A Yik Yak user posted a statement on Aug. 19 calling for celebrations as Andrew Tate, a former professional kickboxer and an internet personality who garnered public attention for his misogynistic and predatory values, was banned from Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Tate was removed from the social media platforms for violating Meta’s policy “on dangerous organizations and individuals.”
“Can we have a fest to celebrate Andrew Tate getting removed from IG? (The red flags will say no),” said the Yik Yak user.
Tate, both on his podcasts and as a guest on others, has made various comments about how he believes women should behave and be perceived. He once stated that 18-year-olds are more attractive than 25-year-old women because Tate deemed they have less sexual experience. Tate has also been vocal about how he doesn’t see men and women as equal. On the podcast Barstool Sports, Tate discusses his authority over the women he’s in relationships with and why it's incorrect for people to call him sexist.
“I believe if she’s my woman she should be able to come to me with her problems and I should fix them,” Tate said during the podcast. “If that makes me sexist and a horrible person, fine. You agree with the baseline. Everyone agrees with the foundations of what I say but when I build on top of it they try to pretend it's sexist. By extension, if I have responsibility over her then I must have a degree of authority.”
After arguing that his logic isn’t sexist, Tate went on to compare the authority he has over women to the authority he has over a child and a dog.
“You cannot be responsible for something that doesn’t listen to you,” Tate said. “You can’t be responsible for a dog if it doesn’t obey you … In a healthy relationship the man will say ‘X’ and a woman will say ‘Yeah I agree with that, OK, I won’t do it.’”
A Twitter thread, posted on Aug. 20 by the user @Dragonfly_Darcy, explained the user wasn’t aware of who Andrew Tate is but her 12-year-old son is.
“Parents, they’re coming for your boys,” said the user in a tweet. “They market misogyny and racism to cishet white boys, in a package that seems appealing. Talk to your kids, have hard conversations. It’s important.”
Tate’s influence has spread concerns among some students at Ohio University who worry about how his devoted followers on campus, if any, will treat others.
Malia Dorcy, a freshman studying computer science, expressed that what she has observed of Tate’s comments and how they have affected boys and young men makes her nervous for these first couple of weeks on campus.
“I always hear, especially for men who may agree with some of the things he says, it’s like the first thing out of their mouths is ‘Oh, well you don’t listen to him so you don’t know what you’re talking about,’” Dorcy said. “But the stories I’m hearing and how it’s affecting other young men has me very concerned.”
Grace Cobb, a sophomore studying virtual reality and game development, said it’s uncomfortable and weird when people she’s close with talk about Tate through a lens of admiration.
“When I look at his (social media) page, it’s just absolutely vile the things he tries to say about women,” Cobb said. “I know a little bit ago, it was a big trend to search him up and look for mutuals and unfollow them.”
And despite Tate’s comments and beliefs being popular on social media, he didn’t invent misogyny, which is something Kristen Leibensperger, a sophomore studying French and physics, acknowledges.
“I feel like he didn’t cause the problem,” Leibensperger said. “He’s only part of the problem.”
But the problem of influencing other men to treat women inhumanely is still exacerbated when people such as Tate use misogyny to gain attention and a following, and Dorcy said she thinks Tate being banned from social media platforms won’t keep him from sharing his beliefs.
“As much as he’s getting banned from every platform, they’re gonna find a way or he’s gonna find a platform,” Dorcy said.
