Three Major Traits That Might Help Spot an 'Incel': Study

Researchers have identified three characteristics that might predict a future "incel."

According to a study published this month in The Journal of Sexual Medicine, incels share the traits of depression, paranoia and a fearful attachment style.

Incels, or involuntary celibates, comprise an online subculture of men who feel unable to secure romantic or sexual relationships with women.

"Incel individuals share a general sense of failure, feel outcasted by society and excluded by relationships, and have strong feelings of rage towards their condition and other people, women in particular," Drs. Giacomo Ciocca and Lilybeth Fontanesi told Newsweek.

The Italian researchers studied 777 men through a series of questionnaires, investigating their demographic information, depression and anxiety levels, attachment styles, and paranoia symptoms. They determined that depressive-anxious symptoms, paranoid thinking and a fearful attachment style are pivotal to the development of an incel.

On the other hand, a secure attachment style can protect someone from becoming an incel, they said.

Self-described incels have repeatedly perpetrated mass violence in the United States. This year, a Secret Service report warned that incels pose a growing national threat.

Elliot Rodger, who killed six people at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2014, left behind a YouTube video raging against women who had rejected him and swearing revenge. He became a hero to misogynistic killers such as Scott Paul Beierle, who likened himself to Rodger before killing two women at a Florida yoga studio in 2018. And in 2020, self-described "anti-feminist" lawyer Roy Den Hollander killed the son of a federal judge. His manifesto said, "Manhood is in serious jeopardy in America."

This month, four University of Idaho students were mysteriously stabbed to death. Although a suspect has not been identified, a forensic psychiatrist told Newsweek the killer could be an incel who felt rejected by one of the murdered women. Police have said they believe the killings were targeted.

"In our opinion, it is very important to study the psychology and psychopathology of incel males to detect and prevent risk factors for deviant or violent behavior against women," said Ciocca and Fontanesi.

Although their study focused on males, they added that men are not the only individuals at risk of cultivating an incel attitude.

"Our results and the recent literature suggest that incel personality traits may be shared also by young women, defined as 'femcels,' who experience the same feelings of failure, rejection and loneliness," they said.