Femcel

About

Femcel is a slang term that defines the female version of an involuntary celibate or incel. It was first used by female internet users in a Yahoo! group in 2004. In 2012, the term was used on Reddit within multiple subreddits, many of which were satire and run by incel groups who believed being a femcel was not possible. Going into the 2020s, the term was used en masse on platforms like Twitter, TikTok and Instagram, mostly by female meme creators who romanticized the concept in memes.

Origin

Although involuntary celibate women have existed throughout human history, the earliest known thinker to utter the phrase was British journalist Walter M. Gallichan, who is quoted in his 1915 book The Great Unmarried saying, "involuntarily celibate women doomed to a lonely, loveless existence and the negation of the right to motherhood."^[1]

The earliest known online forum for involuntary celibate women was "Loveshy women," a Yahoo! group that was founded on October 22nd, 2004.^[2]

Spread

In February 2012, a Blogspot website was operating called femcel.blogspot.com. As of 2022, it is no longer in operation, however, evidence of it can be seen in tweets^[3][4] posted in February 2012.

On April 28th, 2012, the subreddit, /r/ForeverAloneWomen^[5] was created. Its first post^[6] was made on the same day by Redditor ayyyyyyyyyy who asked, "Am I so alone that I'm moderating an empty sub?" It received over 25 upvotes and nine comments in 10 years (shown below).

Interest and usage of the term didn't become notable, however, until 2018 due to the creation of a new subreddit called /r/trufemcels,^[7] which was founded on April 4th, 2018. The subreddit was actually satire, perpetuated by male incels who believed being a female involuntary celibate was not possible or real. The subreddit has since been banned, however, screenshots of its early posts were reposted to other platforms in June 2018. For instance, on June 8th, 2018, Twitter^[8] user Emoryology posted a screenshot (shown below, click to expand), captioning it, "Omg. Their woman counterparts are literally just like them…."

On June 21st, 2018, the term was added to Urban Dictionary ^[8] by the user BadReligion42, which over the course of four years, earned over 670 likes (shown below, top).

On September 25th, 2018, Twitter^[11] user sqrlyjack posted a Virgin vs. Chad meme that labeled a Chad Bowsette and a "Femcel" one (shown below, bottom).

On June 27th, 2018, writer Rob Waugh wrote an article for Metro^[9] titled, "Forget ‘incels’, ‘femcels’ are the new online terror to haunt your dreams." In it, he cited multiple tweets and memes regarding the /r/trufemcels subreddit, most of them being posts from malecels making fun of femcels for not being real (example shown below, left).

On October 13th, 2019, a mascot for the /r/trufemcels subreddit named Femcel Phoebe was created by Redditor GreenTeaApplePie69.^[10] She is drawn as a 5'3" brunette with brown skin and acne (shown below, right). The original threads have been archived since the subreddit was banned. By October 2019, the subreddit had roughly 18,000 subscribers.^[8]

On April 8th, 2020, Twitter^[12] user LilithLovett posted a tweet about femcels that earned roughly 8,500 likes in two years (shown below, left). On November 14th, 2020, Instagram^[13] page italypilled_ reposted a Spanish-speaking Facebook post that read, "musica per femcels," earning over 65 likes in two years (shown below, right).

By the end of 2021, "femcel" became a notable reference on TikTok. This was inspired most notably by a video posted by TikToker psychelayer04 in June 2021, however, psychelayer04 has since deleted their profile. Screenshots of their TikTok surfaced on platforms like Instagram throughout the remainder of 2021. For instance, Instagram^[14] page poopdetectives reposted it on June 14th, 2021, and received roughly 2,200 likes in 10 months (shown below, left). On July 17th, 2021, Instagram^[15] page catgirlpurgatory posted a femcel meme that earned roughly 6,200 likes in nine months (shown below, right).

On August 12th, 2021, Twitter user GL1TTERP1LL posted a tweet that captioned a photo of three, ominous women wearing glasses, one of them being the 2019 Tokyo Yandere Stabber, with, "the 4chanite sociopathic edgelore femcel phenotype" (shown below). GL1TTERP1LL's account has since been suspended.^[16]

On February 27th, 2022, an anon on 4chan posted a grid image of multiple femcel types, captioning it, "why do you all look like this?" It was reposted to /r/4tran^[16] on the same day where it received over 100 upvotes in two months (shown below).

The grid image was then referenced in other memes and templates going into 2022. For instance, on April 13th, 2022, Twitter^[17] user marcvs_fr posted a meme that added the image to the Uncle Ben What Happened? template, earning roughly 7,000 likes in two weeks (shown below).

/r/FemaleDatingStrategy

/r/FemaleDatingStrategy was a subreddit adminned by female Redditors and only for female Redditors, designed to be the only dating advice subreddit for women. It was created on February 27th, 2019, and over the course of one year, it gained roughly 59,500 members.^[18] The earliest known internet archive of the subreddit was created on April 5th, 2019, when it only had 17 members.^[19]

Many of the posts within the subreddit were ideologically opposed to men. For instance, on March 7th, 2020, a Redditor posted a tweet screenshot to the subreddit reading, "blows my mind ppl think sexuality is a choice as if anyone would willingly be attracted to men." The post^[18] earned roughly 2,000 likes in less than 24 hours (shown below).

As the subreddit grew, many men and malecels on the platform started to associate its members with the femcel archetype. Going into late mid-2020, the subreddit became private, as many malecel Redditors started to infiltrate it to post satirical content or make fun of the femcels' posts. The mods made the subreddit public again sometime in 2021.

/r/FemaleDatingStrategy Made Private 2022

On April 27th, 2022, the mods of /r/FemaleDatingStrategy made the subreddit private once again. As a result, many, mostly male Redditors rejoiced in memes. For instance, on April 27th, 2022, Redditor Creepy-Boysenberry5 posted a GIF of Mickey Mouse dancing to /r/meme^[20], captioning, "FemaleDatingStrategy is finally gone," and earning roughly 14,400 upvotes in one day before being removed (screenshot shown below, top). Also on April 27th, Redditor TheFitz07 posted a similar GIF to /r/shitposting,^[21] earning roughly 29,800 upvotes in one day (shown below, bottom). Additionally, the subreddit was discussed on /r/OutoftheLoop^[22] on April 27th.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References