Tate-topia: How one man is influencing Gen-Z
by Madeline Robbins
Does having a fleet of Lamborghinis decide your self worth? In Andrew Tate’s fast car-loving, feminism-hating world, it does. Formerly a kick-boxer, now, Tate’s niche brand of private jets and infinite money has commanded the attention of young men across the globe.
Social media is ostentatious. You can’t swipe on Tiktok or Instagram without seeing a collection of Hermes Birkin bags or some YouTuber that you used to like in the early 2010s flaunting the massive house she just bought in the Hollywood Hills. Extravagance is unavoidable and showing off is part of human nature. But what this generation, people who have grown up in the digital age, is experiencing, is success suffocation. And to creators like Andrew Tate, your suffocation is their payday. He argues that you don’t need more, you need the most.
Tate’s website offers subscriptions for $49.99 per month to join, boasting that there is “no better place on the planet to learn how to make money online today”. These get-rich-quick schemes allowed him to establish a foundation of credibility. According to The Guardian, in July of 2022, “there were more Google searches for his name than for Donald Trump or Kim Kardashian”. Once he obtained a massive audience who idolised him, he started to present his twisted chauvinistic and misogynistic narrative. In a section of his website entitled “Wisdom”, he wrote, “Females are objectively beautiful. Separate from being a person, they are gorgeous as an object. Even straight women want to kiss a truly beautiful woman. As a man you will never have intrinsic value. You’ve either made yourself important or you haven’t”. This emphasis of a man’s role as a provider and a woman’s role as submissive eye-candy ruins both men’s perception of themselves and of the women in their lives.
How has Tate managed to brainwash millions? Tate understands the impact of his words and his position as a parasocial “mentor” to young boys. He has spent years building a martyred persona, positioning the world as working against him. That he is a phoenix that rises above the ashes in the continuous pursuit of wealth and success. The true moment when I started to notice how brainwashed his fan base was, was in 2022. In December of that year he was arrested on charges of rape, organised crime and human trafficking, yet support for him failed to dwindle. I wondered why someone would blindly follow the advice of a person accused of these horrific crimes, but then I looked at his twitter. His bio states “Human Trafficker because I told friends how to post on TikTok. Rapist because some girl remembered from 15 years ago once I became rich.” This quasi-confession furthers his martyr status, the world and people after his money are constantly working against him.
Tate is a primary example of a toxic parasocial relationship. We all have our favourite celebrity or celebrity crush. And the internet and social media platforms in general give us an insight into their lives and allow us to feel a deeper connection to them. But, importantly, they don’t know we exist beyond monetising our love and support. Andrew Tate, like so many other celebrities, is monetising his persona as well as his fan base. But, unlike many celebrities, his unique ability to gain the undying support of so many young boys has made him immune to “cancel culture”. Tate is able to spew harmful nonsense that is slowly convincing a generation of men that women are somehow at fault for rape and there is always an ulterior motive for accountability.
For someone so keen on helping men achieve success, Tate is single handedly impairing them. Contrary to his claims, a good provider has to respect the women they are providing for.
Andrew Tate, the idol, preaches male chauvinism. Tate rationalises that if men are rich and if they can provide, it gives them the permission to act however they want. Having money and “having women” is social capital and thus, strength. While men who care about feminism and accountability are weak. Tate himself said that “he was absolutely a misogynist” and that women should “bear responsibility for being sexually assaulted”, according to the BBC. However, his statements are highly convoluted as he writes in the “41 Tenets” section of his website “I prefer loving rewarding consensual relationships with beautiful positive and virtuous women”. Praising consent and mutual respect while actively referring to himself as a misogynist and victim blamer is baffling, to say the least. Tate’s ideology is not an ode to traditionalism and conservatism, it is a far more twisted version.
Feminism and the fight for gender equality is an issue that bridges the partisan divide, except in niche extremist sects like those created by Mr. Tate. Tate’s ideology is not only harming men’s perception of themselves, convincing them that they will not be good enough without millions in the bank and women doting on them, but also harming their perception of women. Although, on his website he actively denounces domestic violence, the statements that he makes can “[result] in further harm to women and girls in and out of school and online”, according to the NSPCC’s Hannah Ruschen.
In 2022, Andrew and his brother Tristan Tate were arrested. Since then, their content has been barred from many social media platforms. But this has not stalled their influence. Andrew Tate’s twitter and website are still very much active, with over 100,000 people currently registered for his online get-rich-quick course, “The Real World”. Young men and boys everywhere see an idol in Mr. Tate. He ascertained that if you let him “teach you the truth about life” then you will be able “to operate in the top 1% of men”. But, even if he can follow through on his promises for wealth and women, we can only ask: where will Tate’s disciples take his terrifying vision next?