The word incel is short for “involuntary celibate.” It’s most often used to describe men who say they want a romantic or sexual relationship but feel unable to find one. In many cases, that frustration gets aimed at women and girls through blame, objectification, and outright insults.
Online, incels gather in communities to swap stories and reinforce each other’s worldview. And while platforms like Reddit have banned some incel groups over violent content, there are still dedicated forums on the internet where they can post freely.
That’s what TikToker Kylie Brewer set out to show. In a video, she shared what it’s like inside one of these forums, and what she found was exactly as ugly as you’d expect—packed with misogyny , discrimination, and racism. She called the content “disgusting” and argued that websites like this should be banned.
On social media, many incel groups have been banned over violent content
Young woman speaking on camera in a casual setting discussing experiences inside popular incel forums undercover.
But there are still online forums where they can speak freely, and one woman took a look inside to show what it’s really like
Young woman speaking with a content warning about extreme misogyny and slurs, related to incel forums undercover exploration.
Text describing the harsh realities uncovered in incel forums revealing extreme dehumanizing and white supremacist content.
Screenshot of Incels.is involuntary celibate forum homepage where women go undercover in incel forums.
Screenshot showing a summary of a large online incel forum with 35,000 members and over 20 million posts.
Screenshot of incel forums showing member stats and navigation, highlighting women going undercover in incel forums research.
Screenshot highlighting dehumanizing language and slurs commonly found in incel forums according to women undercover investigations.
Screenshot of an incel forum thread with posts discussing gaming and personal struggles on incel forums platform.
Text about hateful and dehumanizing language in incel forums linked to violence against women and minorities.
Screenshot of an incel forum post revealing hateful language and toxic views encountered by women going undercover.
Text slide describing targeted attacks on women, stalkers, and hate crimes motivated by racism in incel forums.
Text slide showing a study dataset title on online radicalization through incel forum archives by Jennifer Golbeck.
Screenshot of Southern Poverty Law Center article about the growing threat of male supremacism and incel violence.
Quote on a white background about dangerous incel forums where members push each other into violent acts.
Screenshot of online incel forum conversation showing hostile language and disturbing content from incel forums.
Text on a white background stating a horrifying reaction to the rage fueled in incel forums where women go undercover.
Watch the full video below
@kylie.brewer Online hate turns into REAL-WORLD v!olence. These forums are so dangerous and need to be banned. 😭 #humanrights #leftist #education #intersectionalfeminism #antiracism ♬ original sound – Kylie Brewer💝
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