Move over incels, volcels are the new thing –

While celibacy may be associated with the incel community today, with respect to men who are involuntarily celibate because of their inability to build relationships with women, there are also those who choose to remove themselves from the dating pool.

Voluntary celibacy is currently a trending topic on TikTok, with GQ reporting that it has more than 200 million views at the time of writing. Largely, the topic is dominated by women and people in the LGBTQ community, but a growing trend is focused on voluntarily celibate men, known as “volcels.

The 28-year-old celibate Jeremie discovered that removing himself from the dating pool and avoiding women made him face his own mental problems. “I had almost no other outlets to cope with [mijn] emotional needs,” he said. “So I created an unhealthy dependence on [romantische relaties] to navigate through it.”

Clinical psychologist Rob O’Flaherty argues that men should not simply jump on celibacy as the latest TikTok trend. Men should not choose the lifestyle “because it is the latest TikTok discussion, nor as a response to sexual dysfunction, problems with sexual intimacy, or to try to resolve sexual compulsions or ‘addictions.’ For these issues, seeking appropriate support would be more beneficial and celibacy could be counterproductive. “