Is Andrew Tate a role model for masculinity?
I, like most of the world, had no idea who Andrew Tate was until he was canceled and made to be the most Googled man in the world. Now, for better or for worse, everyone knows who he is. Immediately, people have fallen into two general camps when it comes to Tate. They either hero-worship the guy or paint Andrew Tate as being literally Hitler. However, human beings are complicated and I don’t believe Andrew Tate is evil incarnate but I also don’t believe he’s a role model for all things masculine.
I’ve listened to several videos by him and even shared a few that I agreed with. Now, I don’t endorse Tate or his brand of masculinity but I can recognize good ideas when I hear them. When he says things like “I believe men are personally responsible for their actions and for the results they achieve in their lives.” or “I affirm the importance of endlessly improving my mental facilities through diligent work, study, and practice.” He actually has a list called his Tennants of Tateism that lists mostly good principles to live by. I don’t agree with all of them but most of his tenants are objectively good advice.
It’s the good things he says that are what resonate with a lot of disenfranchised men. I can understand his appeal. Especially since we live in a culture that constantly sends the message to men that they are a problem. That masculinity in and of itself is toxic. We live in a culture that teaches men to hate everything about themselves and this is why when someone like Andrew Tate comes along and speaks to men; they listen.
It’s important to have men that can speak to other men who are reeling from the consequences of a culture that has turned its back on them. It’s important that we have men who can model masculinity and encourage men to be better, but I don’t believe Tate is the best man equipped to do that.
Where I think Tate misses the mark is he teaches men a superficial form of masculinity. It’s a type of masculinity that falls short of what it really means to be a man. Tate’s brand of masculinity teaches men to pursue material wealth, reading is for losers, to serve your ego, and you’re less of a man if women expect loyalty from you and don’t have multiple wives.
Based on this Tweet alone, I don’t need to know anything else about Tate to know this is the wrong message to send to men. Apart from this statement being prideful it also promotes polygamy, puts down men, and dishonors women.
This is not a masculinity men need to aspire to. If anything, this is the exact type of masculinity men need to flee from. Polygamy doesn’t foster a stable home environment for the next generation, it can legally be a mess to navigate and it can create weird/tense family dynamics that you just wouldn’t see with the traditional family structure. There is something to be said about a man who can commit himself to one woman and build a family with her. It takes commitment for a man to honor his wife all the days of his. It also takes self-control and discipline, for men to refrain from gratifying their own sexual desires and taking multiple wives.
It also doesn’t make you less of a man if a woman expects her man to be loyal. It makes you honorable. Loyalty is rare in our culture and it’s something we should expect from both husbands and wives. For a man to honor his wife, honor his vows, and remain loyal, is one of the most masculine things he can do.
It’s easy to break those vows. It’s easy to give in to sexual impulses. It’s easy to stroke our own egos; it’s something else entirely to demonstrate faithfulness to one woman. We live in a culture that doesn’t bat an eye at adultery and sexual promiscuity. But these are what dishonor men. True masculinity is able to demonstrate self-control and commit himself to people beyond just himself.
To make matters worse, Tate’s advice for men to be with multiple women isn’t even the worst of it. Tate doesn’t just encourage sexual conquest but he also has built wealth by exploiting women through an adult webcam business that employed over 75 women and earned him his first million. To put it more bluntly, Andrew Tate pimped women and sexually exploited them for money. He’s featured in this video bragging about how he used women to manipulate men for their money. Now, I don’t have any sympathy for the pathetic men who paid to watch a stranger strip naked, but I don’t think the Tate is any better than the guy paying for adult content. Tate is the one peddling smut. That doesn’t make him better; it makes him worse. This is not masculine; it’s perverse and wrong.
At the time I wrote this article, Andrew Tate is also alleged to have been involved in human trafficking. Do I believe the claims? No. However, I am open to being wrong. if the allegations turn out to be true in a court of law, then I hope he is judged by the whole weight of the law. I despise human trafficking and want nothing but justice for the victims that suffer at their hands.
Based on the small amount of information I just reviewed, I think it is safe to say that Andrew Tate is no role model. Certainly not when he is taking multiple wives and built part of his fortune on sexually exploiting women. Sure, he’s bold, unafraid, and says some good things, but that doesn’t automatically mean men should aspire to be like him.
Especially when there are glaring character flaws that he has yet to turn away from. Maybe there will be a time when Andrew Tate turns a new leaf and is man enough to recognize he isn’t god’s gift to the world but that has yet to be seen. Until that happens; men should not aspire to Andrew Tate’s brand of masculinity.