Winter Capstone Assignment: An critical examination of Incel rhetoric viewed through the

writings of De Pizan and Machiavelli

Seyma Bulut
POL200
April 07 2021
 Violence against women has been a pressing issue throughout all of human history.

Women have faced a history of being condemned not just only for their own perceived crimes

and failings, but for those of men as well. Many people look at modern western society and see

women live relatively freely, coming and going as they please, pursuing education and careers

without being restricted on the basis of their gender, at least not explicitly. These people would

likely go on to say violence against women is either a thing of the past or only a problem in

certain parts of the world. Any who say so bring up a valid point in that unjust vitriol towards

women, or anyone assigned female at birth, are values that should have been left in the past but

unfortunately exist in the hearts and minds of many people around the world. Misogynist

movements such as Men's Rights Activists and Incels have caused an increase in violence

towards women in countries such as Canada and the United States. These people justify their

hatred and violence with arguments similar to those used to discredit women in the time of

writers such as Christine de Pizan and Machiavelli. They argue that women are promiscuous, ill

intentioned, selfish, and willing to submit to any man who can assert dominance. Despite strides

in gender equality having been made over the past century, these views seem to set us back by

several more. If Machiavelli's words on how to treat women are anything to go by then we can

draw clear parallels between incels and men of the sixteenth century. Even so, prior to anything

written by Machiavelli, Christine de Pizan stood firm in her defense of women's virtue, strength,

and intelligence. Many arguments for why women are inferior to men pertain to their

capabilities, whether it be their capacity to love, their physical aptitude, or their intelligence, all

of which Christine combats with her accounts of different women's endless devotion and

perseverance. While Christine’s texts are the oldest ones under examination in this essay, they

provide the most progressive takes on what women contribute to society.

 An incel is somebody who is “involuntarily celibate” and this means they cannot attract a

romantic and or sexual partner. The term came into prominence on internet forums such as 4chan

and reddit and has since seen wider usage throughout the internet to describe people who range

from simply lonely and unlucky in their love lives to those who actively resent those they deem

responsible for their lack of sexual or romantic success. (Hoffman et al 2020, 566) While incel

originally applied to both men and women who were socially awkward the term is now

overwhelmingly applied to men. While the term “incel” was coined from a group of online

individuals seeking support for social isolation, it has since been associated “with violence,

terrorism, alt-right ideology, white-supremacy, and the anti-feminist movement.” (Maxwell et al

2020) The more extreme sides of the group are focused on violence against women, although this

does not stop men and children from getting caught in the crossfire of their violent attacks. Such

was the case in 2018 when an incel drove a van through a crowd in Toronto, killing 10 people.

(Hoffman et al 2020, 570) These people are a threat to justice because their misguided beliefs

lead them to rob innocent people of their lives and otherwise use intimidation as a means of

oppressing people who they blame for their suffering.

Let us first examine common incel rhetoric and measure them up against Christine’s

words. An article delving into the thought processes and ideas spread in incel communities had

this to say: “The commenters within the incel community demonstrated many deep-seated

negative beliefs about women and the role of women in society. Women are depicted as vile,

toxic, evil creatures who manipulate and destroy men.” (Maxwell et al 2020) Christine rebukes
similar notions in The City Of Ladies with the claim that women are innately gentle and humble,

rather than being evil in any regards they are sweet-natured. (De Pizan 2018, 26) If women were

so toxic and vile as some men would claim, it does not explain why much painstaking labor of

little reward is done by women. Christine claims that it is common for women to bury the dead,

comfort the sick, help the poor and visit hospitals, even if this work is neither highly esteemed or

compensated. If there is little in the way of glory or pay, what other reason would women do this

work aside from the kindness of their own hearts? (De Pizan 2018, 39) To the idea that women

seek to destroy and manipulate men, Christine would offer the fact that women are allies to men

as rebuttal. A man who slanders women “acts against reason and against nature. Against reason

because he is very ungrateful and fails to recognize the great blessings women have bestowed on

him— so great, in fact, that he will never be able to make up for them no matter how hard he

tries, and he will always need them. Against nature because there is neither beast nor bird that

does not naturally love its partner, that is, the female.”(De Pizan 2018, 34) Christine argues it is

unreasonable to have such a lowly opinion of women when men owe their very lives to them,

and in fact can never repay the innumerable blessings women bestow upon them. Women are

necessary to the continued functioning of society and should have their worth recognized, for

men would not be able to survive without them.

Misogynist circles describe women as willing to commit graphic sexual acts with

attractive men who are financially wealthy or in a powerful role in society (Maxwell et al 2020),

but Christine would argue that most women value purity. On several forums it was shown

“Commenters believed that women were hypersexual and capable of manipulation given their

lack of depth and intelligence.” (Ibid) Those who seek to discredit women will quickly point to
their sexual proclivities in order to defame and demean them. They argue that all women are

promiscuous and that they do not care who their sexual partners are so long as they are attractive

and or domineering, and that this goes especially so for beautiful women. (Ibid) Christine

contests similar arguments in The City Of Ladies by bringing up accounts like that of Lady

Penelope. “You will also find many stories written about pagan ladies who were chaste,

honorable women. One such example is Penelope, the wife of Ulysses, who was a most virtuous

lady. ......... Even though she was courted by a number of kings and princes on account of her

great beauty, she refused to listen or pay attention to any of them. She was wise, sensible, and

devoted to the gods, eager to lead a virtuous life.” (De Pizan 2018, 144) If this account is to be

believed, then it is proof that there are women who will stay chaste no matter how affluent or

attractive the suitors who court them are. Christine asks why so many parrot this sentiment In

The City of Ladies, to which Lady Rectitude retorts with “Those who say that fail to mention

that there always have been and will be many women who are both beautiful and chaste.” (Ibid)

Many women value chastity and purity and refrain from sleeping around even when given the

option, while some would not conflate sexuality and morality, those that do should know better

to assume that just because a woman is beautiful that she is unfaithful or promiscuous.

Here we examine what an incel would call our greatest failing as a society: Allowing

women to obtain agency and permitting them to take on roles that are traditionally for men,

whereas Christine makes it clear women can easily succeed in such roles. To an incel a womans

purpose is “for fucking and raising families, not for having ‘rights.” And we are to live in a

system that “gave privileges, duties and chores to both sexes, in equity, according to their natural

propensity.” (Baele 2019) By this logic, to stray from these perceived roles is the greatest of sins.
To affirm this, take the quote “Letting women get educated and have careers was a HUGE

mistake.” (Ibid) To an incel a woman will never put the knowledge and expertise gained from

training and education to good use, and any effort expended on her is wasted. Christine would

vehemently oppose these sentiments with examples such as Queen Artemisia who “was left with

an extremely large country to rule, but she was not afraid to take this on because in addition to

her strong character and wisdom, she was a very competent administrator. She was also a bold

warrior and so well versed in the military arts that her many victories greatly enhanced her

reputation.” (De Pizan 2018, 62) Artemisia excelled in every field that was traditionally male at

the time, war, politics, and academics, thus disproving that women cannot succeed in these

fields. A story that addresses this argument even more clearly is that of Cornificia, a woman who

received education initially as a joke, but proved vastly intelligent. (De Pizan 2018, 70) Christine

recalls the words of a famous poet, Boccaccio, who, greatly impressed by Cornificias work,

showed his support of women who desired to learn but lacked the confidence. “These women

become discouraged and say that they are good and useful only for embracing men, having

babies, and raising them. God has given them a good mind so that if they wish, they can apply

themselves to all domains dominated by glorious and excellent men.”(De Pizan 2018, 71) His

words stand in direct opposition to the notion held by Incels that women are only good for child

rearing. These examples combat the idea that women would not perform well outside of their

designated roles as wives and homemakers. Indeed women are capable of achieving stellar

academic performances when given the chance, Christine herself is an example as we continue to

study her writings centuries in the future. Women can also choose to pursue martial prowess and

forge themselves into fearsome warriors or take charge as political leaders by these accounts.
Even if men and women are created with certain natures and characteristics inherent to them,

these designs will not prevent one sex from performing well in roles meant for the other.

Finally, many core sentiments held by incels are mirrored in Machiavelli's famous quote

about fortune in The Prince, “for fortune is a lady. It is necessary, if you want to master her, to

beat and strike her. And one sees she more often submits to those who act boldly than to those

who proceed in a calculating fashion. Moreover, since she is a lady, she smiles on the young, for

they are less cautious, more ruthless, and overcome her with their boldness.” (Machiavelli 1995,

76-77) This quote illustrates a striking similarity to the incel rhetoric detailed above in that it

generalizes and objectifies women while also normalizing violence against them. When

Machiavelli says that fortune is a lady thus must be treated a certain way, he implies that all

women are like minded and can be handled the same way without any regards for individual

quirks or preferences. It demonstrates his beliefs that women lack the depth and individuality of

men. When Machiavelli says that the best way to treat fortune is to bend it to your will through

aggression and violence, he is also saying the best way to treat a woman is to make her submit

through aggression and violence. The idea that fortune is a lady and therefore she must prefer the

young and the bold is a mirror of incels' belief that all women seek the pinnacle of masculinity;

young, attractive, aggressive, and physically imposing males. Beating and harming women is

encouraged as a method to have them acknowledge a man's dominance. (Beale 2019) Incels

continue that tradition today by attacking and killing women as retribution for being rejected as

romantic or sexual partners. (Hoffman et al 2020, 570-572) It is important to draw this parallel

because it illustrates a frustrating lack of progress in recognizing women as human beings

capable of rational thought and genuine emotion. Incels continue to be a fringe minority, but it is
a movement that has emerged incredibly recently and has continued to grow in popularity since

its inception. (Hoffman et al 2020, 572) It makes us confront the possibility that even over

hundreds of years common perceptions of women have not changed, or even scarier, that

progress is actively being destroyed as these ideas become more acceptable amongst young men.

To conclude, with the rise of misogynistic movements in the online sphere we are seeing

a slow but steady resurgence of arguments against women taking on the roles of men and the

slander of women on the basis of their gender. One can harken back to classical works like those

of Machiavelli in order to observe what common opinions of women were at the time and see

familiarities between them and what is repeated in online spheres. It is important to remember

the legacy of Christine de Pizan in times such as these because her writings have been used to

oppose these claims for centuries. Christine herself serves as an example of a woman who clearly

valued virtue and kindness and chose to pursue education despite it not being encouraged for

women of her time. Through her accounts of historical and religious figures Christine had

tirelessly worked to convince readers that women would toil in thankless work out of the

kindness of their heart. That women who pursued masculine pursuits could stand among the best

of their male counterparts. That women value chastity and purity and to call them all

promiscuous at heart is nothing but slander from men who project their own flaws onto them.

(De Pizan 2018, 33)Through this defense we see how baseless the claims made against women’s

nature are and by embracing women as people and granting them rights we will allow for a more

cohesive society and minimize the violence we use against each other.
 Bibliography

Baele Stephane, Brace Lewys & Travis G. Coan. 2019. From “Incel” to “Saint”: Analyzing the

violent worldview behind the 2018 Toronto attack, Terrorism and Political Violence. Accessed

April 6, 2021. DOI: 10.1080/09546553.2019.1638256

De Pizan, Christine. 2018. The Book of the City of Ladies and Other Writings. Cambridge:

Hackett Publishing Company, Incorporated. Accessed April 8, 2021. ProQuest Ebook Central.

Hoffman, Bruce, Jacob Ware, and Ezra Shapiro. “Assessing the Threat of Incel Violence.”

Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 43, no. 7 (July 2, 2020): 565–87. Accessed April 3, 2021.

doi:10.1080/1057610X.2020.1751459.

Machiavelli, Niccolo. 1995. The Prince. Cambridge, MA: Hackett Publishing Company,

Incorporated. Accessed April 8, 2021. ProQuest Ebook Central.

Maxwell, December, Sarah R. Robinson, Jessica R. Williams, and Craig Keaton. 2020. “‘A

Short Story of a Lonely Guy’: A Qualitative Thematic Analysis of Involuntary Celibacy Using

Reddit.” Sexuality & Culture 24 (6): 1852–74. doi:10.1007/s12119-020-09724-6.