This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at York U chapter.

WARNING: This article discusses sensitive topics such as sexual harassment/assault, rape, and misogyny. If you are a York student and need support, please call the Sexual Assault Awareness and Resource’s 24 hour support line at 416-650-8056, or visit them at http://www.yorku.ca/sass/. The Canada wide support system can be found at the Assaulted Women’s Helpline at 1-866-863-0511, and visited at http://www.awhl.org/.

Earlier this month, the social media heavyweight Reddit purged and banned yet more questionable of their “subreddits”. One of them on the chopping block was the infamous r/incels, a sub known for their dehumanization of women. While the these “incels” may be enraged, this is a huge step for reducing rape culture and creating a healthier and less toxic online space for all genders.

Incelis a shorthand term for “involuntary celibate”. Members of this subreddit blame women for not giving them the sex they believe they are entitled to, and as a result, despise and dehumanize women beyond any form of ethical comprehension. With 40,000 members, this is far from a small problem. In the more “minor” cases of the incel misogyny, all women were labeled as “sluts”, who deserved all forms of assault or harassment because of their attitudes or the clothing they wore. The general consensus of this subreddit was that women were not human. In order to strip away any semblance to humanity, the terms “woman” or “women”, both containing either the words “man” or “men”, were changed to “femoid” or “femoids”. Members believed that women purposely withheld sex from them because they preferred “chads”, or attractive men. This could range from beliefs that women just found them too ugly, all the way to them being vindictive or even evil. This is similar, but much more severe, to the dreaded nice guy syndrome, where men whine and complain that they would treat women better than their current boyfriends.

Source: Denis Bocquet

Unfortunately, these are only the best case scenarios. The pure horror of /r/incels comes with the approval and even encouragement to rape or murder women, or attack and potentially even castrate these so-called “chads”. Some of these vile posts include stating that rape is “just sex”, and coining the term “reverse-rape,” the withholding of sex, and insisting it belongs in the #metoo campaign. “Rape farms”, in which women are held against their will and forced into various sex acts are also not uncommon. However, a recent post that many believe was the final nail in the coffin came from a post specifically inciting violence against specific people.

Source: JoelInSouthernCA

Shortly before being banned, a user posted a thread entitled “my roommate is suicide fuel,” discussing his frustration that this roommate he was “better than him”. The following comments told him to castrate his roommate, going so far as to give specific instructions, including the use of chloroform and meth. Luckily, Reddit stepped in shortly after and ended the tirade that was /r/incels.

Source: Alangreig

While Reddit did not give out a specific comment about why they failed to step in sooner, and what made them start now, they posted an update (https://www.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/78p7bz/update_on_sitewide_rules_regarding_violent_content/?st=ja4i80d4&sh=91c4e67c) on their rules, stating that:

“Going forward, we will take action against any content that encourages, glorifies, incites, or calls for violence or physical harm against an individual or a group of people; likewise, we will also take action against content that glorifies or encourages the abuse of animals. We understand that enforcing this policy may often require subjective judgment, so all of the usual caveats apply with regard to content that is newsworthy, artistic, educational, satirical, etc, as mentioned in the policy. Context is key.”

As a result, it can only be assumed that the castration, as well as the numerous murder/rape posts, were what killed the subreddit.

This comes years after the horrific rampages held by so many men against women. From the École Polytechnique massacre in 1989 (http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/12/06/ecole-polytechnique-massacre-25-anniversary_n_6263218.html) to Elliott Rodger’s Isla Vista killings in 2014 (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/santa-barbara-killer-plotted-murder-spree-year-police-article-1.2122168), this hatred of women goes beyond personal and/or online spaces into real life, deadly and dangerous confrontations. It is necessary to shut down and condemn this type of thinking before more women get hurt.

Source: Jonathan Alcorn/Reuters

“A man looks through a window with bullet holes at a deli that was among the sites where Elliot Rodger went on a murder spree.”

The gross majority of Redditors are naturally thrilled about this toxic thread being purged, but there are now 40,000 angry members with no group to hide behind. With no subreddit to be contained in, more and more unfortunate interactions with them will be expected, until they hopefully move on. Reddit has been diligently tracking down smaller subreddits spawned to replace /r/incels, and will hopefully continue to do so. In the meantime, there will surely be complaints of how the right to free speech has been oppressed, but it is critical to remember that free speech does not cover hate speech, or inciting violence against groups of people.

Reddit’s future will be littered with more misogynistic statements, groups, and subreddits, but by banning /r/incels, they have sent a message that was resoundly heard. There is no shortage of questionable sections on Reddit, but if they continue to be diligent and firm on what is acceptable and what is not, they could create a more positive Internet experience. It is highly unlikely that the members of /r/incels will change their views anytime soon, but banning them is a step in the right direction.

Sources:

Banning /r/incels: Reddit Takes a Stand Against Misogyny

We wanna slide into your DMs