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[[File:Henri.jpg|thumb|250x250px|right|<center></center>|link=Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec]]

[[Incel]] is an academic sociological term that is short for '''involuntary celibacy''', an [[adverse effects of inceldom|adverse]] life circumstance. An analogy many incels often find elucidating would be comparing the state of lifelong inceldom to other common adverse life circumstances, such as [[Pauper|poverty]].

Inceldom was recognized in academia, as a sociological phenomenon in the landmark [[Donnelly Study]], published in 2001. Many further peer-reviewed academic papers have since been written, portraying involuntary celibacy as a (mostly) adverse life circumstance rather than exclusively describing a specific internet subculture.  

Academic researchers who have examined involuntary celibacy (though not all use that exact term) include: [[Denise Donnelly]], [[Elizabeth Burgess]], [[Laura Carpenter]], [[Theodor F. Cohen]], and [[Menelaos Apostolou]]. [[Brian Gilmartin]] also conducted extensive research into the closely linked concept of [[love shy|love shyness]]. The initial study explicitly dealing with the topic of involuntary celibacy, the Donnelly Study, defined incels as all adults who fail to find a sexual partner for six months, despite their desire for one. However, among [[Incelosphere#2010s.|self-identified incels]], there is often fervent disagreement about the exact definition.  

This wiki takes the stance, in agreement with the early academic research into the topic, that incel is not a movement or a community, but a gender-neutral life circumstance. Incels, both self-identified and not, are [[Demographics of inceldom|highly diverse politically, racially, religiously, and socioeconomically]].  

No philosophy or subculture represents all incels. Involuntarily celibacy is also by no means uncommon, either [[Incel#Incels_in_history|throughout history]] or in contemporary societies. For instance, among American millennials,

Current prominent incel forums include: [[Incels.is]], [[love-shy.net]], [[Incels.win]], and [[Foreveralone|/r/foreveralone]]. No mass-shooters or other criminals identified by the media as 'incels', or that self-described as such, have been members of any online community explicitly devoted to involuntary celibacy. Some of these individuals had used online communities such as [[4chan]] and [[PUAhate]], which were not/are not communities dedicated to involuntarily celibacy.