Good morning, murderers! Yes, you. If you’re reading this on your commute, please alight at the next stop and hand yourself in to the nearest police station. Because in the eyes of certain messed-up men, if you refuse sex you could be responsible for them committing rape, violence and even murder.

Confused? A brief look at the unsavoury world of self-proclaimed ‘incels’ should, alas, enlighten you.

‘Incel’ stands for ‘involuntary celibate’, and men who define themselves as such can be found posting misogynistic rants on the internet. And some of their vitriol has spread into the real world. Alek Minassian, the alleged driver of the van that recently ploughed into pedestrians in Toronto, killing 10, was a member of this community that habitually fills its forums with hate-filled diatribes about women who – given ‘ideas and power above their station’ by feminism and legislation – exercise sexual autonomy. The most commonly proffered solution is mass-rape  but Minassian hailed the start of the “incel rebellion” and upgraded to real-life murder. He follows in the footsteps of Elliot Rodger who shot dead six people in Santa Barbara, California, four years ago, and explained that it was in retaliation for women depriving him of sex.

It’s all horrifying. And perhaps what’s most horrifying is that it’s so familiar. It is just the most extreme manifestation of the self-preserving thought that many women have in their heads from the moment they become sexually active: that if we say no to the advances of this or that man, there is a risk – slight but calculable – that he may hurt or kill us. Now, it seems, we must also factor the potential risk to others.

“Men do not have a right to sex – or murder”