‘Flawed, imperfect’ Harry Garside on how straight men in skirts could fight Andrew Tate

Olympic boxer Harry Garside opens up about why combating Andrew Tate-style thinking is so vital.

Olympic boxer Harry Garside empathises with young men drawn to what they may see as the only option of Andrew Tate-style thinking, and believes combating the movement could start with something as simple as a straight sportsman wearing a skirt on a red carpet.

Garside described Tate, the reviled right wing ‘manosphere’ influencer, as “a pig of a man” as he discussed the topic of toxic masculinity on the latest episode of the Mental As Anyone podcast.

“I don’t know if it’s a positive discussion anymore and I’d love to be proven wrong,” Garside said.

“Try and put yourself in a young person’s shoes, both male and female and ... understand what they would be talking about ... most of them wouldn’t be having mature, nuanced, respectful conversations about it.”

Garside, 27, won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics and competed at Paris.

He has an engaged social media following, partly due to his modern depiction of masculinity and for embracing what some might consider edgy fashion moments like wearing skirts and painting his nails.

It is an interesting time to be a man pushing boundaries, he agreed.

Harry Garside for Mental As Anyone.

“I think, if they’re (young boys) viewing on social media constantly seeing that they’re toxic ... it is like, if you tell someone that they’re something for so long, they will then eventually become that,” Garside said.

“That’s why I think someone goes to prison, they come out, they’re told that they are criminal, most people then continue living that.

“If you continuously tell people that they’re toxic, I’m more so thinking young boys, men can hear that term and sort of have a nuanced conversation, but I’m thinking more young boys ... I just try and have empathy for that cause it’s like they’re trying to work out the world and if the world’s constantly telling them they’re toxic, ... I think it would come out in more ugly sides. It’s only insecure men and not secure men who act poorly. I think the secure men are the ones who don’t do those things.”

Harry Garside ahead of Golden Slipper race day at Rosehill Racecourse. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Harry Garside isn’t afraid to push back on societal norms. Picture: Richard Dobson

Of his own boundary-pushing style, Garside said he simply likes to explore different things and has done so since childhood.

He is the face of a new fragrance from Chemist Warehouse titled Crew, which has three scents targeting “him, her and us”.

“It sounds like I am on a psychedelic trip all the time,” he laughed.

“There are so many times that I do conform and I do play a role or I do not live to what I’m saying right now, like I am human and I am flawed and imperfect but I do genuinely believe at my essence I’m just deeply curious and I love trying things and thinking about things.

“I call it mental masturbation. I think about way too much, way too often, and it complicates my brain, but I enjoy it. I am just a deeply curious person.”

Garside spoke on a variety of topics around mental health and identity, as well as of course boxing and the Olympics and not making it past the first round at the Paris games.

Australian Harry Garside vs Richard Kovacs of Hungary. Harry Garside lands a punch on the nose of Richard Kovacs. Picture: Michael Klein

The hardest of times however have turned out to be the most valuable for Olympic boxer Harry Garside.

“Think about the darkest times in your life, you zoom out far enough and it may have been the best time, the thing that helped you the most, you might have learned the biggest lesson or made a change in your life that you really needed to.

“Yes, at the time you hate it, you don’t want to be in it, but eventually you zoom out far enough and it’s usually a positive.”

* A new episode of Mental As Anyone drops each Tuesday morning.

Originally published as ‘Flawed, imperfect’ Harry Garside on how straight men in skirts could fight Andrew Tate