Three female members of the ‘incel’ community have shared their reasons for being a part of the controversial movement associated with misogyny, anti-feminism, and violence.

The term incel is short for 'involuntary celibates' while female incels are known as 'femcels.' Members of the movement define themselves as being unable to find romantic or sexual partners despite their desire to have them.

A woman named Rachel, 19, told Huck Magazine that she came across the term incel for the first time four years ago and felt it was the perfect way to describe her situation.

'Femcels': Women who are 'involuntary celibate' are opening up about being a part of the controversial 'incel' movement

'I’ve never had sex or had a relationship due to a hormonal condition that has caused me to develop a very atypical appearance,' she explained.

The online subculture is known for attracting primarily heterosexual white men, many of whom claim it is impossible for women to be incels, making female involvement all the more confusing.

There is a misguided belief shared by many male incels that women, no matter what they look like, can find sexual partners as long as they are willing to be physically intimate with any man willing to have intercourse with them, with Huck Magazine explaining: 'The idea that any woman can get laid if she wants to is common on incel sites.'

Fiona, another femcel who has never had sex or been in a romantic relationship, told Huck Magazine that she is constantly reminding male incels that they need to be 'inclusive,' but they just tell her to go on a dating app or website to find a sexual partner.

While that may work for a woman who is just looking to be physically intimate, Fiona said there are a lot of femcels who 'want sex in a relationship with people we love.'

Rachel admitted that the widespread refusal to acknowledge femcels makes her feel even more alone because she is 'being rejected by both society and people who share the same struggles' as she does.

However, she continues to interact with male members of the subculture because there aren't many femcels, and she doesn't believe there are women outside of the community who can really understand what she is going through.

Rachel even admitted that she has a 'slight hope' that she will connect with a male incel who will one day become her partner.

Rules: Some male incels won't acknowledge femcels because they share the misguided belief that women can always find sexual partners

'It takes great measures for a female to become incel,' she explained. 'A female incel has to be extremely ugly or demented to be rejected by all males.'

Clare, a former femcel who now has a girlfriend, told the magazine that she used to pretend to be a man online to speak to other incels because many male members of the community see lesbians as 'competition.'

Male-dominated incel groups have been accused of inciting violence and misogyny online and numerous communities and subreddits have been banned over their content.

Popular posts from 2017 included featured hateful titles such as 'all women are sluts,' 'proof that girls are nothing but trash that use men, 'and 'reasons why women are the embodiment of evil,' according to The Guardian.

The incel community garnered international attention in April after Alek Minassian, 25, reportedly drove a van into a group of pedestrians in Toronto, the same day he suggested he was an incel in a Facebook rant.

'The Incel Rebellion has already begun! We will overthrow all the Chads and Stacys!' he wrote just hours before the attack.

Chad is a term used to refer to sexually active men among the incel community. A Stacy is an attractive, cheerleader type who only sleeps with Chads, according to the incel definition.

The cryptic message also saluted Elliot Rodger, a community college student who killed six people and wounded 13 in shooting and stabbing attacks near the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 2014.

Active Reddit groups for female incels such as r/Trufemcels have had issues with men pretending to be women as well as male incels known as moids (Men that Ostracize Imperfect Damsels), who don't recognize femcels.

Charged with murder: Alek Minassian (left), 25, mowed down group of pedestrians in Toronto on April 23, the same day he suggested he was an incel in a Facebook rant, while saluting Elliot Rodger (right), a student who killed six people and wounded 13 in shooting and stabbing attacks near the University of California and also described himself as an incel

The r/Trufemcels page now features a disclaimer to men 'who have just discovered the femcel sub.'

'It's quite simple. This moderated sub is a safe space for femcels. It is not for you,' it reads. 'You have a plethora of outlets to pipe in with "As a man" and many other male directed quips and opinions. This is not one of those outlets.

'The women who come here come to vent, relax, and to be free of your thoughts and input. They can s**tpost or be highminded as they so please without interruption. As such, moids who insist on being here are VISITORS ONLY.'

Before it was hijacked by men, the term incel was coined in the 1990s by a woman known only as Alana, who used it to describe her own experience with being unable to find a romantic or sexual partner.

She created the website Involuntary Celibacy Project with the goal of it being an inclusive community for people who were experiencing the same things she was.

Alana eventually passed the site on to someone else and didn't hear the term again until years later when she read about Elliot Rodger describing himself as an incel in online posts before going on a murder spree.

'It’s frustrating,' she told the Guardian in April. 'I feel like I did something important, for the good of the world — that then turned out to be a weapon as well.'

Despite the rampant anger against women, Rachel, Fiona, and Clare don't see it as a misogynist movement, though they do recognize that there are misogynist incels.

'There are some misogynistic incels, just as some Muslims are extremists, but Islam isn’t an extremist religion — and the entire incel movement isn’t misogynistic,' Rachel said.