From sexual violence to extremism: Inside the toxic student incel culture at UK universities

You’ve probably heard about the growing epidemic of incel culture amongst young men and the rise of the manosphere online.

The manosphere refers to parts of the internet which have become synonymous with promoting misogyny. These include men’s rights podcasts, chatrooms, blogs, and YouTube accounts championing regressive gender roles and hate towards women.

However, reports have also shown the consequences of rising “red-piller” incels go beyond the internet, as it coincides with the increasing rates of sexual violence at many UK universities.

Violence against women

There has been a clear cultural shift over the last decade from the #MeToo movement to the rise of supposed men’s rights activists. Over the last three years, Home Office statistics revealed a significant rise in sexual violence on campuses. In total, 2,164 female students made reports of sexual assault and rape since 2022. An example of this abuse could be seen yesterday when a UCL student was sentenced to life in prison after raping 10 women.

Zhenhao Zou, the UCL student who was yesterday sentenced to life in prison for 11 rapes

In addition, a 21-year-old Ulster student is facing charges of stalking and threatening communications. This came about following the UK university student’s alleged online posts wishing rape and death on a woman, highlighting the damage incel culture is causing on both ends.

Growing extremism

A report by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and College of Policing commissioned after last year’s race riots highlights the underlying issue behind the rise of extremism.

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Titled The National Policing Statement for Violence Against Women and Girls, it identifies misogyny, violence against women, and the “manosphere” as the roots for extremism in the UK. The report recommended authorities look at concerning behaviours, ideologies and beliefs when combating extremism. These include misogyny, violence against women and girls, and a fixation on gore and violence.

The study estimates one in 20 adults (2.3 million) in England and Wales will be a perpetrator of violence against women and girls (VAWG) every year. The report also mentioned increasing misinformation and conspiracy theories, which influence racism, intolerance and involvement in “the manosphere”.

Deputy Chief Constable Maggie Blyth, national lead for policing violence against women and girls, spoke to The Telegraph about the findings. She said: “We know that some of this is also linked to radicalisation of young people online; we know the influencers, Andrew Tate, the element of influencing of particularly boys, is quite terrifying and that’s something that both the leads for counterterrorism in the country and [something] ourselves from a VAWG perspective are discussing.”

Referrals to Prevent

via Unsplash

Prevent is a Home Office programme seeking to protect vulnerable people from exploitation by extremists. The programme is monitored by Office for Students, a government agency that regulates universities. Together they aim to safeguard students from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism and monitor what universities can do to prevent this. In extreme escalated cases, this includes referring at-risk students to an external lead from Prevent.

From 2023 to 2024, two higher education students were referred to Prevent. In addition to the five students referred from 2022/23 and the two from 2021/22, this brings the total to nine.

Overall, the Office for Students data highlights 265 cases from 2023 to 2024 in which a Prevent officer had to become involved.

Of these, 90 per cent stemmed from “a mixed, unclear or unstable ideology” which could link to the rise of misogyny and the incel culture in UK universities. This is almost double the 139 cases from 2020 to 2021, of which only half were related to this kind of ideology.

Currently, misogyny is not considered a hate crime in the UK, as the Public Order Act 1986 only labels a criminal offence as a hate crime if it was based on disability, race, religion, transgender identity, or sexual orientation. However, the increasing data and reports linking misogyny with extremism and the violent consequences of sexist ideology demonstrates the seriousness of this systemic issue and the urgency with which it needs to be tackled.

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Featured image vis Unsplash