The second entry in the column Roots in Crisis, written by Jhonatan Bernal.
Andrew Tate became a household name for all the wrong reasons at a time when I was at an all-boys school. Needless to say, his brash misogyny, toxic hyper masculinity and opulent arrogance weren’t exactly new phenomena (especially at an all-boys school). Yet, many adults treated Tate as a particularly nasty trend that, in time, would fade away. Of course, Tate’s online presence tanked as soon as he was arrested over human trafficking charges in Romania. However, with Trump receiving the now-free Tate brothers with open arms, neo-sexism’s loudest and most well known influencer is very much still present in the public consciousness. Just as sexism did not end with Tate’s arrest, it also did not start with his rise to infamy. Tate is not even a sexist pioneer within the digital world. This iteration of male chauvinism, and its flirting with fascism, has deeply embedded roots in an alt-right Internet sub-culture of ‘red-pilled’ incels that really gained traction during the 2010s. So, how exactly did chronically-online sexists fuel a crisis of masculinity and a neo fascist movement?
Incel Culture in the 2010s
‘Involuntary Celibates’ or the incel movement is interesting in that it is a decentralised and digitally grown movement. There is no incel manifesto and the label is very much a self-prescribed one. Incels can be loosely defined as: Young, isolated men who are unable to find romantic/sexual partners and blame women as a result.
The very concept of an ‘incel’ predates the Internet. Yet, it is the Digital Age which has accelerated the misogynistic radicalisation of many vulnerable men. The hateful incel culture really propagated itself across the Internet following the scandalous ‘Gamergate’, wherein anonymous Internet forums coordinated online harassment and misogynistic attacks against fourth-wave feminists and ‘politically correct’ liberals. For example, Anita Sarkeesian, a feminist media critic, was the victim of doxxing, death and rape threats as a result of her online critiques of gender representation in the video-game industry. Clearly, feminism and its advocates were perceived threats against a highly-insular, male-dominated gamer culture.
Branded as ‘social justice warriors’ (SJWs), there was a campaign to demonise and delegitimise movements advocating for gender equality in media and in wider society. This backlash infiltrated communities as big as the Star Wars or the Marvel fandom, wherein the women involved were subject to sexist attacks. A notable example of this was the harsh sexist backlash against the all-female cast Ghostbusters reboot. Conservative online figures, such as Ben Shapiro and Jordan Peterson, gained traction during this time period as they crusaded against ‘woke’, liberal feminists on college campuses. ‘Facts don’t care about your feelings’ was the slogan of every edgy, debate-obsessed teen boy of this time period. Video sharing platforms were rife with ‘SJWs getting owned’ compilations and the image of an irrational, overly-emotional, pink-haired, men-hating feminist was ingrained into the mind of many young, and often lonely, men.
Undoubtedly, this brand of Internet misogyny reached a peak around the 2016 American election - when a female president looked likely to enter the White House. Trump's own misogynistic comments and Hillary Clinton’s focus on gender equality invigorated the incel movement. Soon enough, my all-boys school was strangely pro-Trump, if for no other reason than conserving male protagonists in the male-led franchises we loved. Herein lies the movement’s very early connections to the modern MAGA-style fascism.
Trump won in 2016, for a variety of reasons, yet the influence that online misogyny had on his supporters was undoubtable. The sexual and romantic frustration of the incel had pushed him towards machismo, which in turn made the rest of the alt-right far more palatable. For many, Gamergate and the ensuing chaos was a pipeline into Trump's hyper-masculine vision for America. Trump’s rhetoric - filled with bravado, disdain for political correctness and celebration of traditional gender roles- resonated deeply with a myriad of young men who felt emasculated by a progressing world, and a progressing society that seemed to leave them behind.
The connection between online misogyny and far-right extremism is not at all coincidental. It is a well-structured alliance that promises to alleviate the incel’s personal grievances through regressive social policies. The incel’s conviction in the culpability of women for their misfortunes (loneliness, frustration and ensuing mental illness) naturally leads to a desire for retribution. Retribution that was, and still is, targeted against a perceived promiscuous and subversive female gender. Through control and subjugation of women, incels sought a solution to their problems. This neatly coincided with the broader goals of the alt-right, which also sought to undermine social progress made by feminists and civil rights movements.
The Misogyny Crisis of the 2020s.
Enter Andrew Tate. He is a continuation of the 2010s incel culture that dominated online communities. A self-proclaimed ‘alpha male’, Andrew Tate’s rise to fame was built on a foundation of misogyny and hyper-masculinity. His message - male domination over women and that wealth is the ultimate measure of a man's worth - was almost tailor-made for an audience already primed by years of incel and incel adjacent rhetoric. His appeal lies in his ability to package misogyny as an empowerment of men, and not a denigration of humanity as a whole. He argues that men do not deserve to be victims; instead they can be the ultimate victors if they embrace his vision of masculinity.
Tate’s influence extends beyond just his online persona. His conversion to Islam also invigorated and legitimised toxic, sexist narratives within the Muslim community across the world and in Britain. His fanning of the xenophobic flames last summer worsened the racist UK riots, and legitimised Reform UK’s platform. His arrest over human trafficking charges has cemented his status as a persecuted martyr in the eyes of his most die-hard followers. To them, the charges are proof of a wider, global conspiracy (dubbed ‘the Matrix) to silence male, alt-right commentators, influencers and politicians. A narrative that is similarly used by supporters of the far-right Romanian politician Cǎlin Georgescu. The fact that Trump, the main figurehead of a global fascist movement, has intervened on Tate’s behalf and J.D Vance has spoken up against Europe’s treatment of Georgescu only reinforces this perception.
A disturbing spin-off of the online misogyny movement is the rise of ‘gooner’ culture. While still pretty niche, it has gained traction in some parts of the Internet and focuses on the fetishisation of their own degradation. The ‘gooner’ may hold resentment against women as a whole, but the defining characteristic of this group is the obsessive consumption of pornography, often to a self-destructive level. What makes the gooner offshoot so disturbing is their embrace of a nihilistic and cult-like mentality, wherein they revel in their own lack of self-worth and instead objectify women for their gratification. There is a huge overlap between the incels and the ‘gooners’. However, gooners actively celebrate their descent into depravity and seek to always cement their misogyny and self-loathing into their worldview. The phenomenon of ‘gooning’ highlights starkly the broader male crisis which has real harmful impacts upon the people who get caught up in it.
The rise of Andrew Tate and the incel movement is not just a reflection of more commonplace individual misogyny it is a symptom of a broader crisis in the world today. The erosion of the patriarchy has not been taken kindly by incels or potential recruits. After all, this is a system which implants a superiority complex into men who might otherwise have nothing else to offer. Alongside the rise of economic inequality and rapidly evolving technology, the 21st century has simply left many young men feeling adrift in a society which they believe has left them behind. Taking this into account, the promise of a return to a simpler, traditional, hierarchical and privileged social order is deeply appealing to many young and lonely men.
That being said, the appeal of this ideology obviously comes at the expense of the Other - an Other which is not limited to women. Queer people, and those who do not conform to traditional gender roles, are also caught up in this whirlwind of misogynistic hatred. Paradoxically, this is even harmful to the millions of men who are trapped in a constant cycle of anger, resentment and frustration. It prevents them from forming healthy relationships with women. It perpetuates a narrow and destructive version of masculinity that equates strength with dominance and misogyny. It completely rejects perceived weakness and vulnerability. Needless to say, these are all pernicious upon the social and mental wellbeing of men.
The social challenge posed by Andrew Tate, the incel movement and the wider online misogynistic discourse is immense. It has been adopted by Trump’s MAGA movement and is, to some extent, almost synonymous with it. For this reason, it’s appealing to just discard many of the men who have fallen into the ‘incel’ trap, seemingly out of their own volition. Yet, it must be recognised that to truly stand up to fascism, society as a whole will have to tackle the problem of incel culture. Andrew Tate may be the face of this movement but he was never the root cause. This male crisis is deeply entrenched and it cannot be easily eradicated. Yet, the current hyper-masculine fascist alternative is far too grim to simply accept blindly.
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