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Following the 2014 attack, positive references to the Santa Barbara perpetrator, such as “Supreme Gentleman,” which he called himself, as a saint became popular in misogynist incel spaces such as SlutHate.com, 4chan, and later incels.co.¹ Encouraging others to “go ER” (the initials of the Santa Barbara perpetrator), meaning to commit mass murder and then kill oneself, is one of many ways violence is promoted and glorified. Misogynist incels celebrate the anniversary of the attack, May 23, as the perpetrator’s saint’s day. Supporters have lamented that the perpetrator failed to gain access to the sorority and kill more women as planned, and suggested other targets, for instance, a post advocating, “If incels go ER they should target feminists. Gender studies class would be a good location to go ER.”² Mass fear and intimidation through violence is often promoted as the only means of achieving change for inceldom (see The Black Pill section for more on this.)

Glorification of men’s violence, whether perpetrated by an incel or not, has become a distinguishing characteristic of the misogynist incel movement, as with the support for the 2017 Las Vegas shooting. Posts tagged as “lifefuel” often celebrate interpersonal or mass violence against women or normies. Such posts range from sharing news articles about cases of sexual violence or murder of women to the celebration of school shootings or mass killings of normies. Moonshot CVE tracked three categories of interpersonal violence that appear on incel forums: “violent criminal behavior—including violence against women; actions to emotionally hurt or humiliate women; and actions to make women physically uncomfortable and fearful.”³ “Based,” which they define as “not caring about being politically incorrect,” though can also be understood as calling something awesome or righteous, is also used to approve of interpersonal violence. Misogynist incels claim a number of men who committed attacks before widespread use of the term incel, such as the Oklahoma City bomber and the Virginia Tech shooter, as sharing their identity and as “saints” or “heroes” (or “hERos”).⁴ The shared features of most of the chosen saints are men who perpetuated mass violence, had demonstrated some form of violence or animosity toward women, and in some cases had a history of isolation or social exclusion.

Glorification of men’s violence, whether perpetrated by an incel or not, has become a distinguishing characteristic of the misogynist incel movement.

Misogynist incel men have advocated for the legalization of violent actions to punish and control women, such as rape and beating. Posts have suggested legalized violence against women partners as a justified response to disobedience, not providing sex, or otherwise failing to “fulfill their feminine role.”⁵ This aligns them with elements of the PUA and Red Pill movements that defend and seek to legalize violence against women. Nostalgia for traditional gender norms, for a past in which women were coerced by societal structure into marriage as a means of support, pervades male supremacist ideologies. Jordan Peterson, a psychologist and professor at the University of Toronto and an ideologue popular with Red Pill adherents, advocated the concept of “enforced monogamy” as the “cure” for mass violence like the 2018 Toronto van attack driven by anger over women’s rejection.⁶ This appeals to misogynist incels as a means of overcoming the 80/20 rule and distributing women, one to each man.

Another disturbing development in the past few years has been rhetoric supporting pedophilia. Some misogynist incel men attempt to justify pedophilia by stating that underage girls (particularly preteen) are more likely to be “pure” by not yet having had sexual contact and are easier to influence and control. They claim that being with a pure girl is the only way to truly “ascend inceldom,” as women who have had previous sexual relationships are tainted, and sex with them borders on being cuckolded. Nathan Larson—creator of misogynist sites including incelopocalypse and “raping girls is fun,” and an active participant on other misogynist incel forums—is a major promoter of pedophilia and rape. (He also ran for Congress in Virginia in 2018 to promote this agenda.)⁷ The acceptance of Larson in these spaces (which practice gatekeeping around incel identity), despite not being an incel, suggests that his misogynist content and agenda was valued. On incels.co, he regularly posted advocating the legalization of pedophilia, incest, and rape, until being banned for in-fighting.