- Who is Andrew Tate?
In case you haven’t already seen Andrew Tate on Tik Tok, Instagram, or even Twitter, Andrew Tate is a 35-year-old American-British business owner and former professional kickboxer; but he recently rose to fame as an internet personality due to his continuous controversial remarks on feminism, masculinity, and other sensitive topics. While some may agree with his views due to his “humorous” character and blunt honesty (which make him sound almost logical), here are some of the reasons why you shouldn’t:
1. He is undergoing a sex trafficking investigation
Following 11 sexual assault charges from UK police, Tate posted a video on YouTube where he claims that “40 percent” of the reason he moved to Romania was because Romanian police were less likely to pursue sexual assault allegations than the police in Luton, England, where he was raised. This is a very alarming statement since it not only puts a whole country in a bad light for making it seem like they don’t care about their sexual assault victims but also implies that Tate is actively engaging in sexual assault. It shows that he feels forced to move away to continue his questionable behavior. As if that wasn’t incriminating enough, Romanian police still raided Tate’s residency in Romania back in April 2022, in response to a report that claimed a woman was being held at Tate’s house against her will. As the probe continued, the situation escalated to include, “crimes of human trafficking and rape.” Due to privacy considerations, the US State Department refuses to share more information.
2. He re-victimizes rape victims
Tate claims that “Women have been exchanging sex for the opportunity for a very long time [which is not something women asked for, but rather it was the only way men allowed women to rise in social status in a misogynistic society built by men like Tate]. Some who did this weren’t abused. […] If you put yourself in a position to be raped, you must bare some responsibility.” In other words, Tate claims that rape victims bear fault for putting themselves in dangerous situations, which not only puts the blame and guilt on the victim, but it also turns the attention from the rapist to the victim, almost reinforcing the idea that rape is justified if the victim is placed in a specific context.
3. He promotes violent behavior
During 2016, Tate was kicked out the show Big Brother for being a potential danger to other show participants. Shortly after that, the footage was released where you can see Tate striking a woman with a belt, where he threatens to “f***ing kill her” if she messaged another man. Even though he denied the allegations and claimed it was “kinky and consensual role-play”, this video, and the extreme violent behavior displayed at the Big Brother mansion, is yet another proof of how Tate claims control, power, and attempts to display his idea of masculinity through violence since he also claimed that if a women accused him of cheating he would “bang out the machete, boom in her face and grip her by the neck.”
4. Countless misogynist claims
Tate has a collection of misogynist claims, which he justifies by saying he is playing a “protective,” almost parental role, however, his claims just evidence how he feels superior to women just for being a man. On the BFF’s podcast, Tate commented, “You can’t be responsible for something that doesn’t listen to you. You can’t be responsible for a dog if it doesn’t obey you, or if a child doesn’t obey you, or a woman that doesn’t obey you.” At a first glance, we can already see how Tate is attempting to make a parallel comparison of women to dogs and children and dehumanizing and infantilizing women. It makes it seem as if women were immature, animalistic creatures that owe man obedience because of a lack of intelligence or free will of their own. Tate also clearly set his intentions of using women for his own monetary gain, by saying, “I could open a strip club, but that takes money and I need overhead, I need money. How can I use these women to make me money.” By explicitly stating the word “using”, he is objectifying women, determining their value by how useful or not they can be to a man in producing personal gains.
The effects of Andrew Tate on his audience:
Tate specifically targets young men between the ages of 14-18. This is a very big problem since younger audiences cannot differentiate between an internet persona, who’s constructing a character for fame, and an actual icon or someone to look up to. Tate sells the idea of power, money, and success by infesting younger audience’s feeds with misogynistic comments and violent behavior masked with humor. Younger audiences may be more sensitive to this type of content since social media has become so influential in a child’s upbringing. When you see someone online that has what you want or is who you want to become, you will naturally start imitating the behavior to reach the goal. A child that consumes Tate’s ideologies today, will eventually become another Andrew Tate tomorrow. You become what you consume.