One anonymous woman recently turned to the r/AITAH subredditfor adviceafter sharing how she broke up with her boyfriend. The author of the post said she discovered that he was an active user ofsexistand incel (involuntarily celibate) internet forums. Scroll down for the full story and the internet’s reactions.
Accidentally stumbling across your partner’s browsing history can come as quite a shock
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One woman shared how she became disillusioned with her boyfriend after reading the types of things he wrote online
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Image credits:Reddit user
Many involuntarily celibate men, aka incels, tend to blame women and society for their lack of romantic success
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“I didn’t want to confront him in person, so I just gathered my things and left,” she wrote.
Unfortunately, the OP deleted her account on Reddit, so we were unable to reach out to her for further comment. However, her story still went viral.
Meanwhile, some others pointed out that one of the most frightening things was that the guy she was dating tried to hide who he was as a person and what his beliefs were.
The term ‘incels’ usually refers to ‘involuntarily celibate’ straight men. They often havemisogynisticpoints of view. The Anti-Defamation Leagueclaims thatincels “blame women and society for their lack of romantic success.”
Incels tend to struggle with victimhood and poor mental health
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The mediaoften describesincels as violent male supremacists or extremists. However, this is a very black-and-white point of view. In reality, incel culture is slightly more nuanced and may have to do more with social isolation and mental health issues than sexism and violence.
As psychological scientist Craig Harper, Ph.D., explains, incelsoften displaysigns of victimhood and inferiority. Very often, they have poormental healthand feel lonely and isolated rather than being the “aggressive and overtly hostile provocateurs that they are characterized as being online.”
Moreover, incels also generally lack empathy and have a tendency to ruminate and get stuck in negative thought patterns.
According to Costello’s research, over 70% of incels had moderate or severe depression, compared to one-third of non-incels. Meanwhile, slightly less than 70% of incels were moderately or severely anxious, compared to 40% of non-incels.
The effects of social isolation are devastating. They can take a heavy toll not just on a person’s mental health but also on their physical health.
Here’s what the online community had to say after reading through the anonymous woman’s post
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