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The incel movement is waging a “war against women” and poses a growing threat to children, according to a report that calls on tech companies to intervene to stop the radicalisation of lonely men and boys online.

The incel – or “involuntarily celibate” – movement is an online subculture involving men who feel unable to have sex or find love and express hostility and extreme resentment towards women.

Research into the leading incel forum found a “community of angry, belligerent and unapologetic” men that poses a “clear and present danger” to women and an “emerging threat to children”.

Users posted about rape every 29 minutes and the forum’s rules were changed six months ago to accommodate paedophilia.

More than a fifth of posts featured misogynist, racist, antisemitic or anti-LGBTQ language, with 16% of posts featuring misogynist slurs, the study said.

On the forum Sky News found posts saying “women should be sex slaves” and “I feel hate when I see a girl”.

The study of more than one million posts over 18 months found that posts mentioning mass murders increased by 59%.

Perpetrators of mass shootings are known to have been active in incel communities or discuss their ideas, including the Plymouth gunman Jake Davison, who killed five people including a three-year-old girl.

Researchers warned that “unchecked, incel communities have the potential to radicalise further” and called on tech companies to act.

Jake Davison carried out the UK's deadliest mass shooting since 2010
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Jake Davison carried out the UK’s deadliest mass shooting since 2010

‘Not lone wolves’

Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a British non-profit group which carried out the study, said: “Incels are not lone wolves or socially isolated.

“They are in fact enmeshed in highly active communities with a coherent, evolving ideology that has radicalised further in the past 18 months.

“They are egging each other on to commit mass violence, normalising sexual violence against women and even codified their approval of sexualising children.”

UK pupil sought incels’ advice after ‘Prevent referral’

In some cases, boys as young as 15 are being led down a rabbit hole of hatred and extremism, the research says.

One user, given the pseudonym Carl in the report, posted on the forum asking for help after he claimed to have been flagged to Prevent for carrying a knife in his school bag.

Other forum members responded with advice on how to avoid scrutiny online and congratulated him on his decision to stop taking psychiatric medication.

Throughout the thread, Carl referred to prescribed psychiatric medicine as “jewpills”, itself a reference to an incel conspiracy theory that psychiatric medicine is part of a Jewish conspiracy to pacify white men.

‘Power-users’

The research was conducted by “scraping” forum posts and analysing members’ activity, trends and keywords.

The forum received an average of 2.6 million monthly visits, with 17,118 members. In the 18 months covered, only 4,057 wrote posts.

Almost half (43.8%) of traffic to the forum came from the US, with 7.5% from the UK.

Discourse is driven by 406 “power-users”, who produce 74.6% of all posts, some spending more than 10 hours a day on the forum.

The forum’s rules were changed in March from “do not sexualise minors” to “do not sexualise pre-pubescent minors”.

Incel content on YouTube

The study found that forum users most frequently shared content from YouTube, where incel channels have more than 136,000 subscribers and 24.2 million video views.

Davison subscribed to an incel content channel that YouTube has refused to take down despite public pressure, the CCDH researchers said.

Another channel posts videos of women covertly filmed in London.

Read more:
Incel killer’s father lives ‘reverse nightmare’
Incel movement of growing concern to UK police

The CCDH urged YouTube to take down all incel channels and called on Google to push “incelosphere” websites down search results.

Mr Ahmed said: “We find in this study a reflexive dynamic between misogynistic communities online and incels.

“They argue with each other, support each other, share ideas, promote each other’s lexicon and values. In short, they are brothers-in-arms in a war against women.

“That’s why a small subculture, numbering in the thousands, has had such an enormous effect.”

Sky News has asked YouTube for comment.

‘Not all violent’

Dr Lewys Brace, a senior lecturer at Exeter University specialising in online extremist radicalisation, including incel culture, told Sky News that he agreed with the study’s recommendations.

“The thing that concerns me personally most about this incel movement, is that people don’t actually need to look for this stuff to get to it,” he said.

Although he said that some people in the community posed a real threat to others, he stressed most are not violent.

“Obviously not everyone in this community is violent,” he said. “In fact, my research has shown that actual violent conversations are the minority of conversations on these platforms.”

The problem for law enforcement is telling the difference between someone acting out on the internet and someone who poses a threat, he said.

He added: “For me, the ones that concern me are the ones that take these ideas, and they’ve written long posts where they’ve integrated these ideas with their own personal offline experiences.”

Given the example of Davison posting long YouTube videos featuring incel ideas, Dr Brace said: “That’s exactly it. Those are exactly the kind of examples we should be concerned about.”

Origins of inceldom

Incel as a form of self-identification is thought to date from a website founded in the 1990s as support for people who found it hard to have sexual experiences.

The risk is that sexual frustration and the blame incels place on women is leveraged into violence.

The most notorious attack was carried out by Elliot Rodger, 22, who killed six people and himself in a rampage in California in 2014.

He left behind a 137-page “manifesto” and a YouTube video revealing that he carried out the attack because he could not secure a relationship with a woman, which in turn led to his hatred for those who were in relationships.

Rodger is frequently idolised and venerated in incel forums where he is sometimes referred to as the “Supreme Gentleman”.

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Epping council demands government ‘immediately’ close asylum hotel – as Home Office works to ‘restore order’

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Epping council demands government 'immediately' close asylum hotel – as Home Office works to 'restore order'

Epping council has unanimously voted to urge the government to shut a hotel housing asylum seekers after a series of protests.

Epping Forest District Council in Essex passed a motion calling for the Bell Hotel to be “immediately and permanently” closed “for the purposes of asylum processing”.

Several demonstrations have been held outside the hotel since 13 July, after an asylum seeker was charged with allegedly attempting to kiss a 14-year-old girl.

Police have arrested 18 people and charged nine in connection with the protests.

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Eight officers injured during migrant protest

Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 38, from Ethiopia, denied sexually assaulting the 14-year-old girl at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court last week and will stand trial in August.

The Essex Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner has also reportedly urged the home secretary to review the use of the hotel for housing asylum seekers.

In a letter to Yvette Cooper, Roger Hirst said the hotel is unsuitable for housing migrants and is “clearly creating community tension”, the Telegraph reported.

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Anti-migration protesters in Epping
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Protests in Epping turned violent last week

Home Office ‘working to restore order’

The Home Office has vowed to “restore order,” threatening on Friday to make asylum seekers homeless if they refuse a change of accommodation.

Read more:
Epping: ‘Everyone’s on edge’
Epping the latest flashpoint of frustration

It said a new “failure to travel” policy is looking to tackle “non-compliance by asylum seekers” and will ensure individuals who are moved from hotels to suitable alternative accommodation must take it.

Those who refuse to move without a valid reason will now risk losing their housing and support, the Home Office said.

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Epping migration protest in focus

Dame Angela Eagle, minister for border security and asylum, said: “We are working to close hotels, restore order, and put fairness and value for money at the heart of our asylum system.

“This government is making those necessary decisions to protect the taxpayer and uphold the integrity of our borders.”

Asked specifically about the Epping Forest District Council vote, the Home Office said: “We’ll continue to work closely with local police and community partners, in Epping and across the country, as we fix this broken system.”

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Eight officers injured

Protests outside the Bell Hotel last Thursday began peacefully but escalated into what police described as “scattered incidents of violence,” leaving eight officers injured.

Police are braced for further protests, vowing to act swiftly if unrest spreads.

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There were ‘failings’ in care of ex-England cricketer Graham Thorpe in months before he died, coroner says

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There were 'failings' in care of ex-England cricketer Graham Thorpe in months before he died, coroner says

There were “failings” in the care of former England cricketer Graham Thorpe in the months before he died, a coroner has said.

It comes as Coroner Jonathan Stevens recorded a conclusion of suicide at an inquest into his death in August last year.

Thorpe died at a railway station in Surrey.

Mr Stevens read a statement yesterday during the inquest from Mr Thorpe’s GP Joan Munnelly, detailing the cricketer was diagnosed with anxiety and depression in 2018.

Regarded as one of the finest batters of his generation, Thorpe played 100 Tests for England, scoring 16 centuries and featuring 82 times for the ODI side.

He coached England’s batters and had a 17-year career with Surrey.

Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK

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Jeff Stewart: Actor who played Reg Hollis in The Bill helps police arrest shoplifter

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Jeff Stewart: Actor who played Reg Hollis in The Bill helps police arrest shoplifter

The actor who played PC Reg Hollis in hit TV series The Bill has been praised by officers after helping them arrest a shoplifter.

Jeff Stewart stepped in when a thief attempted to escape on a bicycle in Southampton on Wednesday.

In a statement, a Hampshire Constabulary spokesman said: “The thief, 29-year-old Mohamed Diallo, fell off the bike during his attempts to flee, before officers pounced to make their arrest.

“To their surprise, local TV legend Jeff Stewart, who played PC Hollis for 24 years in The Bill, came to their aid by sitting on the suspect’s legs while officers put him in cuffs.

The Bill actors, from left to right; Jeff Stewart, Roberta Taylor, Mark Wingett, Trudie Goodwin and Cyril Nri
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(L-R) Jeff Stewart, Roberta Taylor, Mark Wingett, Trudie Goodwin and Cyril Nri celebrating The Bill’s 21st anniversary in 2004. Pic: PA

“In policing you should always expect the unexpected, but this really wasn’t on The Bill for this week.”

The Bill was broadcast on ITV between 1984 and 2010 and featured the fictional lives of police officers from the Sun Hill police station in east London.

Mr Stewart, who was among the original cast, appeared in more than 1,000 episodes as PC Hollis.

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Still of police footage of actor Jeff Stewart who played PC Reg Hollis in The Bill helping arrest a shoplifter in Southampton
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Police released footage showing their pursuit of a shoplifter in Southampton. Pic: Hampshire Constabulary

Still of police footage of actor Jeff Stewart who played PC Reg Hollis in The Bill helping arrest a shoplifter in Southampton
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As the suspect falls to the floor, PC Hollis (aka Jeff Stewart) sits on his legs. Pic: Hampshire Constabulary

In praising Mr Stewart’s actions, the force said: “Long since retired from Sun Hill station – but he’s still got it.”

Police from the Bargate Neighbourhoods Policing Team were alerted by staff at a Co-op store in Ocean Way to a suspected shoplifter on Wednesday.

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Mohamed Diallo, 29, of Anglesea Road, Southampton, was subsequently charged with five offences of theft relating to coffee, alcohol and food from the Co-op and two other Sainsbury’s stores on three dates in April and July.

He pleaded guilty at Southampton Magistrates’ Court on Thursday and was bailed to be sentenced on August 29.

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