‘Incels’ Growing Terror Threat to Women: US Secret Service

A new US Secret Service report prepared by the National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) details a rising threat from men who identify as “involuntary celibates” or “incels”, due to their inability to form intimate relationships with women, reports The Guardian. As a case study, the Secret Service examined a 2018 shooting at a yoga class in Tallahassee, FL, in which a man killed two women and wounded six, to highlight behavioral threat assessment themes identified in years of research examining targeted violence.“The attacker was motivated to carry out violence by his inability to develop or maintain relationships with women, along with his perception of women’s societal power over men,” the report said.

Themes of this kind of violence include concerning and threatening communications, concerning online content, chronic and acute stressors, elicited concern in others, interpersonal difficulties, history of being bullied, financial instability, failed life aspirations and lack of consequences. According to the report, NTAC research has shown no specific profile of an individual who plans or executes an act of targeted violence. Attackers vary in age, race, sex, education level, employment history and other characteristics. However, a unifying factor among most attackers is a set of concerning behaviors displayed before acts of violence.