I first became acquainted with incel culture as part of an article I wrote for Redbrick in January 2020, spending time on various incel forums in order to try and better understand the damage the movement has caused and the ideology behind it. When I wrote the article, I was hopeful that with more research into indoctrination tactics and growing awareness, incel culture would be on the decline. However, with the recent Plymouth Shooting, it’s clear to see that my optimism was never going to be the reality.

For those who are not aware, on Thursday 12th August, 22-year-old Jake Davison shot and killed five people in Keyham, Plymouth. After the shooting spree, Davison then shot and killed himself. This is the worst mass shooting in Britain since 2010. 

While in the UK gun laws are quite strict, leading people to assume that most incel-related violence occurs in America where the ideology seems to be more prevalent, Davison did have a firearms license. This had been revoked in September 2020 after he assaulted someone, but was reinstated a month before he committed the shooting. This raises two issues: one, the misconception that things like this “don’t happen here” and that incel culture is much more prevalent in the States – while that might seem like the case, in Britain, it is still a significant issue but it just remains hidden under the surface in the prevailing beliefs around women. Secondly, it again raises issues around gun laws and ideology. Davison had publicly expressed misogynistic views on multiple social media platforms, including Reddit and YouTube, and yet was still allowed to have his license back allowing him to use shotguns. Why is it that so little research seems to be done into the ideologies of people applying for gun licenses? 

Davison was involved with various incel sub-cultures, particularly the ‘Black Pill movement’. While he did not clarify himself as an incel, his online presence was strongly wrapped up in the community and ideology. The ‘Black Pill Movement’ is particularly radical, reflecting ‘the belief that if you’re unattractive you don’t deserve love’, something Davison blamed on women’s superficiality, obsession with money and being ‘very simple-minded’. These are beliefs shared by most members within the incel community as they gain a sense of entitlement regarding women, believing that it is unfair that they should be the ones to miss out on sex, simply because they are less attractive.

An issue that I find particularly concerning is that Davison supposedly contributed to Reddit forums. In my first article, Reddit were in the process of clamping down on incel sub-Reddits, having banned the most popular r/incels in the hopes of reducing extremism on the site – so why is it that Davison was still able to post misogynistic ideologies on the site a year and a half later? Similarly, Davison had a YouTube channel where he spouted incel ideology with seemingly no consequences. YouTube’s censorship policy is often viewed as too extreme, with some people believing it infringes on the right to free speech; however, it always somehow seems to fail when it really matters, caring more about music copyright laws than misogynistic hate speech.

Davison was also subscribed to Incel TV – a channel that is still public at the time of writing this article – again, highlighting the failures of social media to punish those contributing to real-world violence. Reading the comments of their videos is soul-destroying; the vast majority are anonymous (of course), ranting about how unfair the universe is because of women with a focus on female shallowness, believing that height is one of the most significant factors in sexual attraction. One commenter said: ‘embracing the black pill is not simply about females and males, it’s about embracing the harsh realities of reality itself’. And therein lies the problem: these men have self-victimised themselves and become so indoctrinated into the incel ideology that they have convinced themselves that the way they view the world is the way that it is. They think that women are out to get them and they have been neglected by the world, but that is not the reality. The reality is that women do not want them because they are scared of them. Anyone who expresses violent, misogynistic views is going to alienate women for their own personal safety. It has absolutely nothing to do with their looks, their height or their bank balance. It has always been about women’s self-preservation.

Currently, the police are not investigating it as an act of terrorism – something I think is absolutely ridiculous. The Oxford English Dictionary defines ‘terrorism’ as ‘the unofficial or unauthorised use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims’. Does that not directly describe what Davison did? He used a pump shotgun to kill five people in the pursuit of the political ideology of incel. Yet, again, the police are reluctant to identify it by its real name, as the word terrorist has become so strongly associated with Islamic extremism in the media that they seem unable to associate it with anything else, raising issues of both racism and sexism. If this does not class as an act of terrorism, what hope is there for the protection of women going forward?

While last time I was optimistic about ongoing research into the incel movement in the hopes that it might reduce violence, this time I am utterly hopeless. Time and time again, women are subjected to violence at the hands of men and there are no signs of it stopping, let alone slowing down. The incel movement only seems to be gaining traction, with social media sites seemingly doing nothing to prevent the ideology from being spread on their sites – after all, who cares about a few deaths when it gives them more users.

I am so heartbroken for the victims of this horrific crime and the only way I can see any form of justice emerging from this is if there are significant steps taken to research the ideology and indoctrination, helping to prevent boys from becoming caught up in incel movements. At the core of this issue is the absolute need to protect women, and right now that is something we are failing to do.

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