Infiltrated the incel underworld. ‘I encouraged to kill’

For several weeks we infiltrate the International Forum Incels.IS and a private group of the social network Discord, where under anonymity, thousands of young people -some of them Portuguese -share frustrations, hate speeches against women and fantasies of violence.

The so -called Inels or involuntary celibates are mostly heterosexual men who define themselves as unable to find a romantic or sexual partner. Most members say they feel invisible to the opposite sex-and some even describe desires for revenge.

Entering these groups is not difficult. With a fake name and a photograph of a male character from a “Dark Anime” (Japanese animation series with dark themes), we were inside “The Inel Lounge”, a private group on the online platform Discord. « Are you a true incel? » Asks one of the 50 group members as soon as we accepted the invitation to enter. We answer yes and, at least for now, we can have access to all messages exchanged on chat. Most conversations are harmless: memes, racist and misogynous jokes, and outbursts about women’s rejection because they just want to know about the « chads » – a term used to refer to « alpha males » or attractive, confident and popular men.

But there are those who go further. One of the members, who presents himself with the Username « Quil », begins by asking, « Any of you killed someone? » At first, no one seems to take the question seriously and one of the participants even mock that « suspected » that a former member had already done so.

“Quil” continues to say that he was talking to a girl through social networks, but she also rejected him, which made him a deep anger. «I started sending her messages nonstop on WhatsApp and by SMS, until she left the mobile phone. She threw her things that she told me about her mother’s aggressions, about her having suicidal thoughts, and encouraged her to kill herself, ”says » Quil « , adding that after that, the girl disappeared from social networks. « I really hope it has been killed. »

Whether it’s the real story or just another fantasy of violence against women, the reactions of other members of the group transform « kil » into a kind of « hero » or « genius », as some have called it. It is this validation and feeling of support that can « further amplify the risk of radicalization », warns psychiatrist Elsa Fernandes. «These groups act as a psychological protection. It’s welcoming, the others understand what I feel, there is a sharing, there is mutual support. It’s like I’m looking for a cure that feeds the disease, ”he says.

DISCORD used to incite violence
Initially created for video game communities, Discord has become a fertile ground for misogyny and radicalization. Within the platform, users can create communities or servers, which can be private or public. Although the company argues that it maintains zero tolerance policies for hatred discourse, the decentralized structure of the platform makes effective supervision.

In 2024, a 17 -year -old Portuguese was arrested in the north of the country who managed a group on Discord in which he incited violent crimes, including an attack on a school in Brazil with a deadly victim. The teenager was accused of qualified homicide and incitement to hatred and violence, which included severe self -mutilation of young people, mutilation and death of animals, attacks on schools. All of these actions were filmed by members and then sharing in the group.

A report from the « Nyu Stern Center for Business and Human Rights », released in 2023, warns that « The Discord, in particular, continues to easily lodge detectable and explicitly violent chat rooms among their servers. » 51% of all players inquined in the study claim to have seen extremist comments and 36% had harassed while playing online multiplayer games the previous year.

Most users (53%) of the Discord platform are between 24 and 34 years old, followed by 20% of the age group of 16 to 24 years; and seven out of 10 users are men.

TUGACELS: Portuguese in the Underworld Inel
«Portuguese! Is there a Tugacel community? ”Asks one of the 30,000 members of the International International Forum of Incels:“ Incels.is ”. It is not easy to identify Portuguese in these groups, as the most spoken language is English, but they exist.

« I have been in this forum a few weeks ago and I noticed that the way some men talk about wass (a » femoid « term, which combines » feminine « and » humanoid « , used to dehumanize women) is quite different from what I see in my country – Portugal, » comments another of the Portuguese members of the group, with the Username « Greycel ».

In 2023, someone named “Lusitano Stallion” published a topic in the forum with a photo of the young Portuguese who was convicted of planning an attack at the University of Lisbon Faculty of Sciences. «This guy was planning an attack on a university in Lisbon. He looks a lot of incel.

The few comments from Portuguese found are apparently harmless, such as most of those in the forum, which is mainly used to vent about their sexual frustration and blame females for it.

Although in less, it is not difficult to find fantasies of violence and revenge plans against women – some of them extremely detailed. An example of this is a comment published last year by a Brazilian inlel, known for the Username « Døn », which suggested a step by step how « violate a cosplayer in Brazil Game Show (BGS) ».

« Cosplayers are practically our sexual objects, used as mere products to feed nerd fantasies in these types of events such as BGS », begins by explaining « Døn », which welcomes the other members to drunk or drugg the victim with « unchanging numbness ». « The laws are like women, they were made to be violated, » he says.