Opinion: Our boys ‘utterly obsessed’ with grub Andrew Tate peddling twisted agenda

More needs to be done to shut down hard-core misogynist Andrew Tate, with parents, particularly fathers, a key part of the solution, writes Kylie Lang.

To call hard-core misogynist Andrew Tate an influencer is both accurate and appalling.

This arrogant grub is peddling his twisted agenda on social media as impressionable young males defer to him for guidance.

In reality, he is the epitome of how not to treat women, yet boys devoid of decent role models are “utterly obsessed” with him.

Which makes me wonder what parents, particularly fathers, are doing about it.

Where is the consistent effort to raise sensitive and respectful young men?

Where are the frank conversations about what behaviour is appropriate and what is offensive?

And why are increasingly younger children being given unchecked access to screening devices and without parental controls enabled?

To describe Tate as a pig would be an insult to pigs, which are intelligent creatures, but parents must understand that this is a man who is presently detained in a Romanian jail under investigation for human trafficking, rape and forming an organised crime group. He has denied the charges. He delights in demeaning women and pandering to the knuckle-dragging dogma that feminism has fought so hard to overturn.

Andrew Tate. Source: Twitter

As Qweekend reports, Tate, a former professional kickboxer whose followers call him “Top G’’ (top gangster), isn’t the only misogynist wielding significant power over the minds of young people.

The British-American muslim is part of a bigger online community of women haters in what is termed the “manosphere’’. This is where websites, podcasts and forums promoting male supremacy exist in a bid to reverse important steps towards equal opportunity and stamping out sexual harassment.

Tate must have been deeply offended by this year’s theme for International Women’s Day: embrace equity.

Because it’s not just about equality any more – and giving everyone the same – it’s about identifying that every woman is different and will therefore require different resources and opportunities in order to thrive. As I told a restaurant of women in Brisbane on Wednesday for an IWD 2023 event I was em-ceeing, equality is giving everybody shoes. Equity is giving everybody shoes that fit.

Tate must find the global push for equity – the more impactful cousin of equality – infuriating. But his popularity doesn’t appear to be waning.

Just this week Sonny Bill Williams, former footballer turned New Zealand heavyweight boxer, was seen to be endorsing Tate, prompting fans to question if Williams had his head screwed on right.

“Ameen” (the Muslim equivalent of Amen), Williams wrote on Tate’s March 7 Twitter post that said: “Allah does not burden a soul beyond that it can bear”.

Controversial influencer Andrew Tate.

Tate was in the top 10 most- googled people globally in 2022, despite being removed from YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok for violating policies. In November new Twitter boss Elon Musk reinstated Tate’s account. Some people say 36-year-old Tate is all talk, that his abhorrent ramblings are just an act to make money and win fame. Who knows, but he’s certainly making a good fist of it. I won’t repeat some of the vile tripe this bloke has posted but here are a few of the less offensive comments, if you could call them that.

“I was getting on a plane and I could see through the cockpit that a female was the pilot and I took a picture and I said, ‘most women I know can’t even park a car, why is a woman flying my plane?’ and they banned me.

“Females are the ultimate status symbol … People think I’m running around with these h*es because I like sex. That’s nothing to do with the reason why I’m running around with these b*tches. I got these b*tches just so everyone knows who the don is.”

He calls having sex outside his relationship “not cheating” but “exercise”. People at the coalface of trying to counter the dangerous messages sprouted by Tate and his ilk say positive adult engagement with kids has dropped off dramatically.

Influencer Andrew Tate when he was arrested in Romania. Picture: Twitter

Will Smith, who runs development camps for 11-17-year-old boys through the independently funded JCP Youth, says kids need to re-engage with real life.

He says with a lack of positive male role models, they are “building their standards on where they spend the predominant amount of their time, which is on their screen”.

And Tate is a massive part of that influence, directing the language boys use as well as their physical behaviour.

Young males are “utterly obsessed” with Tate, Smith says. There cannot be just one answer to quelling this fan-boy obsession. But the counter-offensive has to start with parents – particularly fathers – taking a sharper interest in what their kids are viewing online and having meaningful conversations about respectful relationships. Sadly, many fathers are absent or not up to those tasks. Society will be all the poorer for it.

Kylie lang is associate editor of The Courier-Mail

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