“He’s a G-top. He’s a cool dude. He knows what he’s doing.”
Key points:
- In a recent study, 28% of teenagers said they looked up to Andrew Tate
- Mental health organizations urge parents to talk with their teens about the controversial internet celebrity
- Tate was arrested last month in connection with a human trafficking and rape investigation
That’s what hundreds of Australian teenagers think of internet celebrity, self-proclaimed misogynist and suspected human trafficker Andrew Tate, according to a recent poll.
It revealed that not only do the vast majority of boys know who Andrew Tate is, but many say they relate to his philosophies.
“Young men are really connected to some of his key messages around motivation and motivation…he succeeds with direction and clarity,” said Matt Defina, organizational psychologist and impact manager at The Man Cave.
“It’s really dangerous because then they get caught up in his other more damaging views.”
The data comes from Mr Defina’s Melbourne-based organization, which runs healthy masculinity and preventative mental health programs in schools.
The organization set out to assess the impact the controversial British-American influencer was having on young men after his rise to prominence last year.
Who is Andrew Tate?
Mr. Tate is a former kickboxing champion who stands out above all for his openly misogynistic attitudes and violent rhetoric towards women in online videos.
His posts have been viewed billions of times and earned him millions of followers.
Mr Tate first rose to prominence after he was kicked out of reality TV in the UK in 2016 when a video of him assaulting his ex-girlfriend emerged.
He also started a series of online businesses, including “Hustler University”, which claimed to teach paying subscribers how to make money.
It was later shut down, with critics calling it a scam.
In 2022, his misogynistic attitudes led to bans on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter, although the latter has since been taken down.
Last month, Mr Tate was arrested in Romania after an investigation into allegations of forming an organized criminal group, human trafficking and rape.
But despite ongoing controversy and more recent criminal investigations, The Man Cave’s survey of more than 500 boys found 28 per cent agreed or strongly agreed they admired Mr Tate .
Thirty-six percent found it “relatable”.
“We started seeing some of his messages, even his key phrases, popping up in classrooms,” Mr. Defina told the ABC News Daily podcast.
“We spoke to 24 schools last year and 50% of them said, ‘We are seeing a significant and negative impact of his influence on our boys at school.'”
Mr Defina said many of the videos Mr Tate had made referred to women as the property of men and suggested “you can do whatever you want with a woman when you have her in a relationship”.
Despite his recent social media bans, Mr. Tate’s content is still being shared and copied by other accounts, making it nearly impossible for young people to avoid.
“It’s really the first generation of young people who are being raised by social media,” he said.
‘[The] algorithm is designed to capture their attention as much as possible.
“So we’re also seeing this dangerous emergence of how social media can really perpetuate certain toxic messages.”
How do you talk to teenagers about Andrew Tate?
As parents and carers struggle to navigate the influence of figures like Andrew Tate, Mr Defina says it’s essential adults know what message they are facing before entering a conversation. .
“Go watch some content from Andrew Tate. Start to understand what he’s talking about and form your own perspective on what you think of him,” he said.
Next, Mr. Defina encourages keeping an open mind.
“It’s really important not to close the conversation and really understand what the young person is thinking and why they identify with them and what they like about them, rather than dismissing them as a whole,” said- he declared.
“It’s likely that even the simple fact that this youngster is heard by you and able to express his views means that he is much more open to an opinion than you possibly also have.
“I think where we can be wrong is if we really ‘hurt’ Andrew Tate. Anyone who relates to him then feels like he’s wrong as well.”