49. Black Pill: Are incels dangerous?

23rd April 2018 was the date selected by John Doe as the day he would kill as many residents of Toronto as possible. Witnesses describe seeing a white van mount the pavement on busy Yonge Street and run down pedestrians. Ten people sadly lost their lives. John Doe drew inspiration from the misogynistic online “incel” movement: groups of men who blame their lack of sexual activity on women and resent sexually “succesful” men.

On this episode of Bad People, Dr Julia Shaw and comedian Sofie Hagen discuss why people become incels. Are incels dangerous? And what can be done to stop people subscribing to this ideology in the first place.

This episode contains audio from the documentary Inside the Secret World of Incels produced by BBC Three and audio from Ben Hurst’s TED talk.

Warning: This episode contains descriptions of violence, specifically targeted violence towards women, murder, and mentions of suicide.

CREDITS Presenters: Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen Producer: Caroline Steel Editor: Rami Tzabar Music: Matt Chandler Academic Consultants for The Open University: Dr Lara Frumkin and Dr James Munro Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins Commissioning Assistant Producer: Adam Eland

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Bad People is produced in partnership with The Open University and is a BBC Audio Science Production for BBC Sounds.