We all know about misogyny and how it’s been debated and discussed in Western society.
But in the past year specifically, misogyny has had some form of re-birth; Influencers such as
Andrew Tate and Charlie Kirk, as well as the results of the 2024 election have helped to
create a resurgence of having overtly misogynistic views. I believe that this resurgence has
led to a lot of harmful ideologies being spread about women, as well as causing an increase
in the amount of people, particularly a lot of men and young boys, that are starting to hold
these misogynistic views.
In 2022, former boxer Andrew Tate started to gain popularity because of his controversial
views around women, leading him to have been dubbed the “king of toxic masculinity”
online. One of his videos that garnered a lot of views included him stating that he’d “boom
in her face and grip her by the neck,” and say “Shut up bitch,” if a woman ever accused him
of cheating. He also believes that rape victims are to also bear responsibility for their
attacks. Before his social media accounts had gotten suspended, Tate had garnered millions
of followers and had millions of likes in total of people agreeing with his controversial views.
By 2023, it was found by YouGov that one in six boys aged 6-15 have a positive view of
Andrew, which is worrying considering Tate has been charged with rape, sexual exploitation
and human trafficking in Romania. It’s people with platforms such as him that make men
and young boys feel comfortable in having misogynistic views against women, which then
alters the way that they interact and treat women in real life. For example, in October 2024,
a 17-year-old boy was jailed for brutally murdering Lorna Woodnutt with a hammer. It was
found that this unnamed 17-year-old had an “unhealthy” obsession with Andrew Tate.
Misogyny has also resurged digitally as well as politically, with political influencers such as
Charlie Kirk, who has conservative views on gender roles, most notably saying that “we
should not send women into the frontlines of a conflict nor should we send men into the
frontlines of educating our preschoolers”. His critiques to feminism and the rise of women
identifying as liberal has now resonated with a lot of men who feel the same about of
women, and who are also against the idea of abortion, and for the idea of controlling
women’s bodies.
This political resurgence of misogyny has also been perpetuated through the 2024 election,
as Donald Trump has won a second term in the White House as of 2024, despite his sexist and criminal past. Most notably he has said that he would grab women “by the pussy”,
and has now vowed to protect American women “whether the women like it or not” by
making sure they won’t “be thinking about abortion”. Trump has also appointed the three
Supreme Court justices who helped to overturn Roe v Wade, the lawsuit that helped the
Supreme Court to make a ruling on abortion rights for women. This has now reinforced the
idea that men are in control of women’s bodies in every aspect, as it is men deciding these
laws about women’s bodies, as well as the fact that if a woman is raped, or simply does not
want a baby, getting an abortion will be a lot more difficult.
I’ve often seen men complain about how sexual assault allegations can ruin one’s life, but
considering that Donald Trump has won a second term at the White House, this is one of
the many examples that shows how getting charged and convicted with rape and sexual
assault doesn’t always ruin someone’s reputation. As well as this, considering that
celebrities such as Joe Rogan, Dr. Phil and even women such as Amber Rose and Caitlyn
Jenner have endorsed Trump, this to me shows that there’s often little to no concern for
suffering of women, considering that a president with a deeply misogynistic past has now
been elected into office.
The result of the 2024 election has now further given misogynists a platform, as they feel
more comfortable making comments about women. Nick Fuentes, a far-right political live
streamer who’s known for his white supremacist, misogynistic and antisemitic rhetoric,
tweeted on X “Your body, my choice. Forever.” After Donald Trump’s win. Here, he’s
obviously feels as though he’s able to taunt the pro-choice women who previously coined
the term “My body, my choice” in protest to restriction on abortion rights. Without the
result of the 2024 election, he wouldn’t have tweeted this as if Kamala Harris had won, she
would’ve wanted to protect abortion rights rather than to take them away.
Though this resurgence isn’t representative of every man and their individual views, this
resurgence of misogyny is definitely becoming more mainstream and normalised within
society, considering the rise in far-right influencers as well as the amount of people who
have supported Trump in the 2024 election. I believe that social media platforms need to do
a better job in policing harmful rhetoric being spread, as they’ve already done with Andrew
Tate, so that antagonistic views on women aren’t further spread, so that less people are
influenced by misogynistic ideologies.