with at-risk incels for violence prevention is to understand how they communicate and share their worldview.

Incels have developed their own coded and highly specialised language, which they use to communicate in online forums and spread their ideology. This guide, produced for Public Safety Canada, aims to demystify the jargon and symbols they employ; provide definitions and context; and demonstrate how language choices fit into a wider system of belief. By doing so, we hope to empower practitioners, front-line service workers and journalists to recognize individuals who are involved with the incel community, understand their unique frames of reference, and ultimately, feel able to engage with them.

You can download the French version of the report here.