A History of Celibacy (book)

A History of Celibacy is a book by Elizabeth Abbott that devotes one chapter to involuntary celibates (using the term verbatim). She includes in this category a wide variety of people.

Incel definition

According to Abbot, those who are incel include:

• Those in social circumstances that deny them access to potential partners (for example, being imprisoned, or living in a society with skewed sex ratios caused by the death of many men in a war, or preferential abandonment or abortion of females)
• Those without access to either birth control or the monetary resources to deal with a child
• Those denied the right to marry by social norms (for example, widows in certain Hindu communities, or younger sisters in societies that demanded the oldest be married first)
• Women whose families lacked money for the dowries required by their society
• People who would lose their jobs if they were known to be sexually active (for example, apprentices and journeymen in certain trades in Medieval Europe, or certain Western domestic servant or educator positions prior to the past century)

See also

• Shyness and Love (book)