Accepted: 3 March 2021

DOI: 10.1002/bsl.2512

SPECIAL ISSUE ARTICLE

- Received: 10 September 2020

- Revised: 28 January 2021

Wanting sex and willing to kill: Examining

demographic and cognitive characteristics of
violent “involuntary celibates”

D J Williams1 | Michael Arntfield2 | Kaleigh Schaal3 |

Jolene Vincent4

1
Department of Sociology, Social Work, &
Criminology, Idaho State University, Abstract
Pocatello, Idaho, USA
Over the past several years, an online community of self‐
2
Department of English & Writing Studies,
Western University, London, Ontario, Canada
described “incels,” referring to involuntary celibates, has
3
The Family Institute, Center for Applied emerged and gained increased public attention. Central to
Psychological and Family Studies, the guiding incel ideology and master narrative are violent
Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois,
USA
misogynistic beliefs and an attitude of entitlement, based
4
Department of Sociology, College of William on male gender and social positioning, with respect to
& Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia, USA obtaining desired and often illusory sexual experiences.

Correspondence
D J Williams, Department of Sociology, Idaho
State University, Campus Box 8114,
Pocatello, ID 83209‐8114, USA.
Email: djwilliams@isu.edu
While violence and hate speech within the incel community
are both common, there exists a notable subset of incels
who have been willing to act on those violent beliefs
through the commission of acts of multiple murder. This
study explores the demographic, cognitive, and other
characteristics of seven self‐identified incels who have
attempted and/or successfully completed homicide. The
findings suggest that although self‐perceptions tend to
reflect either grandiosity or self‐deprecation, homicidal
incels share similar demographic characteristics and dense
common clusters of neutralization techniques, cognitive
distortions, and criminal thinking errors.

1 | INTRODUCTION

The rise of the involuntary celibate, or “incel”, online subculture and ensuing offline acts of violence, including

-
several recent mass murders committed by offenders self‐identifying as incels or espousing incel ideologies, has
engendered considerable debate about whether to classify them as an extremist group and, if so, how to define
membership. Incel identity is difficult to define precisely given that the ideology and accompanying online narrative

Behav Sci Law. 2021;1–16. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/bsl © 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 1
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is loosely structured and continually evolving (Jaki et al., 2019). Moreover, incel attacks and their precursor
behaviors—including the stated rationale for violence, use of iconography, and violently misogynistic writings and
images—suggest that incel misogynistic attitudes, at least, are not new. It seems possible that incel primary motives
may be strikingly similar to those underlying Groth's (1979) classic typology of the anger‐retaliatory rapist as well as,
more recently, Aggrawal's (2009) vindictive rapist typology. In other words, perhaps the incel identity, mobilized via
the Internet, is a new, more violent version of a pre‐existing phenomenon. Future research on that possibility may
be insightful.
Although it is possible that incel psychology is, in some ways, similar to that of the violent sex offender
(specifically anger‐rapists), a small number incels have adopted murder as their preferred modus operandi. In other
words, some incels feel particularly hopeless and helpless about their lack of desired sexual experiences and do not
foresee their sexual and relationship statuses changing in the future, and, as a consequence, verbosely and
vociferously express both targeted and generalized blame for their predicament. Consistent with other forms of
mass violence (Fox & DeLateur, 2014; Fox & Levin, 2015), incel‐related violent attacks appear to be purposeful and
well planned. The present exploratory study focuses on individuals who strongly identify as incels and who have
been intent on committing homicide.

1.1 | Contextual research on self‐described involuntary celibates (incels)

Although the basic underpinnings of incel psychological characteristics have existed for some time, there has been
very little research on the architecture of the contemporary incel identity and community—including the recruit-
ment and radicalization process. Incel ideology is steeped in misogyny and is based on the belief that feminism is
ruining Western society, thus warranting a violent gender revolt to re‐establish male and White superiority
(Ging, 2019; Zimmerman et al., 2018). Subsequently, incels believe that attractive women, whom they refer to in
their cryptic lexicon as “Stacys,” can now acceptably choose, across diverse relationship statuses, to have sexual
relations with physically desirable men, known in the incel parlance as “Chads,” thus depriving less desirable men of
sexual experiences (Zimmerman et al., 2018). Incels, then, believe they are unfairly deprived of sexual experiences
and blame their sexual frustration mostly on Stacys and Chads, and to some degree society at large (members
known as “Normies”) which supports increased sexual and relationship freedom. Incels in turn believe they are
entitled to the sexual experiences they desire, and that contemporary liberal culture, impacted by feminism, is
therefore responsible for their lack of sexual experiences and their involuntary celibate status.
Although a precise definition of what type of individual classifies as an incel—at least compared with other
predominantly online radical groups espousing real‐world violence—has not been established, researchers have
reported that self‐identification with this comparatively new movement is a key element in establishing mem-
bership (Donnelly et al., 2001). According to The Incel Wiki (2018), “pill jargon” is commonly used within online
communities to allow people to visualize their behavioral roots and thought processes. For incel subcultures, the
various pills focus on social and sexual aspects of life that represent diverse ideologies and views of ideas and
dating:

� Bluepill: a dominant viewpoint for accepting and believing in societal views of the dating scene.
� Redpill: rejection and opposition to the bluepill; “taking the redpill” represents a perspective that feminism has
provided women too much power, but men are able to improve their dating situations by fighting back against
the perceived disadvantaged system.
� Blackpill: a philosophy that female sexual desire is inflexible and that systemic changes, rather than individual, are
required for a possible solution. An incel who has “taken the blackpill” believes that he is hopeless and, regardless
of any attempt to improve, will permanently lack romantic success.
WILLIAMS ET AL.
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� Whitepill: a worldview based on the maximization of individual happiness by accepting the situation. The ideals
highlight moving past needs and desires to avoid pain and suffering.
� Purplepill: a neutral perspective about gender relations and the dating scene (between bluepill and redpill; The
Incel Wiki, 2018).

Donnelly et al. (2001) suggested that involuntary celibacy is probably a combination of timing and both the
sequencing and duration of sexual behavior, which they categorized into three groups of incels based on their
sexual trajectories. Virginal incels tend to be younger (41% were aged 18–24 years and an additional 44% were
aged 25–34) than the other two incel relationship types; they have also never, or rarely, dated as teenagers and
lack social interaction skills (Donnelly et al., 2001). Single incels, on the other hand, also lacked dating experiences as
teens, while partnered incels were in current relationships but the majority of those relationships started out
satisfactorily, although eventually became devoid of sexual activity due to various reasons (Donnelly et al., 2001)—
a group of fringe members that incels often pejoratively refer to as “volcels,” in that they are in voluntary but
asexual relationships of convenience and are therefore not true (typically virgin) incels.
Not surprisingly, the Internet and its proliferation of what are generally classified by Arntfield (2020) as
“deviant cybercommunities,” along with their associated hate speech, has had a substantial impact on the devel-
opment and mass migration of extremist ideas across a variety of online platforms. This new online space is a crucial
component for incel identifiers as it provides an environment for individuals to interact and engage in deviance with
others who share and promote similar hateful sentiments. Similar to Gottschalk's (2020) findings among White
supremacist networks, incels are also likely to feel empowered by committing to the online group's ideology and
collective identity, which may ultimately lead to promotion and normalization of their extremist views in the online
environment. Furthermore, such online communities are available for users to anonymously connect to others
without geographical limitations, providing a virtual space with diminished accountability, the possibility for
manipulation, and violent ideologies to disseminate (Gottschalk, 2020).
The incel cybercommunity can be characterized as a hate group, sharing similar qualities to other radical and
extremist groups. Considering hate groups generally, findings from 18‐ to 25‐year‐olds in six nations revealed that
the majority who had been exposed to Internet‐based hate speech did not actively search for the content but had
arrived at the website by accident, signifying how accessible such hateful online materials are (Reichelmann
et al., 2020). Reichelmann et al. (2020) noted that hate disseminated via the Internet is an increasingly plausible link
to violence carried out offline. Another recent study by Gaudette et al. (2020) supports the significance of the
Internet in the process of radicalization to violence, noting that the Internet allows access to content and like‐
minded people, which increased their exposure to violent ideologies and groups.
Online deviant cybercommunities have been found to serve as a more recent form of promoting hateful ide-
ologies via Internet platforms which can lead to devastating offline violence. In regard to the incel deviant
cybercommunities, specifically, there are various violent brands of blatant misogyny—a diffuse electronic frontier
now collectively referred to as the “manosphere” is characterized by males in loosely structured online networks,
including incel identifiers, who perceive themselves as being vicariously victimized by society due to their perceived
lack of power and social influence (Ging, 2019; Nagle, 2017). These self‐described “betas” appear to be envious and
resentful of males with more social capital, known as “alphas” (synonymous with Chads) and the manosphere in turn
provides a means for competing masculinities to evolve and be, to some degree, expressed by the disenfranchised,
including self‐identifying betas (Ging, 2019). Particularly alarming, the manosphere, including conspicuous incel
online forums, has led to a proliferation of targeted hatred and vitriol toward women, including the justification of
rape and extreme violence in response to perceived rejection (Jane, 2018), or even in retaliation to the collective
disinterest of females in betas/incels. The impact of online forums was evident, for example, in the 2011 case of
Jared Lee Loughner, who at the time of his attack showed signs of paranoid delusions, like several other mass
shooters (Dutton et al., 2013), and participated in a private forum to discuss his misogynistic rage and frustration,
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build justification for his delusional beliefs, and fantasize about revenge before his murderous rampage, which killed
six and injured 14 others (Murray, 2017a).
Internet interactions, more generally, can reflect an online disinhibition effect, where anonymous communi-
cation and invisibility of the recipient increase the likelihood of hostile speech and behavior (Suler, 2004). A recent
linguistic analysis, for example, of an online incel discussion forum comparing 50,000 incel messages to 50,000
random more neutral messages within the manosphere identified three broad themes among incel discussion:
(a) negative discourse pertaining to being consigned as an incel; (b) offensive discourse targeting primarily
attractive women (Stacys), but also attractive men (Chads); and (c) infighting while competing for in‐group status
(Jaki et al., 2019). Not surprisingly, the analysis by Jaki et al. (2019) found that a substantial proportion of incel
discourse is hate speech characterized by highly misogynistic and homophobic messages. Although specific incel
attitudes seem to vary more than may be commonly assumed (because there is no unified definition or objective of
being an incel adherent), there are some who openly advocate for committing rape and physical harm, and many of
these threats appear to be quite seriously considered (Jaki et al., 2019).

1.2 | Incel violent attacks – known and suspected

Because of the comparatively amorphous classification criteria of incel members, quantifying a confirmed set of
canonical incel attacks has heretofore proven problematic, as is confirming a total number of incel adherents or
sympathizers active at any given time. One might argue, however, that before the coinage of the portmanteau
“incel” and the unification of a collectively misogynistic and at times homicidal group of self‐described incels ever
officially materialized, discrete acts of sexual assault and even mass homicide at least tacitly espoused a proto‐incel
ideology, and were likely motivated by a similarly facile sexual preoccupation with (and also a visceral hatred of)
women.
For instance, it has been speculated that the first unofficial incel act of mass violence—the murder of 14
female college students—occurred in Canada as far back as 1989. On 6 December of that year, a 25‐year‐old
student at École Polytechnique, a francophone engineering trade school in the city of Montreal, murdered 14
female students and injured another 14 after he systematically moved through the school armed with a semi‐
automatic rifle while separating male students from the female students. The shooter then summarily
executed the female students in a number of rooms, some of whom were forced to stand in line as though
positioned before a firing squad. Committing suicide at the scene, the offender, a military reject and loner named
Marc Lépine, left behind a suicide note describing his “blasé” personal life and expressing rage at what he felt
was a wave of “radical feminism” at the school that permitted females to pursue engineering careers (Malette &
Chalough, 1991). In a darkly ironic twist, the term “involuntary celibate” was coined in Canada 8 years later, in
1997, by a female college student and blogger (shortening it to INVCEL at the time) who chronicled her struggles
with dating and monogamy in a comparatively self‐help and heuristic (and entirely benign) tone. Within another
15 years, the term would be hijacked and repurposed by radical misogynists who in turn modified the extant
portmanteau to “incel” (Zimmer, 2018).
While a number of other speculative incel attacks post‐Montreal appear in retrospect, based on their amor-
phous motives, to have a potentially misogynistic subtext, the first true incel antecedent was likely the lesser‐
known case of George Sodini. Sodini, a successful 48‐year‐old systems analyst from New Jersey, expressed his
sexual frustration online and spent much of his disposable income on various “pickup artistry” books and work-
shops, yet ultimately reached a tipping point to commit murder for reasons that remain unclear. On 4 August 2009,
Sodini proceeded without warning to the Collier Township LA Fitness health club, entered a women's aerobics
studio, and indiscriminately opened fire on the women attending the class. Firing about 50 shots, Sodini killed three
gym members and injured nine others before he took his own life at the scene. A detailed suicide letter was
recovered in a gym bag he brought to the location. While the precise contents of that document have never been
WILLIAMS ET AL.
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made public, Sodini reportedly expressed misdirected anger toward women at large for having collectively
thwarted his rightful sexual ascendancy and ensuing success in courtship. He selected the target location because it
was known to have females only on site (Arntfield & Danesi, 2017).

1.3 | The influence of Elliot Rodger

Following the LA Fitness attack, a subreddit (a specific online community and message board on the social media
website, Reddit) began to attract an increasing number of (largely) young White males who identified with the
repurposed “incel” title. These included a disillusioned youth of privilege named Elliot Rodger, who was raised in
wealth and private schools across North America and Europe. On 23 May 2014, Rodger, by then 22 years old,
would inarguably go on to become seen as something of a martyr by incel devotees when, while an undergraduate
student at the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB), he slit the throats of his three male roommates
before going on a murderous spree across the coastal town of Isla Vista, shooting and killing two young women
selected at random outside a sorority house and a male customer at a nearby deli—all fellow students at UCSB. He
then began to shoot at females and various couples indiscriminately, while also using his BMW, purchased by his
parents, to run down pedestrians and cyclists while exchanging gunfire with police during his rampage. Rodger
eventually collided with a parked car and then committed suicide with one of the firearms in his possession
(Arntfield & Danesi, 2017).
Following the 2014 Isla Vista attack and its six deaths attributable to Rodger, it was discovered that he had
previously uploaded a number of monologues and confessionals to YouTube, the largest video sharing site, insin-
uating that an attack against “sexually active” Americans was imminent. He also composed and electronically
published a rambling and largely autobiographical manifesto, entitled My Twisted World, in which he laid the blame
for his current predicament, as a “gentleman” unable to attract the types of desirable women to whom he felt he
was entitled, on interference from competing men, the coldness and superficiality of women, and the social
acceptance of mixed race couples (Arntfield & Danesi, 2017). The manifesto has, in the years since the attack,
become something of an incel doctrine and is widely cited within the virulent subculture, with Rodger himself
having been elevated to the level of patron sainthood. Specifically, incels who are prepared to be “blackpilled”—or
to become radicalized and prepared to exert revenge on a society as a result of being relegated to being “forever
alone” (FA)—appear to be particularly influenced by Rodgers' writings and crimes (Lavin, 2018).
Of this writing, excluding the speculative cases predating Rodger's 2014 attack in Isla Vista and accompanying
manifesto, acts of multiple murder citing one of either the incel ideology by name, using its associated esoteric
nomenclature, or referencing and lionizing Rodger by name—or, in some cases, deceased offenders having left
behind digital evidence indicating repeated visits and contributions to incel online forums citing Rodger—number at
least seven separate occurrences, resulting in nearly 50 deaths of largely female victims. These include the most
catastrophic grade school massacre in United States history in terms of victim count, the 14 February 2018 mass
shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, by Nikolas Cruz, a former student of the school
(Litchwick, 2018). Cruz, it was later revealed, was a vocal devotee of the incel ideology and declared that Rodger
would “not be forgotten” in an online post made sometime before carrying out his attack that left 17 dead and
another 17 injured (Ritcher & Ritcher, 2019).
Two months after the Parkland incident, as incel rampages continued to increase precipitously in the wake of
Rodger's crimes and his being extolled as a hero by blackpilled incels, an April 2018 van attack in Toronto resulted
in the deaths of 10 female victims and the injuring of another 16. The perpetrator, Alek Minassian, was, like fellow
Canadian Marc Lépine nearly 30 years prior, a military washout who, in this case, posted a suicide note on
Facebook praising Rodger (Humphreys, 2019). However, unlike either Lépine or Rodger, his attempts to commit
suicide (in this case by prompting police to shoot him) were thwarted and he was arrested at the scene. He later
revealed in an interview with police that, having purportedly commiserated online directly with Rodger prior to the
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latter's own femicidal rampage in 2014, his intent was to use the attack to trigger an “incel rebellion” that would
result in the genocide of Stacys and Chads, leaving only incels and “Beckys” (less attractive but still coveted female
normies) to repopulate the world (Hayes, 2019).

1.4 | Recent research on mass public violence

The violent incel cases described in the previous section are consistent with recent research on mass public
violence, generally understood as victimization resulting in multiple deaths and/or injuries (Huff‐Corzine & Corzine,
2020). Researchers have reported that mass murders are typically well planned with intentional targets and are
frequently motivated, depending on the type, by power, revenge, loyalty, terror, and/or profit (Fox & DeLateur,
2014; Fox & Levin, 2015). Some mass public murders are associated with paranoid thinking, psychopathy, or
traumatic experience (Dutton et al., 2013; Langman, 2020), and some, including notable incel offenders, seem to be
fueled by developed fantasies that reflect themes of revenge, sadistic payback, public attention, and/or escape
(Murray, 2017b). Many public mass murder attacks seem to result from a culmination of personal, political, and
social dynamics that come together at the same time (Gill et al., 2017). Moreover, some perpetrators of mass
violence may ruminate about unfortunate personal circumstances, amplify grievances, and finally seek revenge via
extreme violence (Gill et al., 2017; Knoll, 2010; O'Toole, 2014). A recent study on different types of mass public
shootings—disgruntled employees, school, ideologically motivated, and revenge (an “other” category)—found that
ideologically motivated offenders were the most lethal, whereas disgruntled employee offenders were the least
lethal (Capellan et al., 2019). In considering incel‐related mass murder, multiple motives may potentially apply
depending on the particular case, including extremist ideology (Capellan et al., 2019), power and revenge (Fox &
DeLateur, 2014; Knoll, 2010; Murray, 2017b; O'Toole, 2014), hate (Fox & Levin, 2015), and sadistic payback
(Murray, 2017a). Violent overcompensation subsequent to personal insecurity and self‐perceptions around
damaged masculinity may apply to several public mass murder cases committed by both incels and other misog-
ynistic offenders (Langman, 2020).

2 | PRESENT STUDY: OBJECTIVES AND METHODS

With the spate of recent attacks post‐Rodger and the timeliness of this dangerous movement in mind, the goals of
this study were to identify demographic characteristics, type(s) of killings attempted/committed, and cognitive
features associated with extremely violent incel offenders. Because little is known about this specific type of
offender, such descriptive information may be valuable for both research and practical investigative purposes. Basic
data regarding the characteristics (i.e., type of murder, number of victims, etc.) associated with such cases are also
included in this study.

2.1 | Inclusion criteria and sample

Inclusion criteria for this study focused on a clear self‐identification as an incel, as evidenced by offender personal
communication (Donnelly et al., 2001) along with the killing or attempt to kill another person(s) that is significantly
connected with incel ideology. An initial search using Google, including pairing terms such as “incels and murder”
and “incels who kill,” was conducted. The search focused on both numerous media reports (i.e., BBC, CBC, CNN,
MSNBC, etc.), publicly available forensic documents (i.e., law enforcement and court reports), and peer‐reviewed
academic papers (i.e., Blommaert, 2017; Murray, 2017) to locate offender homicide cases that may fit current
WILLIAMS ET AL.
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TABLE 1 Incel homicide case characteristics

Age at offense location Location Weapons used Victims: fatalities Victims: injured

40 Florida Firearm 2 5

27 Utah Offender planned to 0 0

shoot victimsa

26 Oregon Firearms 9 8

17 England Knives 0 3

25 Ontario Vehicle 10 14

22 California Firearm, knife, vehicle 6 14+b

48 Pennsylvania Firearms 3 9
a
Offender was apprehended before he could carry out planned mass murder.
b
Some reports vary with regard to the number of non‐fatal victims.

incel descriptions, including self‐depictions. This initial search yielded 15 potential cases. A search of various ho-
micide cases already in the possession of the authors was also conducted.
After careful review of various pertinent reports and documents, seven of the initial 15 cases were excluded
because the offenders did not clearly self‐identify themselves as incels. However, while these cases clearly displayed
extremist and misogynist attitudes, broader motives (i.e., White supremacy, socio‐economic status issues, etc.) likely
played a role in their commission of murder. It is perhaps noteworthy that all but one of the seven excluded offender
cases were mass murder events. The final excluded offender was employed as a private security guard and
committed a single killing, but his method and apparent motive were considerably different than the others. While
intense frustration from being an involuntary celibate was cited as a likely reason for his violent episode, high work
stress was also noted, which reflects displaced generalized anger directed at one person, rather than multiple people.
Unlike the multiple homicide offenders who used guns, knives, and vehicles as weapons to commit murder, this
offender, perhaps impulsively, stomped a homeless man to death and was subsequently convicted of manslaughter.
Because this single murder case lacked planning and was an outlier, it was excluded from the sample.
The remaining seven cases clearly fit inclusion criteria for this study: each had distinctly self‐identified as an
incel with the associated ideology connected to their attempted or successful homicidal acts (see Table 1). Thus,
this study provided a thorough analysis of multi‐sourced data pertaining to seven cases.

2.2 | Data

A diverse array of publicly available data was collected, organized via Excel spreadsheets, and examined. Data
included offenders' personal writings, videos, and social media postings; forensic documents, such as law
enforcement reports and custodial interview videos; and numerous news and media accounts. Cases varied sub-
stantially in the amount, type, and quality of information available. Altogether, hundreds of pages of various
available documents were collected and analyzed.

2.3 | Focused coding schema and procedure

Basic descriptive data, including age, race, and type of incel (Donnelly et al., 2001), type of homicide (i.e., single,
serial, or mass murder), category of possible psychiatric issues, number of victims (lethal and nonlethal), and
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weapon(s) used, were all tabulated and recorded. In an attempt to analyze cognitive patterns, a coding schema (see
Table 2) was then developed to assess: (a) classic neutralization techniques identified by Sykes and Matza (1957);
and (b) common criminal thinking errors first identified by Yochelson and Samenow (1976).
Neutralization techniques allow people to temporarily neutralize certain values that normally would prevent
them from engaging in offensive behavior (Sykes & Matza, 1957). Similarly, criminal thinking errors are attitudes
and beliefs that are associated with criminal behavior (Yochelson & Samenow, 1976). Neutralization techniques and
criminal thinking errors have long been observed across a range of criminal populations, including violent offenders
(i.e., Coston, 2015; Kaptein & van Helvoort, 2019; Sykes & Matza, 1957; van Baak et al., 2018; Yochelson &
Samenow, 1976). Such techniques and distortions may also underlie attitudes of targeted racism and extremist
views (see Zastrow & Kirst‐Ashman, 2013). By identifying specific neutralization techniques and criminal thinking
errors, it may be possible to understand homicidal incels' thinking processes and how they may justify extreme
violence. Due to the nature of incel ideology, specifically generalized hate, along with the strong apparent desire to
commit homicide and potentially subsequent suicide by offenders in the sample, focused coding separately included
searches for evidence regarding overgeneralization (common cognitive distortion), helplessness and hopelessness, and
revenge. Documents were carefully analyzed by the first author using a standard line‐by‐line coding procedure
(Charmaz, 2000) to search for evidence of neutralization techniques, criminal thinking errors, overgeneralization,
helplessness and hopelessness. It should be noted that while criminal thinking errors are more specific than distinct

TABLE 2 Brief summaries of neutralization techniques and criminal thinking errors used in coding

Techniques/errors Definition

Denial of responsibility Attributing behavior to acts/forces beyond offender control

Denial of injury Minimizing harm or injury to victim

Denial of victim Claims victim did something wrong to deserve harm

Condemn the condemners Blame shifted to those who disapprove of offender actions

Appeal to higher loyalties Claims behavior is justified due to a value higher than law

Power thrust Inflates self‐esteem by use of threats or force

Entitlement Offenders' desires justified to violate others' boundaries

Pretentiousness An attitude of exaggerated self‐importance

Uniqueness An attitude of feeling special, thus laws may be violated

Lack of empathy Failure to consider feelings and experiences of others

Good‐person stance Offender views self as a good person to minimize behavior

Victim stance Offender views self as a victim to minimize responsibility

All‐or‐nothing thinking Failure to see complexity in situations

Fear of fear Fear is perceived as threat to self‐esteem

Lack of trust Trusting others perceived as weakness and reduces power

Disregard for responsible action Motivation is for self‐serving goals rather than social good

Closed channel communication Secretiveness and lack of receptivity for other viewpoints

Criminal pride Offender is proud of breaking law and criminal success

Lack of time perspective Failure to learn from past; seeks instant gratification
WILLIAMS ET AL.
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neutralization techniques, there is often clear overlap between the two. Because denial of injury and lack of empathy
overlap significantly in terms of meaning, these were coded together as a binary entry.

2.4 | Study limitations

While the findings from this study aim to provide valuable and actionable insight in terms of the threat assessment,
investigation, and interdiction of incels who attempted or committed homicide, there are several methodological
limitations. First, this study was conducted retrospectively. Second, this was necessarily a small sample (unlike
misogyny, broadly, there are few specific cases of multiple murder motivated by incel ideology).
There were several inevitable limitations regarding existing and available data. Some offenders diarized
extensively, adequately, and/or had a strong social media presence, while others produced little text. Some data
came from primary sources (i.e., police documentation), while other data were obtained from secondary sources
(i.e., media reports). There were also complexities inherent to the data coding process. For example, although
several portions of text (whether from first person offender accounts or narratives from others) clearly showed
identifiable neutralization techniques and/or criminal thinking errors that could be easily coded, other instances
presented much less obvious potential neutralizations and/or thinking errors that possibly could apply. However,
given this difficulty in coding, a conservative, strict coding approach was utilized, and only clearly identifiable
neutralizations and thinking errors, as agreed upon by coauthors, were identified and analyzed. The recurring
question throughout the analysis process centered on whether portions of text clearly contained what we thought
they did, and thus whether findings could be replicated, if necessary.
Consistent with Gaudette et al. (2020) in their study of hate groups, our similar application of research
methods, despite inherent limitations, should provide insights into the basic demographics and specific cognitive
features pertaining to incels who are committed to carrying out multiple murder. Findings from this study may be
particularly useful, given the general need for more research on Internet hate crime groups, and the specific lack of
research on violent incels.

3 | RESULTS

3.1 | Basic demographic characteristics of incel multiple homicide offenders

All seven offenders included in the sample were males, majority White (71%), and ranged between 17 and 48 years
old at the time of the incident, averaging about 29.3 years (SD = 10.83). Similar to findings presented by Donnelly
et al. (2001) which reported that 63% of the incels in their sample were between the ages of 18 and 34, the results
from the current analysis revealed that 71% of the present sample were under the age of 40 years at the time of the
incident.
Most of the incidents were committed by offenders in the United States, along with one incident that
transpired in Canada and another in England. Of these incidents, one offender was successfully apprehended prior
to committing his murderous plot at a women's march, while the remaining six were able to carry out their
homicidal acts: two of these occurred at a gym/fitness center, two at a college/university campus, one offender
killed in a more random manner in streets as women walked home alone, and the final offender used a vehicle to kill
bystanders on the sidewalk. With the exception of the offender who was arrested prior to his planned mass murder,
law enforcement agencies were alerted to concerning behavior exhibited by three of the six offenders prior to their
attacks. Additionally, three offenders had previous military experience serving their respective countries but were
prematurely discharged for various reasons.
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3.2 | Victim variation

There was extensive variation in the number of victims associated with each case. As noted earlier, one planned
attack (at a women's march) was thwarted before it could be executed. Some offenders targeted females exclu-
sively, while a few attempted to kill quite indiscriminately. As a whole, there were twice as many female victims
(fatal + plus nonfatal) as males. Demographic characteristics of victims also varied depending on the precise
location of the attack. For example, two attacks occurred on American college campuses, and the majority of
victims at these locations were aged 19–25 years. One attack occurred in a major Canadian city, and thus there was
diversity in respect of both the victims' ages (22–94 years) and ethnicities (including Canadian, Jordanian, and
Korean). As a whole, a large number of victims apparently had completed, or were working towards completing, a
college education.

3.3 | Types of incel and bimodal self‐perception distribution

Based on incel types identified by Donnelly et al. (2001), four of the offenders in the sample were virginal, one was
single, and two were either single or virginal. Of the latter two cases, both had very little sexual or relationship
experience, but it was unclear if they were actually virgins. No offenders in the study were partnered incels. Virginal
and single incels are likely to be younger in age, have inadequate social skills, and negative body image, all of which
seem to contribute to a lack of desired sexual experiences (Donnelly et al., 2001). It was not possible from the
available data to determine whether or not negative body image was relevant to this sample. However, there was
evidence of substantial overall self‐deprecation in nearly half of the sample regarding their self‐perception, while
the others presented clear self‐perceptions of grandiosity. This bimodal distribution of self‐perception in the
sample was unexpected and noteworthy. For example, a self‐deprecating offender, after diarizing his multiple at-
tempts to make himself more attractive, later, in a state of extreme hopelessness and helplessness, lamented:

I have slept alone for over 20 years. Last time I slept all night with a girlfriend it was 1982. Proof I am a
total malfunction. Girls and women don't give me a second look ANYWHERE. There is something
BLATANTLY wrong with me that NO goddam person will tell me what it is.

Another self‐deprecating offender wrote, “…I am always being bullied for being unintelligent… maybe it is best
if I rot in (prison).”
In contrast, a highly publicized, attention‐craving mass murder offender repeatedly referred to himself as a
“supreme” or “perfect gentleman” and called his autobiographical writings a “magnificent story.” Not surprisingly,
his narcissistic writings were full of overgeneralizations, neutralization techniques, and criminal thinking errors that
reflected his grandiose self‐perception, including pretentiousness, uniqueness, entitlement, and good‐person
stance. He asked himself, “How could an inferior, ugly black boy be able to get a white girl and not me? I am
beautiful, and I am half white myself. I am descended from British aristocracy. He is descended from slaves. I
deserve it more.” Repeatedly, his racist and misogynistic writings displayed cravings for attention and power, while
showing extreme jealousy toward sexually active peers perceived to be inferior to him, ultimately blaming women,
other men, and broader society as the source of his anguish.

3.4 | Potential psychiatric issues and types of homicide

Consistent with other reports (Allely et al., 2014), this study found that more than half of the sample potentially
show characteristics of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). However, this finding is significantly limited and must be
WILLIAMS ET AL.
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interpreted very cautiously, especially as data utilized for this study rely on various reporting but do not include
valid psychiatric assessments. Research regarding violence among people with ASD is inconclusive and in its infancy
(Allely et al., 2014). Allely et al. (2014) stated that childhood neurodevelopmental problems, such as ASD or head
injuries, may have a complex interaction with critical social dynamics, thus potentially, in some cases, contributing
to later violence. Furthermore, violence may be an outcome of several intricate influences associated with bio-
logical, psychological, and sociological factors (Allely et al., 2014). However, it is possible that the online incel
subculture may have a particular impact on individuals with ASD. Some individuals with ASD may not have a proper
understanding of appropriate relationships and associated dynamics, and they may assume that the depictions of
relationships on the Internet are typical, which may then contribute to offensive behavior (White et al., 2017). Thus,
individuals with ASD may be at a higher risk of being influenced and adopting incel ideology, which could lead to the
commission of violence. More research on this possibility is needed.
A few offenders in the sample had incurred prior charges related to trespassing or stalking women, but no
consistent criminal history pattern was observed. Five offenders in the present sample attempted and/or completed
mass murder, with mass murder defined here as homicides involving four or more victims in a single event.
Additionally, one offender attempted to commit multiple murder by stabbing three victims in three separate events,
which is consistent with a serial murder modus operandi. However, although this particular offender's attempted
murder process was serial, his attitude fitted that of a mass murderer, as evidenced by targeting women generally
and blaming them for his lack of sexual experience. On video he stated, “I think every girl is a type of shit,” and “all
women need to die.” Another offender was apprehended by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) before he
could carry out a carefully planned mass murder, but he admitted that he was intent on “shooting up a public place
soon.” He elaborated:

I've never had a girlfriend before and I'm still a virgin, this is why I'm planning on shooting up a public
place soon and being the next mass shooter ’cause I'm ready to die and all the girls who turned me
down is going to make it right by killing as many girls as I see.

This and his other admissions regarding his planned attack clearly reflect overgeneralization, power thrust,
denial of victim and lack of empathy, and entitlement.

3.5 | Cognitive patterns

Dense clusters of neutralization techniques, criminal thinking errors, and overgeneralizations were observed across
the sample. Offenders' verbal and written communications commonly reflected denial of victim and lack of
empathy, power thrust, entitlement, all‐or‐nothing thinking, and victim stance. For example, in discussing a woman
who had rejected his attempts at establishing a romantic relationship, one offender wrote: “____ is the worst… (She)
snuffs me whenever I try to engage her, she answers as quick as she can, then turns away. I saw her gruesome look
tonight. I'll never think of her in the same way. I seem to bring out the ugliness in people. I'd like to put it to her.”
Another offender, as part of a broader cognitive pattern showing denial of victim and lack of empathy, wrote
“Many of the young girls here look so beautiful as to not be human, very edible.” Revealing entitlement, over-
generalization, and a victim stance, this same offender added “A man needs a woman for confidence. He gets a
boost on the job, career, with other men, and everywhere else when he knows inside he has someone to spend the
night with and who is also a friend… Every other guy does this successfully to a degree.”
Offenders with grandiose self‐perceptions show the same clusters of overgeneralizations, neutralizations, and
criminal thinking errors as self‐deprecators, but additionally included good‐person stance, pretentiousness, and
uniqueness. One grandiose offender, whose social media activities displayed extreme anti‐Christian and racist
themes, wrote:
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- WILLIAMS ET AL.

I was once a like you, a loser, rejected by society. When the girls would rather go with alpha thug black
men, we can all agree that something's wrong with the world. When good individuals like myself are
all alone, but wicked black men get the loot, like some sort of vaginal pirate. It's not fair.

Another narcissistic offender, throughout his autobiographical “magnificent story” created from his “superior
memory,” frequently displayed overgeneralization, victim stance, denial of victim and lack of empathy, uniqueness,
and pretentiousness. The beginning of his introduction reads:

Humanity… All of my suffering on this world has been at the hands of humanity, particularly women. It
has made me realize just how brutal and twisted humanity is as a species. All I ever wanted was to fit
in and live a happy life amongst humanity, but I was cast out and rejected, forced to endure and
existence of loneliness and insignificance, all because the females of the human species were inca-
pable of seeing the value in me…

In writing about his birth, this offender points out his “prestigious” ancestry, “a family that was once part of the
wealthy upper classes before they lost all of their fortune during the Great Depression.” Throughout the entire
lengthy text, the offender repeatedly reveals themes of uniqueness, pretentiousness, and entitlement, as well as
other common cognitive errors reflected in writings and descriptions of other incel homicide offenders.

3.6 | Helplessness and hopelessness

Both helplessness and hopelessness, functioning at least partly as combinations of neutralizations and thinking
errors, were prevalent across the writings and descriptive materials of the sample. Helplessness and hopelessness
were specifically related to future sexual and/or romantic relationship experiences, but also to having broader life
needs and desires. Regarding feeling hopelessness and helplessness concerning sexual and relationship experiences,
one offender stated,

I actually look good. I dress good, am clean‐shaven, bathe, touch of cologne – yet 30 million women
rejected me… None of them finds me attractive…I need to expect nothing from me or other people. All
through the years I thought we had the ability to change ourselves – I guess that is incorrect.

Another offender frequently lamented his lack of hope for sexual and romantic experiences, summarizing,

My hope that I will one day have a beautiful girlfriend and live the life I desire slowly faded away. I was
in the same dark and miserable place that I had been a year previously: lonely, unwanted, miserable.

Incel offenders who committed multiple homicides also displayed hopelessness and helplessness about their
lives beyond the realm of sexual and romantic relationships. For example, a chronically angry offender, before
committing mass murder and suicide, wrote, “Some will of course say I had so much to live for, but I don't think so.
I had no friends, no girlfriend, was all alone. I had no job, no life, no successes.” This same offender cited descriptions
of a prior mass murderer, who apparently had also experienced extreme helplessness and hopelessness. A separate
incel offender diarized:

I know nothing will change no matter how hard I try or what goals I set… I always had hope that
maybe things will improve especially if I make big attempts to change my life. I made many big
changes in the past two years but everything is still the same. Life is over… I no longer have any
WILLIAMS ET AL.
- 13

expectations of myself. I have no options because I cannot work toward and achieve even the smallest
goals. That is, ABOVE ALL, what bothers me the most.

Work dissatisfaction, expected job termination, and unemployment were also present across much of the
sample. One offender who committed a mass murder had been fired from multiple jobs due to inappropriate
sexually related behavior. He had applied for, and was denied, 55 jobs prior to his violent outburst, yet blamed
females as the “brick wall” that blocked him from having success. While several offenders seemed to experience
bouts of hopelessness and helplessness legitimately, these feelings were significantly exacerbated by over-
generalizations, misattributions, and victim stances.

3.7 | Revenge

Revenge motivations were evidenced across all offenders in the sample. Consistent with incel ideology, blame,
anger, and revenge were directed toward females. One offender stated on video, “I am still a virgin; everyone
is losing it (virginity) before me, that's why you are my chosen target… I was planning to murder, mainly
women as an act of revenge because (of) the life they gave me.” Another offender who planned a mass murder
targeting female victims did so “to make it right” in order to gain personal retribution for his lack of sexual
experiences. Still another offender, prior to killing two women and seriously injuring several more, spoke of
retribution directed at females, writing, “You (women) bring this on yourselves.” He then neutralized his
murderous actions by appealing to a higher loyalty, adding “I have a duty, an obligation, a moral obligation to
proceed and act as such.”
In some but not all cases, offenders' revenge extended beyond females to include society more generally.
While craving power and, in his own mind, appealing to a more powerful loyalty (a “demonic hierarchy”) a mass
murder incel offender “…realized that society likes to deny me these things (friends, job, girlfriend, sexual
experience)” and advised others “to buy a gun and start killing people.” Two other mass murder offenders, one
referencing the other, each planned an elaborate personal “day of retribution” toward society that, in their own
minds, was responsible for their “sadness, anger, and hatred.” Revenge and power, directed toward females
specifically, but sometimes people generally, are salient motivational themes underlying acts of homicide
committed by incels.

4 | DISCUSSION

The violent incel offenders identified in this study are inarguably extremely misogynistic, narcissistic, nihil-
istic, and apparently also prone to ideas of racial segregation. Six of the seven offenders' intentions were to
commit mass violence and one offender stabbed victims in a manner consistent with serial, rather than
mass, murder. Cognitive features across the sample were consistent and clearly show overgeneralization and
all‐or‐nothing appraisals (across multiple contexts), entitlement, lack of empathy, and denial of victim, which
then seem to fuel victim‐stancing and overcompensation via power‐thrusting and commission of extreme
violence.
At least some of the cases in the present study – especially those found to have deprecating self‐perception –
are consistent with Langman's (2020) recent observations concerning misogynistic cases of mass public violence,
wherein attackers' perceived inadequacies are subjectively viewed as damaged masculinity. Perhaps such of-
fenders' perceived inadequacies may have been overcompensated through extreme acts of violence and justified
through specific neutralizations and cognitive errors. Incel homicide offenders in this study with grandiose
self‐perceptions have used many of the same neutralizations and cognitive errors as their self‐deprecating
14
- WILLIAMS ET AL.

counterparts, but unlike those with deprecating self‐perception, also reflected uniqueness, pretentiousness, and a
good‐person stance.
Several cognitive features of incel homicide offenders are generally consistent with existing research on
mass public violence wherein salient motivations include revenge, power, and hate (Fox & DeLateur, 2014; Fox
& Levin, 2015; Knoll, 2010; Murray, 2017b). Public officials have reason for concern regarding the potential for
future mass public violence committed by incels, given the recent growth of deviant cybercommunities
(Arntfield, 2020) and the relative ease with which individuals are exposed to violent extremism and radicalized
(Gaudette et al., 2020; Reichelmann et al., 2020). The risk of mass public violence seems to increase when
individuals experience severe long‐term stress – such as that related to an inability to maintain gainful
employment, injuries from accidents, untreated serious mental health issues, physical or sexual abuse in
childhood, and an inability to establish and maintain appropriate social relationships – and subsequently they
(usually males) feel hopeless (Gill et al., 2017). For self‐identified incels who thus espouse an extreme
misogynistic ideology, such overall bleakness may fuel a desire to act out against specific targets while
rationalizing homicidal activities. However, much more research is needed to better understand, and potentially
prevent, incel‐related mass public violence.

5 | CONCLUSION

The online incel subculture is a more recent group that appears to be growing, with their hateful ideology being
associated with offline violent homicidal attacks. The specific motivations, such as revenge, typically targeted at
females, but also society more generally, that drive some incels to attempt or successfully carry out well‐planned
acts of violence are unique to this deviant cybercommunity. However, many of the cognitive features of violent
incels were found to be similar to those of other violent mass offenders, including motivations of revenge, power,
and hate. More research is undoubtedly warranted to understand this complex phenomenon.

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