Unfit Rolemodels: Andrew Tate and His Negative Influence on Adolescent Boys

Breaking News!! The social media “influencer” Andrew Tate has been arrested for sex trafficking and r*pe and is now being detained in Romania. Are we shocked though? 

If you don’t know who Andrew Tate is, you’re lucky; he is a social media personality who shares his opinion on money, masculinity, and relationships with women, specifically on TikTok. While his content violates many social media platform’s guidelines against misogyny and hate speech, he has still been able to grow a following and gain over ten million views on his videos. 

He has caused outrage online for his bigoted rhetoric. Many say that he has become a “male role model.” This “guru” is sharing his advice on how to gain money, fame, and girls. Not only is his advice dangerous to women but it manipulates men; specifically adolescent boys. 

While most people ignore him, many young boys are taking him seriously. As Mr. Tate flashes his wealth and shares his relationships with a multitude of people online, many boys believe that his ideology works. This incel culture has spread so far that it is no surprise that it has infiltrated our classrooms.

He is training men to believe that treating women inhumanely is the only way to “be a man.” In a world where we are trying to beat toxic masculinity, Andrew Tate tells boys that they need to “have authority over a woman.” 

Many women have spoken out on how harmful this rhetoric is but Tate’s influence has already stuck. This is why many people weren’t surprised when the news of Andrew Tate being arrested came out. It was about time. We already knew that he wasn’t a proper person to be getting advice from because as women, we know the repercussions of misogyny. Men can’t see that. Men don’t live through it. But women do.

 At the same time, women don’t understand the unhealthy expectations and societal pressures that men have gone through.

As Tate says, learning “how to be a man” is hard because the original idea of what a man is has drastically changed. This is why we need more positive male role models. We are entering a generation where women’s issues are being put at the forefront. While we are becoming more progressive, men are being left to figure out who they are by themselves.

Having someone to be there for you and guide you is a privilege that not many boys have. So many see Andrew Tate as that guide, especially if they don’t have one at home. Past generations of men were taught that crying and expressing your emotions weren’t elements of manhood. 

While some have fallen into Tate’s toxic masculinity trap, some boys of the newer generation are trying to unlearn those toxic mannerisms and pioneer a new definition of manhood, despite the disapproval of the men before and popular influencers like Andrew Tate.  

I believe that a great place for change to start is at school. We have educators, coaches, and counselors that many of our male students look up to. Establishing positive role models when boys are younger can allow them to be more vulnerable and responsible than their predecessors.