A new terror threat? How Plymouth shooter delved into violent ‘incel’ subculture before massacre

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. But whatever the ultimate motive, Davison’s fascination with “incel” culture – which involves men expressing anger towards women because they find themselves involuntarily celibate – will come under much scrutiny. “That’s not to class everyone that belongs to the incel subculture as necessarily approving of violence, but I would say that misogyny online in general is something that needs to be taken more seriously – you know, anonymous spaces where we see females dehumanised – because the tail end of that can be real-world violence.” In the more disturbing forums, contributors can be found justifying – and discussing how to get away with – sexual violence. Tellingly, he also refers to something called the “black pill” – an incel term referring to the idea that a lack of success with the opposite sex comes down to simple genetics. “It’s important to say we don’t know what motivated but, online, there are people praising it by saying he ‘went Elliot Rodgers’.” How much this translates into a new terror threat in the UK, however, remains uncertain.