But it wasn’t coined to express some unfortunate external circumstances; it was to express any circumstances. And the most misogynistic of incels still believes they are being mistreated due to external circumstances. She even gave the example of someone who wants to fuck horses as part of the core.

I understand feeling empathy to those who are lacking intimacy or romance because of an unfortunate circumstance beyond their control, like a profound disformity. I can also appreciate wanting to support that group but not the larger set that self identify as incels. But there is no salvaging what has long been a group of antisocial people fostering the same dangerously hostile worldview in others.

I have a hard time believing that all of even just most of the men that initially joined her group had “concerning views” if that’s meant to refer to the misogyny we see in those most associated with the term today, but I do know that plenty of the posters I saw on the subreddit years ago when I visited were not of that ilk.

That's fine, but remember you're doubting the one person unique qualified to talk about the developmental history of the movement that they launched from the site that they ran.

I don't think that it necessarily was "all" or "most" but simply that the male presence within the movement was sufficiently represented by individuals with those views that it's one of the first thing she mentions in the context of discussing the growth of the movement itself.

Part of her point seems to be pointing out that they invited those views in, very early in the movement, out of a desire to be inclusive - only to be driven out by those views later on down the road.

I bring that up in this context because I don't think that the movement or the term can be divorced fully from the male misogyny that it's associated with today. Those people are not latecomers to the label, they've been there effectively from the start - from the point where it went from the comments section of Alana's Involuntary Celibacy Project blog, to becoming "a community" centered around a shared label.

but I think if the term was originally coined to represent people who were genuinely suffering from external circumstances that put them in the position they’re in, it should remain for them and not those who sabotage themselves via their own toxic behavior.

I've used bold to highlight it in the quote above - that is a big "if" that the person who coined the term says is not true. If it were true, we'd be having a different conversation. But it's not true.

The simple fact is that it's a self-identifier. It's a label that people put on themselves based on their perception of their own life circumstances. The original vision for the term says that neither you nor I get to tell anyone else they're "not a true incel" or to go over their life and tell them the barriers are self-inflicted if they don't see it that way. I guarantee you that the people you want to exclude from the term do very genuinely believe that they are "suffering from external circumstances that put them in the position they're in." No matter how much your or I might see them and think they're clearly suffering from self-inflicted wounds, they are entirely sincere in their belief that their dating life is out of their control and has been a victim of cruel society.

One group deserves empathy and compassion; the other deserves scorn and derision. I don’t think it’s productive or fair to the former group to use the same term for both.

To me? They're the same group. Some members of the group are hateful and shitty. Some members of the group aren't. I'd say that the overwhelming majority of members, from both sides of that divider, are experiencing obstacles to dating or sex that are self-inflicted, even if they also have other barriers that are not. The vast majority of both groups would tell you that their personal circumstances are wholly out of their own control.

The "logic" that group uses around attractiveness and dating marketability and how this or that facet of looks or wealth or social status or whatever is ultimately spurious. If Ricky Berwick get rich, famous, and married - the absolute hard impassible barriers that incels talk about affecting themselves simply do not exist.

The term was always cringy because it's putting the lack of sex in a vacuum and completely ignoring the relevant factors.

I was there when /r9k/ was born so I feel like I got a good first hand look at how this modern incel ideology developed. The people you are describing need a better term and that's been true from the very beginning.

I heard about it early on and actually went to visit the sub out of curiosity when it was still somewhat innocent. There were definitely misogynistic posts there already, but plenty of innocent ones as well that didn't blame women for the outcome. I remember later on there was even a post made by one of the mods about how he was retiring from the sub, because it had been taken over by the misogynists and no longer served the purpose it was intended to. I would bet you have met men that qualify under the original definition, but who don't identify with the label now because of what it's come to be associated with.

r/ForeverAlone seems to fit the original meaning of incel

Edit: I know that sub from a friend...

The first website to use the term "incel" was founded sometime between 1993 and 1997.[25][7][26] The website was created by a university student living in Toronto and known only by her first name, Alana, to discuss her sexual inactivity with others.[25] Titled "Alana's Involuntary Celibacy Project", the website was used by people of all genders to share their thoughts and experiences.[7] During 1997, she started a mailing list on the topic that used the abbreviation INVCEL, later shortened to "incel", for "anybody of any gender who was lonely, had never had sex or who hadn't had a relationship in a long time".[27] During her college years and after, Alana realized she was bisexual and became more comfortable with her identity.[26] She stopped participating in her online project around 2000 and gave the site to a stranger.[28][29] In 2018, Alana said of her project: "It definitely wasn't a bunch of guys blaming women for their problems. That's a pretty sad version of this phenomenon that's happening today. Things have changed in the last 20 years".
wiki

E: just seen this has already been shared, don't mind me...

I double checked and it was… for sure it’s been 100% co-opted by the “maniverse”, but I think it used to be a reasonably constructive community