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Culture > Digital

Is incel culture becoming popularised again on TikTok?

Eilidh Kirk
The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the views of Her Campus.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Leeds chapter.
TW: mention of rape and sexual assault/violence

Needless to say, if you have been active on TikTok within the last few months, you will have come across the atrocities of Andrew Tate. This man needs little introduction, as to give him the time of day would only feed into his ego and his misogynistic, derogatory, and evil views of women and masculinity. For those who are unfamiliar, however, I will give a brief run-down on Tate and how dangerous his behaviours are considering the size and demographic of his audience. 

Andrew Tate first appeared on our screens in 2016 on the seventeenth season of the UK reality show Big Brother. Despite being removed from the show for allegedly hitting a woman (an accusation of which there is video evidence), he did not face the consequences from the British government, before moving to Romania in 2017. Upon moving there, (in a now-deleted video), he declared the reason for his move was that it was easier to get around laws against rape. Since then, he has created his own cam girl business and has been a guest on many podcasts and interviews, upon which hosts often ask for his opinion on a particular subject (usually related to the treatment of women). Vitriolic quotes made by Tate include “You can’t be responsible for something that doesn’t listen to you. You can’t be responsible for a dog that doesn’t obey you.” As well as inappropriate comments around age such as, “an 18/19-year-old is more attractive than a 25-year-old because she’s been through less d**k”.

There have been countless articles and outlets reporting on the harmful and disgusting words of Tate, but all are giving him exactly what he wants. Attention! Whether it is good or bad publicity, it is still publicity nonetheless, and the traps of TikTok mean watching it to the end promotes it to more viewers. 

This is dangerous as it leaves an impression in younger viewers (boys especially) that acting out or speaking in this way will lead to attention. It is no secret that TikTok’s demographic can range from anywhere between 11- 16 years old and having videos like these gain momentum through views and likes, can give the wrong idea to impressionable audiences, more specifically how women should be viewed in the eyes of young boys. 

It has been reported that over the last few months, teachers have noticed the change in language used by boys in classrooms when discussing girls, mimicking that of Tate. Many parents will pass it off as “just a phase” or teens will excuse it as “edgy /dark humour” yet the implications and ideas that are ingrained in viewers run much deeper.

Tate is exposing a new wave of incel culture. He has taken ideologies of a group so misogynistic and hateful and made it seem as though thinking like an incel makes you the “alpha male”. Not only does this create a toxic portrayal of what it means to be masculine, but it places men above women in social and physical status undoing years of fighting towards gender equality.

I am going to break each reason as to why I fear that there will be another incel uprising, extending outside social media platforms, and what this means for us as women.

Firstly I will explain for those who are unfamiliar with the term incel, what it details. An incel in a sub-genre of man that classifies himself as such. Incel is an abbreviation for “involuntary celibate” which as you can guess, means that they find it hard to build romantic or sexual relationships with women. Although at first glance, the title seems harmless these men and boys have taken it upon themselves to believe that the reason as to why they get no female attention, is because women are evil and manipulative. It is seemingly never any of their wrong doings, but it is women’s fault. Apparently women expect too much from men and that is why they are hated amongst the incels. Of course, internet chat forums such as Reddit and 4chan go into much more gruesome and detailed insults towards women, things that are too vile to repeat. But in true social media fashion, these forums breed a culture that extends past the internet into reality and forms very real threats to women’s lives. Despite not being reported as such, many mass shootings have been carried out by an incel (such as Elliot Rogers or an even more recent case in the UK with Jake Davison). 

Returning to Andrew Tate, not only is he so dangerous by leading young boys to believe certain attitudes towards women are not only okay, but necessary to make women “obey” you. He is also preaching that treating a woman like she is a toy, or an animal is what makes you desirable to women that you want to attract. Whereas incels have no need to gain an intimate partner, Andrew Tate is teaching his viewers that acting like him will get them anything they want in life like women, cars, and money. The difference is Tate viewers believe that being misogynistic is an attractive quality in men. 

It worries me as I hear more and more stories online from teachers and parents, concerned with the declining behaviour of their young students, students that are fuelling each other with this hateful and sexist language, only to replicate such words online. I fear that if not stopped and if not taught otherwise, then these views will become core opinions, leading to a generation of men not only willing, but desiring to harm women. To “put them in their place” if they are independent or willing to speak up against it. I fear that this may lead to the rise of domestic abuse cases in years to come, and less reports on it. 

Although you may deem this as a bit dramatic, it is a very real concern that many women have, that people will believe the lies that are being spread by this man. It is hard not to come across his content at one point or another on the internet as many people, like I said prior, are willing to give him a platform on podcasts. I urge that you don’t give these the time of day, if we stop watching, people will stop caring. I suggest that we take time to teach young boys, maybe some of you have younger siblings or relatives that may be susceptible to his videos. Teach them that women are equal, that all people are and the harm that Tate’s views are causing to the world. I also suggest that you take time to investigate the dangers of incel culture as it is still thriving beneath us in the depths of the internet, ticking like a bomb that once goes off, will mean devasting things for women around the world. Violence against women is still a very prominent threat and although it is not a women’s responsibility to end it, we must be very aware of its evolving existence. 

Below I have left either useful articles or books on the matter if you want to research further.

Sources:

Written by: Eilidh Kirk

Edited by: Maeve Elizabeth

Eilidh Kirk

Leeds '24

Hi I'm Eilidh, a first year student at the University of Leeds where I am studying media and communications.