Incel forums, for instance, are full of antisemitic comments, with many users accusing Jews of controlling society and aiding in the social decay that has helped lead to women-empowerment movements.
The increasing intermingling between both communities has seen attackers regularly referencing both groups. For example, Nikolas Cruz, who killed 17 people at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in February 2018, had carved swastikas into the gun magazines he used.
“Strands of white supremacy, misogyny, anti-government sentiments and racism are weaved into incel narratives,” according to a 2020 RSIS report, written by senior fellow Raffaello Pantucci and associate research fellow Kyler Ong.
They noted that incel groups are not typically included as terrorist organisations due to the “absence of a clear political goal, beyond a revenge for their personal rejection by the opposite sex”.
However, as general understanding of the incel subculture has increased, calls for the community to be treated as an emergent security threat have rung louder, according to the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation report.
Mr Pantucci and Ms Ong highlighted elements within the incel community that do mimic traditional terrorist modi operandi, such as the use of social media to network and radicalise and the employment of non-sophisticated weapons.
“By posting pre-attack manifestos or intent to start an ‘incel rebellion’, some incel attackers resemble traditional terrorists as they appear to have a wider goal, seek recognition, presence and broader meaning to their act,” they wrote.
Does Singapore have this issue?
An article by Singapore broadsheet The Straits Times in February reported on incel communities in Singapore, and spoke to some self-identified incels.
Mr Pantucci and Ms Ong noted in their report that there are many incels who are also non-white, despite the correlation between the subculture and the extreme right, which remains mostly a white supremacist movement.
“Pure Asians, especially the diaspora community found in Western countries, also embrace their own interpretations of inceldom, dubbing themselves ‘currycels’ or ‘ricecels’ depending on their ethnic origin,” they said.
Here in Asia, societies tend to be dominated by an uncontested patriarchy, where misogyny and its associated violence are not uncommon.
“The growing women’s rights movement may provide the same impetus that has in part produced incels in the West,” wrote the duo.
They added that incel narratives are already visible in online communities in Singapore, such as the dissatisfaction of losing girls to white immigrants.
“Others take on a slightly different but equally misogynistic flavour, such as the sentiment of how military conscription sets men back in their (careers) whilst self-serving and career-minded women are given a step ahead to advance in life,” wrote the duo.
