From “Incel” to “Saint”: Analyzing the violent worldview behind the 2018 Toronto attack

“The thread on our workshop was notable for its lack of misogynistic content, which researchers have previously identified as a common aspect of discourse and culture on platforms such as /pol/ (Baele et al., 2019; Marwick and Lewis, 2017).”

“…and present threat,’ and the majority of scholarship has been concerned with the violent and extremist ideology expressed within these groups (Nagle, 2016; The Fifth Estate, 2019; Zimmerman et al., 2018), or focused on the motivation behind incel-identified political violence (Baele et al., 2019).”

“By way of the ‘Black Pill’ ideology discussed later in this article, there is a nihilistic element to the community that encourages both self-harm and cathartic acts of violence against women (Baele et al., 2019).”

“…hopelessness, and depression pervade incel forums (Høiland, 2019; Regehr, 2020), with many members openly discussing suicidal plans online (Baele et al., 2019; Cottee, 2020; Daly & Laskovtsov, 2021; Glace et al., 2021; Hoffman & Ware, 2020; Jaki et al., 2019; Jones, 2020; Maxwell et al.,…”

“…believe that with the rise of feminism and the women's rights movement, men lost their “rightful entitlement” to dominate women, leading to a new societal order wherein only a small proportion of men gain access to women's bodies (Baele et al., 2019; CBC The Fifth Estate, 2019a; Tolentino, 2018).”

“…what has been discussed about incels, attachment researchers would likely not be surprised by the findings of the present study, as depictions of women as devious, conniving, and untrustworthy certainly reflect an insecure attachment style (Baele et al., 2021; Jones, 2020; O’Malley et al., 2020).”

“[4] study content shared by members of the Incel community, focusing on how support and motivation for violence result from their worldview.”

“Social scientists increasingly advocate systematic study of online communities (Baele, Brace, and Coan 2019; Nagle 2017; O’Neill 2018; Jane 2018; Ging 2019; Schmitz and Kazyak 2016; Van Valkenburgh 2018).”

“This strong resentment towards women can lead to violent acts, harassment, threats, and even shootings (Stephane J. Baele, Lewys Brace and Travis G. Coan 2019; Taisto Witt 2020).”

“Researchers have found that Incel-affiliated men are more likely than others to support violence (Scaptura 2019; Baele, Brace, and Coan 2019).”

“Research has similarly found that incel communities are characterized by virulent misogyny that justifies the use of violence, particularly against women (Baele, Brace, and Coan 2019; Ging 2019; Jaki et al. 2019).”

“This claim is further underlined by a belief in genetic determinism and superficial interpretations of evolutionary psychology (Baele et al. 2021, 1675; Daly and Reed 2022, 24; Ging 2019, 649; Maxwell et al. 2020, 1860).”

“…misogyny and antifeminism online (Bratich and BanetWeiser 2019; Chang 2020; Lin 2017), qualitative and quantitative analysis of incel forums (Baele, Brace, and Coan 2019; Ribeiro et al. 2020), its relevance to terrorism and security (Cottee 2020; Hoffman, Ware, and Shapiro 2020; Tomkinson,…”

“The second course of action, resignation, is consistent with the nihilistic nature of the blackpill, which rejects the idea that they could improve their situation, even through violence (Baele et al., 2019).”

“Online extremist communities have the potential to encourage acts of violence among susceptible users (Baele et al., 2019; Ging, 2019; Hoffman, 2019; Hoffman et al., 2020; Holt et al., 2010; Jaki et al., 2019).”

“Some of the most striking manifestations of incel terroristic attacks are the Isla Vista school shooting perpetrated by Elliott Rodger in 2014 and Alek Minassian’s van attack in Toronto in 2018 (Baele et al., 2019 ; Vito et al., 2018 ; Witt, 2020 ).”

“As it is now known, the incel community ’ s dominant worldview is grounded in hostile sexism largely directed at women and a shared contempt for mainstream dating standards and feminism (Baele et al., 2021).”

“Notwithstanding some excellent theoretical framings from internet studies (Massanari, 2015; Marwick and Lewis, 2017) social psychology (Allan, 2016), gender and media studies (Ging, 2019; Braitch and Banet-Weiser, 2019), sociology (Kimmel, 2018) and terrorism studies (Hoffman et al., 2019; Baele et al., 2019), there r…”

“…rise of incel violence in the USA and Canada has drawn attention to the intersection of gender and violence (Duriesmith, Ryan, and Zimmerman 2018; Baele, Brace, and Coan 2019; Tomkinson, Harper, and Attwell 2020; Hoffman, Ware, and Shapiro 2020), but other groupings also foster hatred towards…”

“High profile crimes have been connected to manosphere communities[1, 4, 22] and have prompted the question of whether or not these groups hold ex-tremist views .”

“The irony is, of course, that incels long for romantic and sexual relationships with these women and often create detailed posts about such fantasies (Baele et al., 2019; Maxwell et al., 2020).”

“This online connectivity fosters an environment where they can reinforce their beliefs and grievances, creating a self-reinforcing echo chamber (Baele et al., 2019).”

“” (Baele et al., 2021, p 4).”

“…and gender relations, such that they view it as the right of men to sexually assault women, which buttresses prior research demonstrating incels ’ commitments to violence and male supremacy (Baele et al., 2019; Halpin, 2022; Halpin et al., 2023; O ’ Donnell & Shor, 2022; Tranchese & Sugiura, 2021).”

“They claim to be losers in a biologically determined hierarchy structuring society, and yet they blame attractive women for actively bringing about this immutable situation (Hoffman, Ware, and Shapiro 2020, 567 – 68, 577; Baele, Brace, and Coan 2021, 1675).”

“Recently, the formation of these echo chambers, their social dynamics, and their impact on the beliefs and actions of those who inhabit them have generated a growing stream of research (Baele et al., 2019; Bliuc et al., 2018; Oswald & Bright, 2021; Regehr, 2020; Sasahara et al., 2020; van Eck et al., 2021).”

“…motivated by a specific worldview (political, religious, or misogynistic), workplace attackers and school shooters are defined in terms of the location of their attack, i.e. former or current workplace or educational institution (Baele et al., 2019; Doosje et al., 2016; Lankford, 2013).”

“Women are objectified with labels like “foids” or “roasties”, and are blamed, believed to be able to have sex whenever and with whomever they desire, “ programmed to get pregnant with the best possible DNA they can find ” [38] (p. 1675).”

“…Salafi-jihadi culture, but also in other extremist online communities akin to the ‘chans’ where the ‘sanctification’ of killers reinforced commitment to violence (read e.g. Baele et al., 2019, on incel forums; Raitanen & Oksanen, 2018; or Oksanen et al., 2014, on school shooters fan communities).”

“…and/or linguistic studies on the phenomenon (e.g., Sylvia Jaki, Tom De Smedt, Maja Gwóźdź, Rudresh Panchal, Alexander Rossa and Guy De Pauw 2019, Baele et al. 2021; Brenna Helm, Ryan Scrivens, Thomas Holt, Steve Chermak and Richard Frank 2022), the findings of these studies substantiate my…”

“Incel communities almost exclusively congregate in the virtual realm under anonymous usernames, although their violence sometimes seeps offline in the form of violence against women, mass homicide, and self-harm (Baele, Brace, and Coan 2021).”

“Online reports may not adequately represent lived experiences and assessment of forum posts is unlikely to provide a comprehensive assessment of members' perspectives since not all members are equally active on the forums (Baele et al., 2021).”

“…sex and attractiveness lines (‘lookism’), that this hierarchy is absolutely immutable (‘black pill’), and that this structure favours women (who are only driven by sex impulses towards good-looking ‘chads’) and excludes men who are not good-looking (‘incels’) (e.g. Baele et al., 2019; Ging, 2019).”

“Men who struggle with dating or sexual relationships can find others with similar experiences online for mutual support or to nurse grievances (Baele et al., 2021; Daly & Reed, 2022; Lilly, 2016).”

“The manosphere hence shares this knee-jerk angry reaction to women and femin-ism due to a shared feeling of losing power and control over women’s bodies (Baele et al., 2021; Ging, 2019; Glace et al., 2021; O’Malley et al., 2022).”

“These men claimed their failure to gain romantic or sexual relationships is the result of genetics, the modern feminist movement and women’s discriminatory sexual selection based on looks, ideologically conceptualized as the blackpill (Baele et al., 2021).”

“Rodger, whom he referred to as the “supreme gentleman” (Baele et al., 2019).”

“Elliot Rodger is the most well-known incel mass murderer, but overall, offline incel violence remains low (Baele et al., 2019; Cottee, 2020; Rouda, 2020; Ruter, 2020; Witt, 2020).”

“Incels more recently use this site to commiserate about this, directing hatred toward women (Baele et al., 2021; Bratich & Banet-Weiser, 2019).”

“…the formation of a relationship and set the standards, and therefore the isolated incels are victimized, is expressed as men being subjected to psychological violence (Baele et al., 2019; Ging, 2019). as seen in the comments, the incels’ claim that men are victimized is also an important category.”

“…echo chamber dynamics (i.e., a narrow cultural and linguistic framework designed to promote adherence to a specific worldview and ideology; S. J. Baele et al., 2021), has contributed to the rapid dissemination and homogenization of their beliefs across various social media platforms (Ging,…”

“Fourth, there is the recent classification of incels (involuntary celibates), who are motivated by a specific worldview (Baele et al., 2019; Hoffman et al., 2020) stemming from misogynistic attitudes, which has found to be a driver of other forms of sexual violence and death (e.”

“The Incel worldview argues that feminism, with specific emphasis on the second wave of the women’s movement, ruined society by granting equality to women and femmes and that the gains of feminism must be reversed (Baele et al., 2019).”

“Incels have created an online ecosystem of ideas and propaganda materials essential for the growth, development, and cementing of an incel community with international reach (Baele, Brace, and Coan 2021).”

“…representing a deterministic, dystopian, and nihilistic outlook in which the social hierarchies are rigid, with an individual ’ s physical appearance determining their social and romantic success, regardless of personal effort or change (Baele et al., 2021; Helm et al., 2024; Preston et al., 2021).”

“After these tragic events, the term has come to be associated with violence, terrorism, alt-right ideology, white supremacy, and the antifeminist movement [8] - “online misogynist underworld” [1].”

“This dynamic is illustrated by the reception of the Toronto attack, where online incel communities celebrated the attack, calling the perpetrator a “ Saint ” (Baele, Brace, and Coan 2021) and fantasizing about future attacks that combine rape and murder to traumatize families and provoke victims ’ suicide (Futrelle 20…”

“Both direct research and forum content analysis have identified an increased tendency or occurrences of interper - sonal victimhood among incels (Baele et al., 2021; Costello et al., 2022; Daly & Reed, 2022).”

“For instance, incels discuss terrorists as ‘saints’ and express regret that their terrorist acts are not even more violent or do not include sexual violence (Baele et al., 2021; Witt, 2020).”

“As such, scholars have observed that red-pilled ideologies and the manosphere at-large may be radicalizing men who may go on to commit violence or harassment (Baele et al., 2019; Bratich & Banet-Weiser, 2019; Marwick & Lewis, 2015; Massanari, 2017).”

“…charged with terrorism for killing a woman with a sword in a massage parlor, are only a few of the attacks closely related to, or outright linked, with Incel ideology (Baele, Brace, and Coan 2019, Futrelle 2021, Gillis and Powell 2018, Gillies 2020, Seewer, Sewell, and Minchillo 2019, Witt 2021).”

“Incels are considered the most radical subgroup among misogynist online groups, exhibiting signs of violent extremist ideology (Baele et al., 2019; Tomkinson et al., 2020).”

“…et al. 2020); (2) because of the clear dehumanizing language they use, they are claimed to hold the most radical ideology of the manosphere (Baele et al. 2019; Tranchese and Sugiura, 2021); and (3) their ideology has been studied from terrorism and radicalization perspectives (Miller,…”