Combating Incels: Addressing Misogynistic Violence as an Early Warning Indicator of Escalating Violence And Armed Conflict

The spectrum of misogynistic violence between incels ("involuntary celibates"), non-State armed groups, and armed forces using extreme violence against women is based around the desire to restore "traditional" gender norms of male dominance, maintain systemic inequality between men and women, and often manifest in gender-based hate crimes before escalating into community violence and armed conflict. Governments and policy makers must dismantle structural inequalities and discrimination against women, as well as ensure effective criminal justice responses to gender-based hate crimes and all other forms of violence against women in order to address and prevent violence and armed conflict, as well as build sustainable peace.