By: Saya Alvares

Sports

The creation of social media allows for individuals to become famous incredibly easily, allowing the opportunity for dangerous role models to be put in a position of influence. This puts viewers, particularly young ones, in a vulnerable position as their minds are not developed enough to differentiate between good and bad. Someone in my opinion who has infamously done an incredible job at warping young, susceptible minds is Andrew Tate. Many people live in ignorance regarding Tate, not realizing how harmful of an influencer and a person he is, especially given his audience.

If you don’t know who Andrew Tate is, go ask a fellow high school or even middle school student; his name will be recognized and provoke a variety of opinions. Originally a kickboxer and participant on UK’s Big Brother show (which he got kicked off of), Andrew Tate has more recently gained fame on apps such as TikTok and YouTube for his misogynistic and problematic rants. 

After facing the possibility of an alleged domestic abuse case in the UK, Tate decided to leave for Romania as it’s easier to evade rape charges and “corruption is accessible to everybody.” He also faced investigation in Romania regarding human trafficking and rape charges. Platforms such as TikTok and Twitter banned him, but not quick enough to prevent his impact on millions of people. On TikTok, videos posted with #andrewtate have over 12.7 billion views. 

Tate targets young boys and men, feeding into their insecurities while masking violent misogyny with a self-help and alpha male complex. On his own videos, Tate has actually said, “women are a man’s property” and “if you put yourself in a position to be raped, you must bear responsiblity.” To boys as young as twelve years old, their minds are not developed enough to realize the absolutely horrific words coming out of his mouth. When Tate, someone in a position of influence, says he harms women, his viewers are more likely to grow up to think it is okay to harm women. To victims of sexual assault, and to hear someone you know and love trying to defend Tate, it is way beyond heartbreaking. Their developing minds don’t have the maturity level to know to ignore people like Tate. And knowing it’s the exact goal of his, young boys easily influenced by a toxic masculine influence for his own profit, it hurts to sit back and watch. But at what point are the people listening or even joking about this man too far gone?

I am begging people to be aware of the impact Andrew Tate has on the younger generation, and stop joking about supporting him. It is not funny. People who support him ‘as a joke’ need to realize that they are joking about an alleged rapist and a clear misogynist. Open your eyes and realize the harm this causes to you and your friends, and call them out. 

(Sources: Guardian, Insider, TuftsDaily, Stuff)