Evan had started social camps for people like him, who were struggling with relationships and needed some guidance and mentoring. We were exploring the challenges young people who are on the autism spectrum experience in making social connections and finding love. In March 2018, my friend Evan Mead and I had been working on a documentary titled Awkward Love. This project didn't start out as a deep-dive into incel culture, did it? Host Ellen Chloe Bateman explores the world of incels and finds a dark, online world fueled by violent misogyny and extreme isolation that presents a growing threat to public safety.
Here is part of their conversation.īoys Like Me 3:19 Introducing: Boys Like Me Boys Like Me follows the story of two high school friends: one became an autism advocate and film-maker the other went on to commit one of the most notorious mass-killings in recent times.
#INCEL SYNDROME SERIES#
How did two young men, who started in similar circumstances, end up on such drastically different paths?īoys Like Me, a new five-part series from CBC Podcasts, examines how socially-isolated young men can vanish into an online world of nihilism and despair that radicalizes them into angry - and potentially deadly - misogynists.Įllen Chloë Bateman, host of the podcast, spoke with CBC Podcasts about how this project became what it is today. They were former high school classmates both outcasts, existing together on the fringes of social acceptance. In the wake of the attack, Evan Mead discovers a disturbing connection to the perpetrator. He was linked to the "incel" movement, a dark online world fuelled by violent misogyny, extreme isolation and perceived rejection.
In 2018, a Toronto man drove a van down a busy sidewalk, killing 11 people and injuring many more. Why are lonely, young men a growing threat to our safety?
Content warning: the following article includes mention of violence against women, self-harm and sexual assault.