He may have been banned from platforms but the stir caused by Andrew Tate shows us that more needs to be done to address men’s attitudes toward women. No, this is not part of an extreme feminist agenda but a call for the preservation of gentlemanhood.
Gen Z has established a reputation for its progressive zeitgeist (for the most part of it). Conversely, underlying vexation toward the ‘fading away’ of masculinity can easily be reignited when a single influential ‘star’ takes the risk and publicly states what millions covertly believe.
Such is precisely what occurred when the former professional kickboxer and now internet personality Andrew Tate openly declared his misogynistic sentiments. As it was bound to happen, this riled up feminists but at the same time resonated with extreme masculinists. A dangerous dichotomy emerged.
Masculinists argued it was about time the gravity of masculinity was defended from the onslaught of feminism. The time has come for the values of masculinity to be vociferously defended and upheld. ‘Top G’ – as they call him – is leading the way.
But that is not what disturbs me most. Instead, I am concerned by the idolisation of a man who unashamedly tramps the dignity of women and, more so, that so many men are ready to follow him without understanding the danger of misogyny.
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Gender-based violence against women has only recently been acknowledged as a major issue within society. Perpetuating misogynistic ideas only erodes progress as it encourages ill-treatment of women. There were numerous occasions on which Tate publicly ran down women – all of which are available in the public domain.
On one occasion, Tate witnessed a woman take a u-turn into oncoming traffic. “How are women allowed to drive?” he rebuked. But that’s far from as bad as it gets. Tate has even asserted that women are men’s property, that they may use them as they please, and that rape victims must “bear responsibility” for their attacks.
“It’s bang out the machete, boom in her face and grip her by the neck. Shut up b*tch,” he says in one video, acting out how he’d attack a woman if she ever accused him of cheating.
Looming above the influential misogynist is a couple dark clouds; from an ex-girlfriend’s accusations of physical abuse to Tate’s own admission that he moved to Romania partly because it was easier to be absolved of rape charges in Eastern Europe.
In April 2022, Tate’s house was raided by the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism of Romania (DIICOT) in relation to a human trafficking and rape investigation. Investigators found that a Romanian woman, as well as an American woman, were held at the property.
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Hope not Hate, a United Kingdom-based advocacy group campaigning against racism and fascism, has commented that Tate’s social media presence might present a “dangerous slip road into the far-right” for his audience.
The concern then is that Tate’s significant influence, especially on teens, reminds us that more needs to be done to change men’s attitude toward women. When you have people recklessly spewing offensive slurs with little fear of liability – and impressionable young men buying it – it figures that something sick exists within society.
