George Hahn

I hate the incel moniker.

Throughout 99% of history, 99% of men have been incels for long periods.

I was celibate until I was 19, not by choice.

I wanted a girlfriend in high school, but was largely sidelined from the dating game by afflictions common among teen boys.

I was painfully skinny and insecure, with bad skin.

So I got to work.

I enrolled at UCLA, hit the gym, focused on ways to demonstrate excellence, for me it was humor, built friendships with women, and surrounded myself with the impressive men of Zeta Beta Tau.

I worked hard and developed the calluses that nearly every successful person has.

I learned how to mourn and move on, to endure rejection.

By the middle of sophomore year, I had my first girlfriend.

There were a lot of firsts in the relationship, but two stand out.

Melanie was the first woman I was me around, instead of trying to be someone I thought she'd like.

And we loved each other.

Having an impressive person who could date other men choose and love you is profound.

Struggling to find a romantic partner is normal.

Today, however, a dangerous ideology is infecting many young men who see their incel status as inevitable and even embrace it, blaming women instead of trying to better themselves.

Many aren't incels, but V-cells, voluntary celibates who choose resentment over self-improvement.

The challenges young men face are real.

In school, boys fall behind their female peers and are much less likely to become valedictorians and go to college, with the education system biased against them and girls mature faster.

American tax policy increasingly transfers money from the young to the old.