Andrew Tate and other male supremacist influencers

Andrew Tate:

  • Is an influential media ‘influencer’. Also a former professional kick boxer and Big Brother contestant
    • Tate is famous for example on TikTok. Videos featuring his opinions have acccumulated 11.4 billion views.
  • Is known for his highly misogynist (women-hating) and sexist commentary.
    • Argues that men are the protectors, providers and patriarchs, while women are their subservient caretakers
    • Emphasises that men now are the victims, and that the world – “the Matrix’ – is enslaving them
    • Offers sexist, homophobic, and racist slurs
    • Appears with and endorses alt-right commentators
    • Is described as “in the business of grooming anxious or disaffected young men into women-hating narcissists” (McNamara)
  • Is alleged to have perpetrated a series of sexual assaults, and is currently under investigation for human trafficking and rape
    • Left UK for Romania saying that this was to evade rape charges.
    • Was in prison in Romania over December 2022 to March 2023 for alleged human trafficking and rape, and is now under house arrest while the investigation continues.
    • Had also been arrested in 2015 on suspicion of rape / sexual assault, based on police complaints from at least two women. He sent notes to the alleged victims, stating e.g. “I love raping you.” “Because the more you didn’t like it, the more I enjoyed it. I fucking loved how much you hated it. It turned me on.”
      • For more detail on Tate’s sexual assaults, see: ‘I Love Raping You’ - What Andrew Tate Told Woman Who Accused Him of Rape Jan 12 2023
  • Ran a private online academy, Hustler’s University
    • Self-described as a “subscription-based online course and affiliate marketing program”, but by some as a pyramid scheme
    • This was shut down in August 2022, after amassing over 100,000 subscribers,
  • Ran a pornographic webcam business, allegedly based on tricking and coercing women into participating in the production of sexually explicit videos.
    • Tate himself described his webcam busines as a “scam”. Boasted on his website that he lured women in by getting them to fall in love with him. [See: “Andrew Tate said he broke a woman’s jaw and that his business was a ‘scam’ ahead of Romanian charges”, Jan 20 2023]
  • Was banned from Instagram, Facebook,TikTok and YouTube in August 2022 for violating the platforms’ community guidelines (but his content continues to be widely circulated by his followers).
  • Is widely known, and seen positively particularly by young men:
    • A UK poll by Hope Not Hate in February 2023 found that eight in 10 boys aged between 16 and 17 had either read, listened to or watched content from Andrew Tate. In the poll of 1,200 people in the UK aged between 16 to 24, 45% of males had a positive view of Tate and 26% held a negative opinion of the influencer. When probed about why they like Mr Tate, most said they thought Mr Tate “wants men to be real men” or that“he gives good advice”.
    • Among 16-17 year olds, only 1% of female respondents shared a positive view of Tate; 82% had a negative view. But for male respondents, 52% shared a positive view with only 19% holding a negative view.

Tate and other misogynist / male supremacist influencers

  • Tate is an example of a new wave of explicitly sexist, anti-feminist, and misogynist male social influencers.
  • Tate has been described as “a poster boy of a new breed of influencer that has wormed out of the internet’s darker fringes and into mainstream consciousness – the so-called ‘Alpha males’.” (Bond). They are“brash, loud and arrogant” (Bond). “They perceive themselves to be strong and successful, talking about ‘hustling’ and ‘getting money’, often spouting out pseudo-philosophy” (Bond) They despise women, portraying them either as lying bitches out to ruin your life or stupid, simple beings enticed only by six packs and stacks of cash.
  • There is a new wave of male supremacist influencers producing misogynist content in the UK and elsewhere. They target young men with patriarchal advice. E.g., don’t allow girlfriend to have male friends. Stop them going to nightclubs. Keep them insecure. Compliance is key.
  • Tate and others overlap with or can be seen as part of the “manosphere”, the online ecosystem of anti-women websites. One stream of the manosphere is pick-up artist communities, where men try to manipulate women into sleeping with them
    • ‘Pick-up artists’ and PUA cultures and communities:
      • Are often virulently anti-feminist. Focus on coercive strategies: manipulate women, ignore what women say, push past ‘No’, etc. A commodity model of sex. Premised on male entitlement.
      • Are typically men “who attempt to coax women into having sex with them through a mixture of flattery, psychological manipulation and coercion” (Kale, 2019).
      • Pick up artist culture: Takes away women’s humanity. Treats human interactions as a formula. Offers a combative view of gender relations. Spreads highly traditional, violence-supportive views of men and masculinity. Overlaps with other anti-feminist men’s rights groups and websites

Why influencers like Tate are popular and influential

Andrew Tate and other male supremacist influencers are popular because they:

  • Tap into longstanding sexist and misogynist norms and ideals. Into age-old notions of women as only sexual objects, as lying and malicious, as symbols of male status.
    • These sexist (and right-wing) norms are far more common among young men than young women.
  • Tap into a sense of “aggrieved entitlement” among some boys and men, who feel disenfranchised, marginalised, redundant, or disrespected.
    • Backlash is a predictable response to shifts in gender roles and relations. Whenever there is progress towards gender equality, there is also backlash and resistance. This represents a reassertion of traditional gender roles and a defence of privilege. (For more on resistance and backlash, see here.)
  • Sell a traditional image of masculinity, an ‘alpha male’: confident, in control, gets what he wants, has sex and money (surrounded by attractive women, rich)
    • Tate offers lonely, struggling boys and young men the promise that they’ll be able to fulfill the tenets of traditional masculinity. To have women, money, a nice car. Young men are “meant to be providers, leaders, bold and confident sexually, and potent financially” (Heather).
    • Their messages are “aspirational, demonstrating power and appeal to men and boys who feel that society has left them behind” (Sugiura)
  • Tap into widespread concerns, anxieties, and insecurities among boys and men. About how successful they are as males, their sexual success with girls and women. Exploit male vulnerability and discontent
    • Haque refers to the “Toxic-Masculinity-Industrial Complex”, preying on men who have lost confidence and faith, in their ability to have a career, find a partner, start a family, etc.
    • Male supremacist grifters offer a vision of self-improvement, using the language of mental health and appealing to boys’ and men’s aspirations. But their vision of self-improvement is disconnected from emotion and community, highly individualistic, shallow, and devoid of empathy, vulnerability, or generosity. (Ging, Why influencers like Andrew Tate want your sons' attention Jan 24 2023)
  • Make effective use of marketing and social media strategies. E.g., Tate uses multilevel marketing to generate followers and influence. Selling and boosting misogynist content in the same way that other influencers sell and boost brands (Sugiura).
  • Are enabled too by social and economic shifts, prompted by neoliberal economics:
    • “Growing job insecurity, rising property prices and the erosion of the social safety net mean that a new generation of men are variously excluded from the traditional signifiers of masculinity – a career for life, property ownership and the marriageability associated with these.” (Ging, Why influencers like Andrew Tate want your sons' attention Jan 24 2023)

Tate’s popularity thus reflects three intertwined dynamics:

  • Sexist and misogynistic ideologies that continue to be part of society
  • Backlash and resistance to progress towards gender equality
  • Anxieties and vulnerabilities among boys and men

Examples of Tate’s misogyny

  • That ‘Females are barely sentient.’ Females don’t have independent thought. They don’t come up with anything. They’re just empty vessels, waiting for someone to install the programming.’
  • That women “bear some responsibility” for being raped
  • That women are a man’s property, shouldn’t drive, and shouldn’t leave the home if they’re in a relationship
  • While in his late 30s, claims only to date 18 and 19 year olds as it’s easier to “imprint” on them

Impacts of Andrew Tate’s teachings

Jackson Katz summarises the impact of Andrew Tates’ teachings.

  • Tate’s normalization of misogyny harms girls and young women.
    • Tate and others advise young men to treat women badly. Producing young men who believe that men’s emotional and sexual needs come first, and that women’s most important role is to serve men.
  • The ideal of “manhood” Tate promotes harms boys and young men.
    • Teaches boys selfish materialism, harassment, control
    • Whereas boys need to develop skills in emotional intelligence, to thrive in relationships and at work
    • Many young men are confused, frustrated, and lonely. But rather than encourage them to develop the interpersonal and relational skills that would improve their lives, he teaches them to double down on tired cliches and cartoonish images of ‘manly’ strength and success.
    • At a time when growing numbers of girls and women expect equal treatment and respect, this is a recipe for conflict if not sexual violence. [Katz, How We Avoid the Rise of Another ‘Andrew Tate’ Jan 9 2022]

Strategies, responses, interventions

Three kinds of strategies are relevant in preventing and reducing the impact of misogynist influencers such as Andrew Tate.

  • Primary prevention strategies seek to lessen the initial development of misogynist individuals and and organisations. Some key strategies are as follows.
    • Education in schools is vital, to present positive narratives and challenge these sexist ones.
      • Schools should include curricula promoting healthy, equitable forms of masculinity, e.g. as part of healthy or respectful relationships education. (See this discussion of the rationale and principles for this work.)
        • Media literacy strategies could be used to ‘inoculate’ boys and men against sexist content and empower them to respond critically
    • Shift social norms:
      • Promote women’s and feminist voices
      • Use social norms strategies to promote gender-equitable norms and lessen the social norms that feed into misogynist extremism (including through community standards on online platforms, online training courses, and anti-hate campaigns teaching people to recognise and confront misogynist ideologies and practices)
    • Acknowledge and respond to areas of male pain and disadvantage (and speak to boys’ and young men’s aspirations), but do so differently.
      • Offer alternative male voices.
      • Spread critiques of misogynist ideologues and ideologies
    • Redirection strategies: redirect boys and men to content that challenges such narratives and provides links to relevant social services
    • (Source: Flood, M. Engaging Men Online: Using online media for violence prevention with men and boys. In The Routledge Companion on Gender, Media and Violence. Eds K. Boyle and S. Berridge. Routledge (in press).)
  • Secondary prevention strategies: are aimed at those already ‘at risk’ of entering misogynist extremist communities or showing ‘red flags’ for such participation
    • Intervene with support programs and counter-narratives to shift their trajectories away from radicalisation
  • Tertiary intervention strategies: are aimed at those already involved in misogynist extremism.
    • To facilitate participants in disengaging from a violent extremist network. Including e.g. through ‘exit’ programs
  • Technological and legal strategies.
    • Including e.g. automated counter-speech generation (e.g. generating tweets in response to abusive commentary) and automated and semi-automated moderation
    • Platform accountability: Platforms such as TikTok should take action against misogynist content, including shifting how its algorithms work.

Citation

Citation: Flood, M. (2023). Andrew Tate and other male supremacist influencers. XYonline, March 9 2023. URL: https://xyonline.net/content/andrew-tate-and-other-male-supremacist-influencers

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