Monash University paper reveals ‘insidious’ Andrew Tate threat to Aussie men and women

Controversial “manfluencer” Andrew Tate is facing rape and sex trafficking charges and Aussie experts warn his rhetoric also overlaps with far-right radicalism.

Social media “manfluencer” Andrew Tate is facing rape and sex trafficking charges in Europe, but experts warn his influence on teens and impressionable young men could extend beyond toxic gender relations and into the realm of far-right politics.

In a newly published paper examining Mr Tate’s long-form posts across his website and Telegram channels, Monash and Coventry University researchers warn his misogynistic rhetoric and expression of conspiracy theories could serve as a “connective tissue” to the realm of far-right politics, including fascist and neo-Nazi politics.

Referencing a Tate Telegram post, in which the influencer claims: “Satanists rule the world. Evil child f**kers control the Western world governments”, the researchers argue the link between “wider conspiracist discourses” and rhetoric promoting the dominance of men and the subordination of women meshes the world of the far-right into the world of the manosphere.”

Co-author Steven Roberts, speaking with NewsWire this week, warned that youngsters going to Tate for self-help or self-improvement might easily find themselves pushed into “very right-wing content”.

Controversial influencer Andrew Tate has been banned by Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, but he has more than 10 million followers on X. Picture: Supplied

“There is research that shows that the kids that end up with Andrew Tate and other manosphere figures on their TikTok or in their YouTube settings, the filter bubble basically pushes you along very quickly to very right-wing content,” he said.

“We can’t necessarily say this content that we see of Tate’s here is fascistic … but the point that we are trying to make is, there is a relationship.

“These models of masculinity often have a very significant overlap with far-right positions as well. There’s something there.”

The paper, titled Beyond the Clickbait: Analysing the Masculinist Ideology in Andrew Tate’s Online Written Discourses, assesses 16,029 words across the influencer’s website and 150,288 words across his Telegram channel to stitch together a deeper view of Tate’s thinking, separate from the viral moments that erupt across social media.

At its core, the paper warns Tate’s longer-form discourse presents an “ostensibly more banal” form of self-improvement masculinity and his overt misogyny is more subtly intertwined into this project than his viral social media personality might suggest.

This, the researchers argue, makes him a particularly insidious force because children and young men will be exposed to toxic ideas alongside a celebration of masculinity that might appear acceptable or improving.

“The mechanism is a bit more insidious because it first talks about self-help and quite quickly becomes aggressive, but it’s laced with things that are palatable,” Professor Roberts said.

Mr Tate’s influence on teens is troubling, experts say. Picture: Alon Skuy/Getty Images/AFP

“I think that’s why it’s a problem for parents because we get emails every single day (saying) ‘my kid has fallen into this trap’.

“The parents seem to be able to see through it, but the kids are focusing on mainly the other things (such as self-improvement) that are attractive to them, but they’re simultaneously being fed this diet of women hatred and idealising a specific form of masculinity that’s grounded in hierarchy and dominance over other boys and men.”

Tate repeatedly celebrates male domination of both men and women in his writing, the paper shows.

In one Telegram post, he writes: “Men were born to fight. Every single man fights. He wants to fight, he trains to fight, and he stays awake at night praying for the day he gets to enter the cage and try his very best to hurt somebody. The males who don’t feel this warrior urge, simply are not men.”

Professor Roberts warned that Tate’s influence could produce a “swath” of boys bullying other boys.

“That’s the most crucial thing I think that we often framing it, it’s about dominance over women, but it wouldn’t surprise me here if we get a whole swath of children, of boys bullying other boys as a result of this type of behaviour because it absolutely valorises dominance over quote unquote ‘weaker kids’,” Professor Roberts said.

NewsWire pressed Professor Roberts on whether he believed there was a healthy form of traditionalist masculinity, or whether it was possible to have stable “self-help guides” for lost or impressionable young men.

“I don’t think that the case is we cannot have self-help that’s useful for men,” he replied.

“I think that’s why the appeal is blurry … I’m a dad of a six-year-old boy and I would want to teach my kid that it’s a good thing to make his bed and work hard and try hard and try to be the best version of himself.

“And even some of the kind of more benevolent sexist kind of points around being a protector.

“We can see why that will have appeal to some people in terms of, if not wanting to be the breadwinner, wanting to be a contributor, wanting to have material wealth because you can support and raise a family together.

“In itself it’s not problematic, but the idea of the breadwinner having to be the man and you’re less of a man if you can’t do that is where it starts to get murky.”

The paper reveals that only 11 per cent of Mr Tate’s long-form writing focuses on women and femininity.

“It’s essentially about masculinity and a particular form of masculinity and then a particular kind of demonisation of the very boys he wants to pay him,” Professor Roberts said.

The Beyond the Clickbait paper drills into Mr Tate's longer-form discourse. Picture: Supplied

“He’s saying you’re a sh*t boy, you’re not you’re not good enough, you’re a loser. They are both his audience and an object of his ridicule.”

Professor Roberts warned that a positive male model to counter Mr Tate was not a “silver bullet”, but he said Australia’s Chris Hemsworth might serve as a useful opposite for Australian kids and young men to aspire to.

“This bulky handsome guy who mirrors all these things about Tate in respect of what he looks like and in his wealth, but actually he (Hemsworth) is kind of one of the good guys as well,” he said.

“He respects women, he seems to respect queer people as well.

“I’m sure he’s not the most perfect person in the world, none of us are, but there are contrasting male role models in the media that you can point to.”

He also said mothers would play a big role in cultivating healthy masculinity, and media literacy could help kids critically engage with potentially dangerous content.

Mr Tate has been banned from Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, but he has more than 10 million followers on X.

Originally published as Monash University paper reveals ‘insidious’ Andrew Tate threat to Aussie men and women