Comparative Messaging of #MeToo and Incel Movements

Analyzing Civic Artifacts- #MeToo and r/incel

Entrenched in a political climate of growing tumult, two opposing sentiments have

exploded in popularity in recent years. Preceding the infamous Weinstein trials in February 2020,

the #MeToo movement gained traction as female celebrities and professionals came forward with

stories of rampant workplace sexual trauma, centering primarily upon a few prevalent male

figures in their respective industries. Characterized by vocal supporters and strong social media

influence, the #MeToo movement relied on graphics like those showcased below to spread the

message of equality in all walks of life, as well as to portray a strong female presence that were

not afraid of opposition and speaking out against perpetrators. As the #MeToo movement took

hold across social media, marches began in the streets, and victims of sexual abuse came forward

across the United States to rallied support, a opposing movement began to stir in the shadows

and raise support from a unique community. This group of angry and virulently anti-feminist

men formed groups online and self identified as “Incels”-meaning Involuntarily Celibate- and

voiced their gripes against the female gender in restricted-access online communities of

likeminded and virulently angry men. In increasing frequency, perpetrators of mass-violence

were found to have tendencies echoing that espoused by the Incel movement, and even had made

appearances in popular incel forums. The most popular of which- Reddit-served as a “magnet for

militant incels, especially the subreddit r/incels. (before the #MeToo movement) the community

had 40,000 users.” (Hoffman, Bruce et al.). Current estimations of Incel populations reside in the

hundreds of thousands. (Laskotov, Albina) After several actresses came forward against Harvey

Weinstein in 2017, the newly reinforced and massive online Incel community exploded with

virulent anger that only expanded in the years to come. This community is one marked with

hatred, unmitigated cruelty, and dangerous logical appeals that target marginalized
communities.The very virality and dark marketability by this group is what makes it so

inherently dangerous, alongside its characterization as a reactionary uprising directly opposed to

the messaging of the #MeToo movement.

It was the timely eruption of hegemonic masculinity that characterized the expansion of

the incel movement and the sects of the internet that fringe factions reside in, as well as the

volatile rhetorical structures that members employ. Caused by early waves of new-age feminism

and empowerment and exacerbated by the #MeToo movement highlighting a woman's right to

not only choose her partners, but to defend herself in the case that she is not afforded a choice.

“(these) revolutions urged women to seek liberation. The self-esteem movement taught women

that they were valuable beyond what convention might dictate. The rise of mainstream feminism

gave women certainty and company in these convictions. And the Internet-enabled efficiency of

today’s sexual marketplace allowed people to find potential sexual partners with a minimum of

barriers and restraints. Most American women now grow up understanding that they can and

should choose who they want to have sex with.” (Tolentina, Gia et al.). This sense of ability and

sexual freedom is exactly what frustrates the incel community, at times enough to incite extreme

violence. A prime example of this cataclysmic Icel theology can be found by examining 21 year

old Tres Genco, who was caught July 21st of 2021 amidst his planning of a mass shooting

targeting women in his home state of Ohio. Genco had written and published on popular Incel

forums a manifesto titled “A Hideous Symphony, by Tres Genco, the socially exiled Incel. In it,

he said he would ‘slaughter’ women ‘out of hatred, jealousy and revenge…’ and called death the

‘great equalizer.’ Investigators say they discovered another note that said he hoped to ‘aim big’

for a kill count of 3,000 people.”(Diaz, Jacelyn). The timing of this attack was not nearly

accidental, as Genco’s online presence dramatically increased following the original accusations
of Weinstein and he spoke of avidly following the trials. The two movements of #MeToo and

r/incel have been found to ebb and flow in tandem with each other, with increased sentiments of

female bodily autonomy resulting in growing anger from men who believe they deserve female

attention and - in the case of Genco,-provoking direct violence.

Unfortunately, not all of these malicious “Involuntary Celibates” are caught before they take the

lives of the women that they so despise.

When the dangerous rhetoric of the Incel movement is internalized without interruption,

an explosion of anger can take the lives of many. In the case of Scott Paul Beirele in the fall of

2018- immediately following an onslaught of feminist online content and the original accusations

of Harvey Weinstein, Beirele took out his anger brought to the surface by new wave feminism

and fostered by the online Incel community-of which he was a proud member. Before his

targeting of a yoga studio in his old college town, Beirele was an active participant in Incel

boards across the internet, even posting a series of since removed Youtube videos where he

detailed his opinions on the female experience and mind, stating that “Just beneath their blushing

lashes and their innocent smiles lies the most rancid and putrid, sickening essences”(Hendrix,

Steve). What may be even more terrifying than the noxious hatred of women espoused amongst

incel groups, is the fact that rampant misogyny has been found to serve as a direct gateway to

other forms of hate speech and the subsequent crimes that ensue. According to an ADL article,

titled When Women are the Enemy: The Intersection of Misogyny and White Supremacy, “In fact,

(racist and sexist groups) warrant a side by side examination. There is a robust symbiosis

between misogyny and white supremacy; the two ideologies are powerfully intertwined … a

deep-seated loathing of women acts as a connective tissue between many white supremacists,

especially those in the alt right, and their brothers in hate, incels”. Unfortunately, the newly
developing vehicle of the internet allows and even encourages this radical indoctrination, say

authors Andrew Marantz and Jaron Lenier.

The unfortunate reality of online communications is that the dangerous combination of

anonymity, ambiguity, and political targeting has cultivated blossoming communities of virulent

hatred that only benefit from increased polarized discourse. It is this reality that bolsters popular

media corporations' success in the technology world, and thus creates a cycle that connects

volatility with clickability and the ensuing profit. Popular youth platform Tiktok has recently

come under extreme scrutiny as a result of a study that “(analyzed and coded) over 400

recommended videos after interacting solely with transphobic content, Media Matters traced how

TikTok’s recommendation algorithm quickly began populating our research account’s FYP with

hateful and far-right content” (Zitzer, Joshua). Regrettably, the fear of internet-sanctioned

radicalization is not a new theorem, but an oft ignored one. Tracing back to Alan Kay- an

original forefather of modern computerization and programming-and his speech at a 1994

technological convention, critics of the unregulated and rapidly growing internet have been

shunned and ignored. A young and staunchly aligned anti-technoutopianist Kay warned to an

eager audience, “Much care has to be taken with design and education in order for change to be

positive. We don’t have natural defenses against fat, sugar, alcohol, alkaloids-or media”. Kay

was dismissed as a cynic, a vapid pessimist focused on a future that would never unfold. In a

later email, he stated that his only regret was mediating his skepticism, stating “None of us were

so pessimistic about humanity to imagine just how blind 20th century citizens in a so-called

civilization could be. The last 25 years have revealed much more about the problems of being

human.”
 It is the aforementioned technological giants that utilize the inherent nature of humanity

veiled behind a screen, and participate in directing users to hateful spaces that breed discourse.

Author and original contributor to the development of Virtual Reality highlights the importance

of online algorithms to cater content, and addresses the rabbit hole that many tech-giants funnel

users into when a single piece of fringe content is interacted with, stating that “What started out

as advertising morphed into continuous behavior modification on a mass basis, with everyone

under surveillance by their devices and receiving calculated stimulus to modify them. It’s a

horrible thing that was foreseen by science-fiction writers. It’s straight out of Philip K. Dick or

1984. And despite all the warnings, we just walked right into it and created mass

behavior-modification regimes out of our digital networks.” Although some social movements

-like #MeToo-have successfully participated in the techno-utopian control of online spheres and

catering content to the masses, they are forced to advertise in regulated spaces that often can

limit online discourse and hatred. Taking virality and leaning into the model of clickability,

#MeToo curated hundreds of graphical representations to further the cause, like that analyzed

below.

Contained in the image is a multitude of complex themes, some more veiled

than others. The phrasing “Me Too” serves the commonplace of sexual

assault survivorship by personally relating it to all those who speak it and

support the movement. The vernacular and rhetoric framed within those two

words serves to unite women everywhere who have been victimized by

sexual harassment- a very large segment of the population. The concept of

representation is also showcased visually in the poster. At first glance, it is apparent that

inclusivity is a focus of both the movement and the image of it that organizers and participants
choose to put forward. Three figures are shown in the poster, each of a different race, one of the

male gender, and one of the muslim religion. The identical power-pose that the artist placed them

in is a very strong stance, made stronger by the aforementioned art style. What is highlighted as

most timely and relevant to the advancement of the movement itself is the pound sign, indicating

the notation of the social initiative as “Hashtag Me Too”, rather than just “Me Too”. This

difference, shown in the poster, is essential to comprehend because it was key to the visibility of

those who came forward in support, and provided a simple medium for victims to come

forward-the internet. Without the hashtag, a long and prevalent trend on many social media

platforms, it would have been much more difficult for many to come forward, as they would

have been forced to begin with formal charges and censored press releases as opposed to direct

recounts of their experiences. For those in the media industry with prior social media followings,

the use of the hashtag allowed the movement to globalize and grow in power with each hashtag.

Contrary to the empowering messaging and logical rhetorical appeal utilized in the above

poster, the movement that sprung up as a direct combatant of #MeToo does not employ similar

tactics1 “The incel community is notorious for rampant misogyny, violent rhetoric, and fatalistic

attitudes toward modern relationships — attitudes that frequently serve as a gateway to the

alt-right — but it’s also rife with depression, a nihilistic communal celebration of low

self-esteem, and a widespread resistance to seeking therapy and getting treatment for mental

illness.”(Romano, Aja) Harnessing isolation tactics and targeting vulnerable segments of the

male population (specifically young men on the autism spectrum), common language in incel

communities can commonly be identified as manipulation tactics employed to justify hatred.

Those in the community frequently post controversial opinions that garner attention while

1
There were many examples to be found of incel rhetoric on popular online forums, but many were rife with language not suitable for academic writing and
instead I will analyze segments of text posted in these online communities.
subsequently working to further isolate prospective new membership, such as a popular thread

posted in May of 2020 entitled “Why Therapists are the Capitalist Equivalents of KGB

Informants” (Anonymous). Members and moderators of these communities use rhetorical tactics,

primarily centering around emotional appeals to already-angered men. There is also substantial

visual rhetoric employed, as many forums are shrouded in anonymity, from blank profile

pictures, dark website themes, and encouraged ambiguity and privacy settings. Participants post

gripes detailing their negative interactions with women from behind a black screen, fake name,

and often their hateful writing is paired with an offensive picture that directs attention elsewhere.

Linguistic tricks are used to de-personify the female gender, such as the labeling of women as “

‘sluts’ or ‘whores’ but mostly refer to them as ‘femoids,’ ‘foids’ or even ‘female humanoid

organisms’ — in other words, not quite human.”(Borrel, Brendan). This destructive messaging is

exactly the variety of hegemonic masculinity that the #MeToo movement attempts to vilify.

However, combatting this messaging becomes increasingly difficult when surges of Incel activity

occur reactively to feminist victories.

While hate festers amidst these communities, the information superhighway of the

internet is allowed to blossom in the limelight and grow in opposing force to feminist groups.

Since 2014 and the initial growth of the movement, self-proclaimed incels have successfully

carried out four mass shootings that thrust the community into the public eye, and the notoriety

produced by media coverage may only be fueling the fire, researchers find. The year of 2020

held the most incel-related violence, and experts warn that it will only grow as the body

positivity movement surges. (Beckett, Lois) Technological innovator Jaron Lenier remarks of

the dangers of the internet and political uprising, stating that “Every time there’s some movement

like Black Lives Matter or #MeToo, you have this initial period where people feel like they’re on
this magic-carpet ride. Social media is letting them reach people and organize faster than ever

before. They’re thinking, Wow, Facebook and Twitter are these wonderful tools of democracy.

But it turns out that the same data that creates a positive, constructive process like the Arab

Spring can be used to irritate other groups. So every time you have a Black Lives Matter, social

media responds by empowering neo-Nazis and racists in a way that hasn’t been seen in

generations. The original good intention winds up empowering its opposite.” Although the fates

of the two movements may appear entwined, intercepting the rapidly degenerating alt-right

population and their goals may be the key to breaking down the incel community and the

violence it so vapidly encourages.

The alt-right groups such as Incels that make up fringe republican hate groups aim to

make their sentiments mainstream and widely accepted in the global communities, an abysmal

future that seems to be materializing through careful use of conversation mediums. The current

and self-proclaimed goal of many alt-right movements is to“ shift the Overton window, or to

smash it and rebuild it in their image… [to] stretch the Overton window so radically as to drag

(previously unspeakable offenses) into the realm of the imaginable” (Marantz, Antisocial). This

far-right dream is slowly becoming a reality in online spaces, as the internet is used as a venue

for extreme hate, often in a socially palatable format. A popular blogger operating for decades

under the pseudonym “Meow Blitz” argues that “he and his fellow propagandists can push

America in a more fascist-friendly direction” going on, he articulates his admiration for ISIS’

fear tactics, manipulating the power of the internet to instill terror in a far away population in a

post entitled “Right Wing Trolls Can Win”. This specific sect of reactionary conservatism is that

highlighted in Incel theology, breeding racism, sexism, and misogyny as a theorem disguised as a

political alignment- one that may become mainstream if the alt-right meets their goals and
relocates the relative norm of politics in the United States. In a world becoming increasingly

defined by internet norms, the crashing vessel of the world wide web has been harnessed by

fringe conspiracists by following the previously outlined principle of shareability equivalent to

value.. “With this as a basis – an internet built to reward clickability over accuracy – alt-right

figures were able to shift the Overton window quickly in their favour. They did this initially by

building large audiences through misogynistic, racist and ethno-nationalist blogs that tapped into

readers’ emotions using fake or debunked studies to prove points about white, male supremacy.”

(Mavanis, Sarah and Steven Bush). Combatting this growing and malicious methodology will

prove to be no easy task, but it is one that we must embark on as a society to stave off the

growing waves of radicalized fringe political affiliates. The only viable solution is to reformulate

the language and cultural norms in the internet, finally heeding Alan Key’s 1994 warning,

originally catered to who would soon become Silicon Valley’s royalty.

As many of the forefathers of modern internet communications begin to stride into the

limelight in opposition of their own creation, we must as a society take strict inventory of our

communal goals. As it stands and as described by both Andrew Marantz and Jaron Lenier, It (is)

far more socially acceptable to exol the gleaming vehicle of technology-to gaze in amoral awe at

its speed and vigor-than to ask precisely where it’s headed, or whether it might one day hurtle off

a cliff.” (Antisocial). As our sense of humanity and morality begin rolling towards the teetering

edge, it becomes increasingly imperative to observe the nature of online hatred and the rhetoric

that captivates large audiences.

Anonymous. “Never Forget You Could've Raped a Foid in the Past.”

Anonymous. “Therapists Are the Capitalist Equivalents of KGB Informants.” Incel.is, 24 May 2020,
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Threat?” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 3 Mar. 2021,
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Borrell, Brendan. “Radical Online Communities and Their Toxic Allure for Autistic Men: Spectrum:
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Diaz, Jaclyn. “Police Foiled an Ohio Incel's Plot to Kill Women in a Mass Shooting, Prosecutors
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Hendrix, Steve. “He Always Hated Women. Then He Decided to Kill Them.” The Washington Post,
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