The suspect in the Toronto van attack that killed 10 people, primarily women, posted a message on his Facebook page that appears linked to a misogynistic online group of men who identify as "incel," or involuntarily celibate. Its members hate women because they believe they are denying them sex.

Alek Minassian, 25, is not the first alleged mass killer from this community.

The Facebook post also praises Elliot Rodger, who killed six people near the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 2014 and said it was because women denied him sex. Chris Harper-Mercer, who killed nine people in 2015 at Umpqua Community College in Oregon, also described himself as an incel.

Here & Now's Robin Young learns more with Sam Louie (@DrSamLouie), a psychotherapist in Seattle who's been writing about the group.

Interview Highlights

On the incel community gathering in online forums

"It's growing, and part of the reason is because of the way the culture has shifted, where folks are teased mercilessly ... for — I'll just say it bluntly — for being virgins. Some of them may be socially awkward, all the way through the autistic spectrum, and then they also don't fit the hypermasculine description of what they think would be attractive — all these different facets that just fuel their sense of shame."

On how the incel community formed

"This community started in 1993 by, coincidentally, a woman who was from Toronto. She wanted to make this very inclusive, all men and women were welcome, it wasn't about violence, but it was more or less helping people to connect with other men and women who struggled with her ... and what happened was, a lot of young men had nowhere to [vent] their sexual, emotional, social frustrations, so they found these online communities and forums."