In trying to understand what prompted a man in Plymouth, England to commit the worst mass shooting in the United Kingdom for over a decade...
In trying to understand what prompted a man in Plymouth, England to commit the worst mass shooting in the United Kingdom for over a decade, attention has turned to his apparent links with the incel community – an online subculture of people who describe themselves as “involuntary celibates”.
Jake Davison allegedly shot his mother before a shooting spree which ended when he turned the gun on himself. His youngest victim was three years old. In the lead-up to the attacks, he compared himself to incels in YouTube videos and contributed to their forums.
He uploaded videos in which he fixated on his virginity and, in a direct reference to incel ideology, Davison’s described himself as “blackpilled”. This means that he believed himself too old, at 22, to find love.
What’s an incel?
Incels refuse to accept responsibility for their circumstances, instead believing their inability to attract women makes them victims of oppression. Like all groups under the umbrella of online misogyny known as the “manosphere”, they subscribe to the “red pill” conspiracy theory. They believe men are the true victims of gendered oppression, that male power has been usurped, and that feminism is a front to disguise men’s subjugation.
Incels essentialise this conspiracy in the idea of the “black pill”. To swallow the black pill is to accept...
