By now the world is aware of what happened the other day in Plymouth. The town, located on Britain’s south coast in the county of Devon, saw a terrible, terrifying act of savagery. Police are still piecing together the details and there is a lot of speculation, but it seems one Jake Davison, disenchanted with life and known to be sympathetic to incels (involuntarily celibate men) took a gun and killed firstly his mother, then four bystanders (including a three year-old girl and her father) before turning his weapon upon himself.

Police are saying this isn’t terrorism but they are keeping an open mind. It certainly seems like an act of domestic violence that spread horrifically, though given the number of attacks linked to incels and their woman-hating rhetoric, at some point do we need to start seeing this groups as terrorists?

Incels often band together online and when they do, they feed each other’s hatred and entitlement complexes. They bemoan the world (and specifically women) for not giving them sex, but they behave like entitled toddlers and creep women out. It seems to be exceptionally rare that an incel examines their own behaviour for clues as to why women aren’t interested in them. Their attitude is not helped by strange and stupid takes, such as this:

I hope the women of Plymouth collectively take some responsibility for this. Misandry & the anti-man rhetoric from teachers causes incels.

Young men without hope, without a path, without anything meaningful to strive for become dangerous to the societies around them.

— Alan Freestone (@AlanFreestone) August 13, 2021

I don’t know what is going on in Mr Freestone’s head but it’s not logic-based. It’s not reason-based or fact-based. Women are not responsible for the entitlement complex that drives incel behaviour. Persistent low-key misogyny is the root cause. The belief that women exist for male consumption is the key factor. For centuries society has developed and honed the notion that women are meant to be property, meant to be stay-at-home wives with no opinions or independent thought of their own. For hundreds of years women have been expected to be available for men for sexual fulfilment, as though that is their only purpose for existing.

Incels buy into this. They’ve been taught that women are there for male pleasure. The crazy idea of treating women like people and realising that you’re not actually entitled to someone else’s body has created incels. They don’t want to take the time to treat women like people. They often behave in creepy and strange ways around women that put women off wanting to know them. Then they find like-minded misogynists online and they feed off each other. Women are not to blame for their delusions and behaviour. Mr Freestone, that’s a huge copout of an argument.