The Andrew Tate phenomenon

So you may have heard of Andrew Tate, the most Googled person of 2022. Tate founded the online Hustler’s University, charging a monthly subscription to impressionable dudes and promising to teach them the secrets of ‘modern wealth creation.’ He became infamous for promoting an old-school notion of masculinity that focused on wealth, the ability and willingness to use violence and the dehumanising treatment of women. He’s on record for saying archaic things like women are property, they deserve to be blamed for rape, and they shouldn’t be able to drive.  

Despite having been arrested and charged with rape and human trafficking, Tate is a hero to many vulnerable men who feel disenfranchised and overlooked and he remains popular, with 9 million followers on X (formerly known as Twitter).

Tate is perhaps the most obvious entry point to an online sub-culture that people call the “Manosphere”. 

The Manosphere is a loosely connected collection of blogs, websites, social media influencers and YouTube channels – some niche and some with mammoth followings – united by a profound sense of entitlement and grievance in a changing culture.

Anti-feminism, prejudice, disdain and even hatred for women are all common themes. There is a common expectation that women owe dudes sex, that women are all dumb, manipulative and valuable only for their looks or housekeeping abilities. It’s really old-school, ugly thinking. 

While these ideas started as fringe, they have seeped into the mainstream through influencers like Andrew Tate, Sneako or Fresh and Fit. Tate is interviewed on a highly viewed UK talk show. The YouTube channel Fresh and Fit, has over a million subscribers, despite being demonetized for content that breaches the ad-safe guidelines. Sneako, who jokes about beheading women and calls people the f-slur has 1.6 million followers on Instagram and nearly 400k on the conservative video platform Rumble. They sell ideas, promoting creepy ways of attracting women and a limited view of how to show up as a “real man”. They provide “self-help” business and gym advice – and hey, some of that has worth – but there’s a shit tonne of evidence that the attitudes and lifestyles they are promoting are really bad for young men overall. 

Let’s start with dating. Research shows that there has been a real distance growing between the attitudes and ideas women and men have, that is leading to less sex and fewer people starting relationships. 

Women and girls have understandably embraced the new opportunities that have opened up as culture has developed, while more and more young men, fuelled by the ideas they get online, are retreating into traditional ideas about gender roles. It’s a detrimental cycle where young men will take up attitudes like “women belong in the kitchen”, believing it makes them more masculine and ultimately appealing, and become incredibly frustrated and righteous when it actually turns women off them. 

If you want to genuinely be loved, supported and seen by a partner, you’re not likely to find that by telling women they’re not your equals. 

With mental health too, advice from Manosphere influencers can really mess with young men’s self-esteem. Many boys who are drawn into the more extreme side of the manosphere are often already insecure, frustrated or struggling emotionally – mix this with dudes like Andrew Tate saying shit like “depression isn’t real” and encouraging boys to just tough it out, and we’re left with hoards of men who never address their issues in healthy ways.

In Aotearoa, we’ve been “toughing it out” for generations and we can see it doesn’t work. Just look at our shocking suicide figures and rates of substance abuse for young men. Anyone who is struggling has to know it’s ok to ask for help, open up, get some advice and share some of the weight. An influential voice saying that that makes you weak is full of shit.

Even with physical fitness, we have seen a rise in young men using steroids to try and develop the unrealistic bodies that these social media voices have made them believe make them “worthy”. 

While not everyone is watching this kind of content, young minds are soaking this stuff up – just ask female teachers at boys' schools. 

So what do we do about all this? 

Asking questions is a good start. If your friends start saying that “society would function better if women didn’t drive” or “trans people are mentally ill” or “people who get raped probably did something to encourage it”, try asking them why think that and where they got that idea from.  

Hearing themselves talk through bad ideas can be enough to get people to consider that what they’ve started to believe is actually messed up. As the person asking, it can be hard to listen to ideas that upset us and to hold a space for those conversations patiently, but that’s a big part of what it takes to push back against these values. 

As well as having more conversations with mates, we can also change the way we interact with online figures. We can say social media isn’t real life, but the ideas that circulate online do have an impact in real life, so let’s hold up positive role models and healthier voices for others to see. There are so many awesome men doing cool shit – from artists to athletes to musicians to comedians – that aren’t encouraging hateful ideas, or behaviours that ultimately leave us feeling trapped. Share the content of the creators and influencers that promote better values for boys and men.

There’s more to life than owning things, and a Bugatti or a new woman every week won’t make your problems disappear. Don’t get caught up in dangerous ideas just because you’re feeling down or uncertain, instead have the strength to be vulnerable and seek the help of real people who want to love and uplift you.