Toronto’s van attack added ‘incel’ or involuntary celibates to our vocabulary. Now meet currycels, misogynistic Indians who believe they’d score if they were white

The Incel Rebellion has already begun!” wrote Alek Minassian , a 25-year-old software developer, on Facebook on April 23 before driving a rented van over 10 people in Toronto . Eight of those killed were women. That’s probably the first time many heard of incels or Involuntary Celibates, an online community of misogynists who think they have no luck with women because of their looks.

There’s an even lesser-known subset of incels — men from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal , but mostly second-generation Indian-Americans — who they call themselves ‘currycels’. While incels refer to women as ‘femoids’ believing that they are pre-programmed to choose mates by looks alone, currycels add a deep insecurity about race to their violent misogyny.

On Reddit , one of the online fora on which incels meet and discuss their vitriolic ideology, currycels talk about wanting to rip their skins off, accuse women of being unwilling to date Indian men, and describe Indians as “genetic garbage that only exists because of arranged marriages”.

One currycel who spoke to TOI on condition of anonymity remarked: “If I was able to retain my features and personality, but was white, Hispanic, or even east Asian, I’d fare much better than being a dark-as-s**t brown guy”. Another said: “Once you move to the first world, you’ll quickly notice how inferior you are in every way, whether it is intelligence, social aptitude or looks.”

Currycels blame feminism for their inability to find a partner and say sexually liberated women have wrested from men the right to choose partners. When asked what he looks for in a woman, a man said: “I don’t have the option to choose. That’s what makes me an incel. If I did, it’d be intelligence and confidence. It doesn’t matter though, because it’s the girls who choose.”

Their resentment towards women is clear, as is their obsession. “Men understand honour and loyalty, concepts that are foreign to women,” said a man who, like many in the community, claims that he is not a misogynist but is simply “exposing a truth”.

“The average Indian woman, if given the chance to cheat on her boyfriend or husband with a white male without repercussion, would 100% cheat,” he said.

Bitter black pill

Incels say they have no ideology but go by the rules of the ‘black pill’, a concept that’s an offshoot of the 1999 sci-fi film The Matrix, where the character has to choose between a blue pill, or status quo, and a red pill, which brings knowledge and the brutal truth of reality. Black pillers, a disgruntled offshoot of the red pill community, believe the reality is that the deck is stacked against them. “Black Pillers believe that no amount of effort is ever going to help them since the odds against them are insurmountable,” notes a member. Suicide isn’t just discussed, but apparently encouraged. One currycel claims he knows at least four users who have committed suicide.

Debbie Ging, associate professor of media studies at Dublin City University , is currently doing research relating to articulations of gender on social media, addressing issues such as online misogyny and men’s rights politics. She says most people go through self-doubt, low self-esteem and depression at some point. But in the world of incels, all this combines with sexual rejection leading to a “maelstrom of misogyny” where women become scapegoats. “They operate like cults in that they are governed by their own internal logic and are adept at instilling deep mistrust of the outside world,” she says.

A lot of the talk on these online groups is deeply unsettling, not just because violence against women is often condoned but also because there is a profound sadness and self-hatred in the way these men see themselves. One of the members said their vitriol is a coping mechanism: “I doubt if most of these guys would remain misogynistic if they manage to get into a relationship with a woman.”

