The internet has enabled the flourishing of countless subcultures, from the harmless to the less so. Lately, one of the latter group has begun to break into the mainstream: the "incels."
Incel is short for "involuntary celibate," and as their self-imposed name implies, these mostly young men have come to define themselves by their inability to find a sexual or romantic partner. Men who identify as being #foreveralone have gathered online in forums such as Reddit to trade stories of woe.
These communities tend to be self-reinforcing. Members believe that their looks or personal traits have consigned them lifelong loneliness, and similarly downbeat peers are always willing to add more fuel to that fire.