The word incel is short for “involuntary celibate.” It’s most often used to describe men who say they want a romantic or sexual relationship but feel unable to find one. In many cases, that frustration gets aimed at women and girls through blame, objectification, and outright insults.
Online, incels gather in communities to swap stories and reinforce each other’s worldview. And while platforms like Reddit have banned some incel groups over violent content, there are still dedicated forums on the internet where they can post freely.
That’s what TikToker Kylie Brewer set out to show. In a video, she shared what it’s like inside one of these forums, and what she found was exactly as ugly as you’d expect—packed with misogyny, discrimination, and racism. She called the content “disgusting” and argued that websites like this should be banned.
Read more below, but be warned: some of the content may be upsetting.
On social media, many incel groups have been banned over violent content
Image credits: kylie.brewer
But there are still online forums where they can speak freely, and one woman took a look inside to show what it’s really like
Image credits: kylie.brewer
Image credits: kylie.brewer
Image credits: kylie.brewer
Image credits: kylie.brewer
Image credits: kylie.brewer
Image credits: kylie.brewer
Image credits: kylie.brewer
Image credits: kylie.brewer
Watch the full video below
@kylie.brewer Online hate turns into REAL-WORLD v!olence. These forums are so dangerous and need to be banned. 😭 #humanrights #leftist #education #intersectionalfeminism #antiracism ♬ original sound – Kylie Brewer💝
Instead of saying “women,” incels often use the term “foid,” a dehumanizing label that implies they don’t see women as people
Seeing language like that, many viewers were disgusted by what they saw on the forum
However, some men jumped in to defend it in the comments
In another video, a woman shared that researchers monitored an incel forum for 18 months
Image credits: feministforeveryone
They found troubling signs of rising violence as well
Image credits: feministforeveryone
Watch the full video below
@feministforeveryone Researchers watched an incel forum for 18 months and here is what they found. #feminist #feminism #feministtiktok #metoo #sexism #equality #womenempowerment #womenempoweringwomen #ccdh ♬ original sound – Feminism4Everyone
Commenters were shaken and upset by it, but glad it’s being studied instead of ignored
More digging into incel forums shows a common complaint: they claim “average women” get far more attention than “average men”
Image credits: NBC
But the “average” women they describe are closer to movie stars
Image credits: Professional_Suit270
Image credits: Lionsgate
Commenters, once again, pointed out just how out of touch incels seem
