The term 'incel' gained global recognition only in recent years, representing a specific form of contemporary male anger known as involuntary celibacy. This phenomenon predominantly involves young, often white and right-wing individuals who desire romantic and sexual relationships but find themselves unable to establish them.

Frustrated by the absence of sexual and emotional intimacy in their lives, they usually seek solace and reinforcement within toxic online communities, fostering an environment characterized by bitterness and hate. Although in 2017, the 41,000-strong community of r/incels was shut down by Reddit for hosting "violent" and misogynistic content. But this didn't stop them from scurrying to other crevices of the internet.

While the phenomenon of involuntary celibacy has existed in society's shadows for many years - the term itself first popularized in the '90s - it has gained prominence only in the last decade or so. Obtaining comprehensive research on this topic is challenging, but some data suggests that a significant portion of millennial men in the United States, ranging from 15-to-30%, could potentially fall under the incel classification today. 

In order to find out why these men are so terrible at dating, let alone getting some steamy action, Bored Panda reached out to Brandon Sparks, an assistant professor in forensic psychology at Kingston University in London, who is one of the leading researchers on the subject of incels.

"Part of my hypothesis - which you just don't have the capacity to test, really - was me thinking that this kind of iteration of inceldom rose quite quickly alongside the prevalence and popularity of dating apps," Sparks explained. "Dating apps can be really effective, you know. But you also can be rejected by a lot of people in a really short window. And even someone who's fairly popular might be like, 'Wow, I've never experienced this degree of rejection,' just sitting at home."

After speaking with a handful of incels about their online dating experience, Sparks was able to discover some fascinating data. "Basically, incels choose a larger geographic radius, wider age range, and swipe right more often on someone. They do it about two-thirds of the time. Non-incel men said they only do it maybe about half of the time," he said. 

"What's interesting: non-incel men said that they match about a third of the time - incels reported matching about 5% of the time. So despite having cast a wider 'net' and therefore seeing more people, and swiping right on more people, they're matching far far less." He also adds that incels have twice as much chance to be 'ghosted', compared to their non-celibate counterparts.

In the online dating world, which accounts for 39% of couple meet-ups in the United States, physical appearance, height, and social status often serve as prerequisites for initial connections. Offline, many incels struggle due to a lack of fundamental social skills necessary to navigate relationships with the opposite sex.

An internal poll conducted on the website Incels.is revealed that 26% of forum users identified themselves as having some form of autism. For these men, flirting, which requires an intuitive grasp of subtle nonverbal cues and unspoken sexual tension, does not seem to come naturally.

According to Sparks, the majority of incels gravitate towards fellow individuals who share their "cursed" predicament because they struggle to find understanding elsewhere. He points out that many incels lack a substantial social circle, or in some cases, any friends at all. "Most people have experienced some degree of romantic rejection, but someone who has experienced a normal amount of rejections - but has also had some success - is most likely not going to really understand what it's like to experience that chronically."

"They feel like they can't just go out and tell people, 'Hey, I'm an incel' or 'I'm a 30-year-old virgin.' Even though there shouldn't really be any judgment for that," Sparks argued. Part of it, of course, falls on the media's portrayal of these individuals.

"Many feel like they couldn't talk about it because there's some shaming associated with being different. But now, with the way people talk about it, jokes being made about incels - I think it's just made it more difficult for them. It's just gonna push them further underground."