The Big Story How does Canada tackle the incel crisis?
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Dec 4, 2025 Dr. Cecile Rousseau, a Psychiatry professor at McGill University, dives deep into the troubling rise of incel culture and its roots in online misogyny. She discusses the paradox of a regressing tolerance for gender-based violence since the landmark 1989 Polytechnique tragedy. Rousseau highlights how the internet accelerates identity crises among isolated young men and the urgent need for comprehensive strategies involving parents, educators, and policy-makers to prevent violence. She also explores the potential role of AI in shaping safer online environments.
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Recent Backslide In Women's Rights
- Gender-based violence decreased for decades but has worsened in the last ten years across North America and globally.
- Cecile Rousseau links this reversal to broader rollbacks in human rights and rising social and political forces.
Internet As Accelerator, Not Sole Cause
- The internet acted as an accelerator for rising misogyny but is not necessarily the original cause.
- Rising social inequalities and identity disruption combine with online spaces to fuel radicalizing narratives for men.
Powerful Figures Fill Identity Voids
- Shattered economic and social identities make messages of certainty and dominance attractive to vulnerable men.
- Figures like Andrew Tate provide a model of power that resonates where men feel identity and economic precarity.