4chan’s Misogynist ‘Wizards’ Are Cutting Women for Begging

“To summon a witch who can hurt him,” he wrote anonymously 4 ch user last week, posting on the /r/ message board, a site for “adult requests” for screenshots.

Attached to the picture was a picture of a blonde woman wearing glasses, an open black jacket, a white tank top, and ripped jeans, looking at a small wall with a beautiful view of the old world city and the river behind her. It’s the kind of photo you’d see on your friends’ Instagram accounts from their vacation in Europe. On the left side of the picture, you can see that someone has been removed from the picture.

The 4chan anon explained what he wanted from a “witch,” the site’s term for anyone who has the ability to change women’s photos to show the depth of what they look like unclothed, sexually active, or to achieve a given magic: “big boobs and a thick body,” the user mentioned. “Bonus praise if you leave him his jacket.” A few hours later, someone responded with an edited photo, which shows the same woman, in the same place, but shirtless, with her breasts exposed. (Yes, he was still wearing a jacket.)

“Thanks a lot, wiz,” replied another person—probably the same person who had asked in the first place. “Big change <3."

Anyone whose likenesses are in public can be subjected to this kind of abuse, but the majority of victims of genital mutilation are women. And a new study confirms that non-consensual images (NCII) can be created in a collaborative way that strengthens the bonds of online male groups built around shared sexual abuse.

Thursday, a Institute for Strategic Dialoguea political advocacy group that aims to combat extremism, hate speech, and propaganda, published it paper on this topic is Leonie Oehmig, a researcher and policy associate in Berlin. Oehmig studied intimately the brutality of the heart; here he turned to the sordid world of 4chan’s photo-editing “witches” and their sycophantic followers.

Oehmig discovered that 4chan threads like the one described above served as a springboard for spreading NCII on other private platforms, including Telegram and Discord. More interestingly, however, they tend to follow popular literary and social norms.

Men who hope to embarrass and humiliate women offer pictures and advice. WIRED reviewed posts from anonymous 4chan users who wanted everything from “a black bikini” to “a midriff” to “her hands tied in a BDSM style.” Oehmig’s paper describes requests “for subjects to be exposed in humiliating situations, including things such as being spat on or smeared or subjected to obscene and symbolic purposes such as being hanged or displayed in theatrical performances.”

A so-called witch who fulfills one of these illusions is highly praised. “Holy hell, you really do work miracles,” says a recent response from someone interested in witchcraft.

“It was absolutely glorious,” Oehmig tells WIRED. It’s like, ‘Do your magic, hold your magic.’ These people who make these things are called ‘boss’ or ‘boss.’ I think this is one of the reasons why manufacturers really do it. ” (The title “wizard” also has a conjunction incel culture(when referring to a man who is still a 30-year-old virgin.)

Oehmig’s analysis involved thousands of images from the beginning of December 2025 to the beginning of March 2026, and this pattern repeats itself over and over again, revealing the power that men without the means to digitally undress women worship men who can make their clothes disappear. In some ways, Oehmig observes, this control reflects the “desire for power and control” that drives sexual violence in the first place.