Well, the term got created by people who were using it to describe themselves as if it were a disability and they needed some kind of special treatment to solve their “problem”. Naturally this also had an overlap with the then-trending “Pick-Up Artist” community right from the start. Or incel forums which were an insane crab bucket of woman-hating basement dwellers. I don’t even mean like just rude to women, I mean hate and fear.
Needless to say being associated with this group in any way was embarrassing and it quickly became the butt of jokes. It quickly became an insult, though I don’t think it’s exactly fair to apply to people who just are virgins rather than self - described incels who are a member of that community.
I didn’t know it went that far back. I first heard about it around 2009, and it wasnt strictly associated with 4chan but it seemed for all the world like a new trend at the time.