Behind the Bastards

Part Two: From Elliott Rodger to Clavicular: The Story of Incel Evolution

March 12, 2026

Key Takeaways Copied to clipboard!

  • The evolution of incel ideology is marked by key violent events, specifically the 2014 mass killing by Elliott Rodger and an earlier 2009 attack by George Sedini, which led to the coining of the term \ 
  • before \ 
  • became common. 
  • The incel subculture has had a disproportionately large linguistic influence, creating widely adopted slang terms like \ 
  • \ 
  • and the suffix \ 
  • that have spread into mainstream Gen Z vernacular, often detached from their misogynistic origins. 
  • Attempts to censor incel communities online, such as banning subreddits, have historically resulted in the 
  • pushing the ideology into new, often more extreme or insidious spaces like the Rate Me subreddits, where looks maxing language was normalized. 
  • The 'Oxford Study' meme, used by incels and MRAs to falsely claim Asian women disproportionately date white men, demonstrates how fabricated academic concepts can spread virally online. 
  • The influencer Clavicular (Braden Peters) exemplifies the monetization of incel insecurity by selling routines and advice, such as the 'clavicular system,' while reinforcing the belief that worth is fixed by facial structure. 
  • The concept of 'bone smashing'—the dangerous practice of physically hitting one's face to supposedly grow a stronger jaw—is a bizarre, harmful evolution stemming from a misunderstanding of how weight training affects bone density. 

Segments

Guest Introduction and Campaign Plug
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(00:00:30)
  • Key Takeaway: Guest Kat Abugazela is actively running for Congress in Illinois’ 9th District with a progressive populist campaign supported by small-dollar donations.
  • Summary: Kat Abugazela, a journalist and researcher, is introduced as the guest for the Behind the Bastards episode on incel evolution. She is running for Congress in the 9th District of Illinois, covering areas from Uptown to Crystal Lake. Her campaign is characterized as progressive populist and is noted as the only one among the three most viable candidates not to have met with AIPAC.
Incel History Key Moments
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(00:05:42)
  • Key Takeaway: The two most defining moments in incel history discussed are the 2009 founding of PUAHATE.com and the 2014 mass killing by Elliott Rodger.
  • Summary: The timeline of incel history hinges on the 2009 founding of PUAHATE.com and the 2014 Isla Vista shooting by Elliott Rodger. In 2009, George Sedini committed a mass shooting motivated by rejection from women, and although not strictly an incel, he was adopted as a figurehead, leading to the term “going Sedini” being used on PUAHate.com before Roger’s attack.
Mass Shootings and Stalking Link
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(00:08:08)
  • Key Takeaway: Mass shootings in the 21st century often intersect with white supremacist conspiracy theories, blatant misogyny, and stalking, which is a major, under-restricted indicator for violent crime.
  • Summary: Mass shootings frequently involve the Great Replacement theory and misogyny, often coupled with stalking behavior. Legal recourse against stalking is difficult, requiring victims to often serve orders themselves, highlighting a systemic failure to address this key precursor to violence. This pattern of violence against women is central to why the public recognizes the incel subculture.
Elliott Rodger’s Manifesto and Ideology
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(00:14:20)
  • Key Takeaway: Elliott Rodger’s 141-page manifesto, posted immediately before his rampage, serves as a foundational document for black-pilled incel ideology, centering on perceived rejection by women.
  • Summary: Rodger’s manifesto, posted on PUAHATE.com, established a core incel narrative: suffering due to rejection by women who failed to see his value. His background included wealth and an obsession with material status, leading him to believe that looking good and being rich should automatically attract women, and his failure to achieve this drove his spiral. His inability to accept personal responsibility for his social failures is a key aspect of his ideology.
Parental Failure and The Secret
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(00:31:45)
  • Key Takeaway: Elliott Rodger’s father responded to his son’s visible rage by giving him a copy of ‘The Secret,’ introducing him to the Law of Attraction, which Rodger then applied irrationally to his desire for wealth and women.
  • Summary: Rodger’s parents were emotionally distant, and his father’s reaction to Rodger’s near-violent outburst was to give him the book ‘The Secret.’ Rodger embraced the Law of Attraction, visualizing wealth and revenge against those he felt superior to, demonstrating an irrational mindset prevalent in some non-internet cultural spheres. This failure to address underlying issues, combined with his exposure to PUA tactics, fueled his radicalization.
Incel Linguistic Influence and Memes
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(00:38:31)
  • Key Takeaway: The incel community’s linguistic output, including terms like ‘mogging’ and ‘Chad vs. Beta’ memes, has spread widely into mainstream Gen Z slang, often stripped of its original violent context.
  • Summary: The incel community invented terms like ‘mogging’ (to outclass someone visibly) and popularized the Chad/beta meme formats, which are now used across the internet for non-incel topics. They also popularized the use of the suffix “-cel” (e.g., gas cell) to denote negative contexts, demonstrating their significant, if often unrecognized, linguistic impact on online speech.
Censorship and The Toothpaste Tube Effect
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(00:46:16)
  • Key Takeaway: Attempts to censor harmful digital subcultures, like pro-anorexia content or incel forums, often trigger the ’toothpaste tube effect,’ causing the communities to adopt new coded language and shift to new hubs, making them more extreme and resilient to intervention.
  • Summary: The ’toothpaste tube effect,’ observed first with pro-anorexia content, describes how censorship pushes communities to adopt new terms to evade detection, leading to increased entrenchment and extremity. Following bans on early incel forums and the r/incels subreddit, the community migrated to new platforms like Reddit’s r/braincells, using coded language to continue spreading philosophy, particularly on ‘Rate Me’ subreddits where looks maxing was normalized.
Viral Oxford Study Meme
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(00:58:42)
  • Key Takeaway: The ‘Oxford Study’ meme is a fabricated concept created by incels and MRAs to falsely assert that Asian women are increasingly choosing white men as partners.
  • Summary: Starting in the summer of 2024, the phrase ‘Oxford Study’ appeared on social media accounts of young Asian women, often reacting to content about dating white men. This purported study, which claims Asian women prefer white men over Asian men, does not actually exist. Incels and MRAs created fake quotes from this non-existent study to spread this narrative online.
Clavicular and Frame Mogging
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(01:00:05)
  • Key Takeaway: Influencer Clavicular (Braden Peters) gained viral notoriety after a livestream interaction where a frat leader was perceived as ‘frame-mogging’ him due to physical size difference.
  • Summary: Clavicular was streaming on Kick from an ASU frat party when he took a selfie with a buff frat leader, noting the leader ‘frame-mogged’ him. This interaction was clipped and shared online, leading to the creation of the viral post featuring terms like ‘gesture gooning’ and ‘cortisol levels.’ The initial post was likely a joke mocking the online reaction to the frame-mogging incident.
Incel Terminology Breakdown
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(01:02:06)
  • Key Takeaway: ‘Gesture gooning’ appears to be a newly coined term combining ‘gesture maxing’ (compensating for looks with humor) and ‘gooning’ (sexual degeneracy), resulting in a meaning similar to gesture maxing.
  • Summary: Gesture gooning is a combination of ‘gesture maxing,’ which means being entertaining to attract women when not physically attractive, and ‘gooning,’ a term for prolonged masturbation or general sexual degeneracy. The concept of elevated cortisol levels relates to the belief that high cortisol reduces testosterone.
Clavicular Monetizing Insecurity
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(01:03:09)
  • Key Takeaway: Clavicular is cited as a prime example of monetizing insecurity by selling routines and advice, such as the ‘clavicular system,’ while reinforcing the incel belief that worth is fixed by facial structure.
  • Summary: Clavicular has publicly discussed drug use, extreme dieting, and body modifications as tools for ‘maxing,’ raising alarms about his influence on young audiences. This movement has circled back from initial anger over pickup artistry failure to selling the next generation of pickup artistry guides based on incel ideology.
Bone Smashing Dangers
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(01:05:03)
  • Key Takeaway: Bone smashing is a dangerous incel practice based on the false premise that repeatedly hitting facial bones with an object, like a hammer, will cause them to regenerate larger and stronger.
  • Summary: The practice stems from a misunderstanding of how strength training over time can improve bone density and strength in both men and women. Research indicates there is no evidence repeated blows alter human bone structure, and studies on rats subjected to this showed they developed traumatic brain injuries.
Podcast Outro and Promotion
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(01:08:50)
  • Key Takeaway: Cat promotes her congressional campaign in Illinois’ 9th District, urging listeners to vote in the March 17th primary.
  • Summary: The hosts conclude the episode with banter about rats and then transition to promotional material. Cat Eckard is running for Congress in the 9th District of Illinois, covering areas from Uptown Chicago to Crystal Lake. Her website is catforillinois.com, and the primary election is scheduled for March 17th.