Andrew Tate, “King of Toxic Masculinity”; The Human Trafficking Investigation
TW: Sexual assault, violence, misogyny, and sex trafficking
Andrew Tate, dubbed the “King of Toxic Masculinity,” is a former professional kickboxer and internet personality. The newly-banned TikTok star recently received backlash for his controversial and misogynistic messages, broadcasted on some of the largest platforms in the world. Recently, he tweeted that women are a man’s physical and financial property and that female rape victims should “bear some responsibility.” In a podcast, he claimed that teenage girls were more appealing because he could easily “make an imprint” on them.
“What he represents,” said Josh Roose, a political sociologist and Senior Research Fellow at Deakin University, “is a dramatic shift taking place in online misogyny moving beyond the sexualization and dismissal of women to also encouraging gendered hate and violence.” Once hidden by incels and the far-right American MAGA movement, Andrew Tate has emerged from a dark corner of the internet and is now the mainstream. Teachers and parents alike are afraid of his impact on the development of school-aged boys– and what these attitudes mean for young women and girls.
Tate, portraying himself as a wealthy playboy and figurehead of masculinity, is attractive to a generation of undersocialized, young boys craving validation and male role models. In early August, a teacher reported that her male students refused to complete assignments if they were tasked by a woman. According to another teacher, a male sixth-grade student had fat-shamed a female classmate and told her that she’s “like every other girl in the world” and she “uses men to get money.” Nittya Rizza, a 12th grade teacher says, “Andrew Tate has radicalized a large group of lonely young men and told them, ‘Your loneliness is not your fault. It’s women’s fault.’”
But Tate is more than just a social media influencer– the self-proclaimed life coach is under investigation for rape and human trafficking.
In 2016, footage of Andrew Tate hitting a woman with a belt surfaced, leading to his expulsion from the British series “Big Brother.” In another video, he called an ex-girlfriend who claimed that he had hit her– an accusation Tate denies– a “dumb hoe.”
As the UK police were investigating abuse allegations, Tate moved to Romania because it would be easier to evade sexual assault charges in the country. “I’m not a rapist,” he says, “but I like the idea of just being able to do what I want. I like being free.”
In March 2022, the Daily Mirror profiled him and his brother’s Romania-based business and reported that they used webcam models to defraud men of millions of dollars. Andrew Tate and his brother admit that their studio is a “total scam,” but as Tristan Tate said in a discussion with the Sunday Mirror, it’s “their problem, not mine.”
On April 11th, Romanian police raided the home of Andrew Tate in a human trafficking investigation. Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism raided Tate’s house after he was accused of holding an American woman on his property against her will. As the investigation escalated to rallying cries from the media, the masses began accusing Andrew Tate for crimes of sex trafficking and rape. While the accuracy of these claims is still being investigated, one thing remains certain: his content has changed the way many young men and boys view rape, misogyny, and sex trafficking for the worse.
Earlier this August, Andrew Tate was banned from Facebook and Instagram for breaching their policies regarding hate speech. Jake Paul, along with thousands of his fans argue that the new ban is a violation of his freedom of speech– but Tate’s blazing hot takes dig deeper than just friendly fire.
“Freedom of speech” is not the same as “freedom to violate social media policies,” especially when a misogynist accused of rape and human trafficking is shouting into one of the largest megaphones in the world.
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