A FOIA request by the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project to the FBI revealed the agency keeps a list of terms to be on the lookout for when tracking what it calls “Involuntary Celibate Violent Extremism.”
FBI agents on the bureau’s incel squad are supposed to keep an eye out for people using terms like “Chad,” “Stacey,” and “red pill.”
Incels, derived from “involuntary celibate,” refer to men who wish to have sex with women, but are denied, and is a particularly virulent strain of internet culture that’s led to the dangerous rhetoric and outbursts of violence.
The documents were first published today by the Daily Signal, the Heritage Foundation’s online outlet.
The documents, part of the FBI’s Domestic Terrorism Reference Guide, detail the threats involuntary celibate violent extremists pose—those who would commit violence over being denied sex.
They note there were at least five lethal attacks since 2014 by incels, the most well-known being Elliot Rodger, who killed six in California. The documents also state that agents should be concerned if incels online are glorifying past instances of incel violence.
To keep an eye out for incels online, the FBI also maintains a glossary of terms those in the community are inclined to use.
It discusses “Ascension,” or when an incel has sex and gains a higher status as a result. It says “Chads” are idealized versions of a male who is very successful at gaining sexual and romantic attention from women and that “Staceys” are “idealized versions of a female” who choose “Chads” over incels.
The vernacular flagged is common in internet parlance, but it is nonetheless interesting to know the FBI is using popular phrases to potentially track incels moving from online circles to real-world violence.
The FBI did not reveal any information about how or where the FBI tracks these movements.
However, the documents also discuss “Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremism” and note the prevalence of Nazi symbols and antisemitic languages within that community.
In recent years, the incel community and the far-right have seen tremendous overlap, as best personified by online far-right influencer Nick Fuentes. Fuentes, an avowed white nationalist, has been open about his incel status, going to extremes to tout his bona fides as both an antisemite and someone who does everything in his power to keep from having sex with women.
