Trigger Warning – Mentions of sexual violence
‘If you put yourself in a position to be r*ped, you must bear some responsibility’ – Andrew Tate via Twitter
Professional kickboxer, multi-millionaire, social media sensation, violent misogynist. Whatever you want to call him there is no doubt that Andrew Tate has become one of the most famous men on the internet in recent months, known for his outrageous statements, mostly made on various podcasts. Tate amassed an insane 12 billion views on Tik-Tok without even having his own account, and almost 5 million Instagram followers before his account was removed, all comprising mostly of young boys.
If you have been lucky enough to remain blissfully unaware of Andrew Tate and his questionable views, the basis of his brand is to ‘empower’ men and bring back traditional masculinity. He has formed his own ‘Hustlers University’, aimed at young men to motivate, and encourage them to make money by teaching them business principles and giving tips on how to succeed. Whilst this all sounds great and some of his content is simply him telling men how to better themselves, it has been overshadowed by the incredibly harmful, misogynistic views he has on women. I won’t include every disturbing quote I’ve discovered, or this article will become a novel but some include:
- ‘Why would you be with a woman who’s not a virgin anyways? She is used goods, second hand’,
- ‘I think women belong to the man’,
- ‘I don’t want her (his hypothetical girlfriend) to have her own opinions.’
- ‘Have you ever seen a woman try and do anything competent?’
- ‘Bang out the machete, boom in her face, then grip her up by the neck, you go ‘SHUT UP BITCH’ she’s shaking on the floor, panties are all wet, and you go fuck her. That’s how it goes. slap, slap, grab, choke, shut up bitch, sex.’
Now many of his fans claim that this part of his persona is all satire, and he obviously doesn’t mean any of the things he says about women, and whilst I do agree that some (and I mean very, very, few) of the things he says are probably an exaggeration to garner more media attention, it doesn’t discredit the fact that what he says, joke or not, has serious, real effects on people.
Not only are the things he says, particularly about assault and r*pe triggering to victims, but a lot of his audience is made up of very young, impressionable boys who won’t be able to differentiate between a satirical character, and the real advice being given out. If this really is a character that Tate is playing to gain attention it is completely irresponsible and inexcusable of him to discredit the negative effects this is having on people, which I think, for someone with that big of a following, is just as harmful as saying these things and actually meaning them. Schools across the US have already reported seeing boys as young as 12 repeating things Tate has said amongst their friends, even becoming more violent with female peers. Sky News has reported that teachers in secondary schools across the UK are being warned about Andrew Tate and told to listen out for children who seem to be following him.
Since Tate’s removal from social media, a new wave of these ‘alpha male’ podcasters have formed, using the guise of self-help and male empowerment to be openly misogynistic. For example, a podcast called NoFilterPod was criticised when the host said that he would leave his wife if she was to ‘let herself go’ after childbirth, or the host of Good Bro Bad Bro podcast who went viral for saying that he didn’t think women had any hobbies, and these aren’t even some of the worst examples.
The popularity of these sorts of videos recently should definitely be a cause for concern, at a time when women’s rights are being threatened across the world, with some American women losing their rights to bodily autonomy and women in Iran being killed every day for refusing to conform to an oppressive regime, it is more important than ever to try and fight against misogyny, and the fact that people like Andrew Tate have managed to gain a cult like following in such a short amount of time seems like a very scary step in the wrong direction.