Andrew Tate: schoolboys ‘idolising’ social media ‘misogynist’ and ‘uniting against girls’, teachers warn

“Men are the superior. We’re better, we’re stronger, we’re smarter than women. That’s just the way it is.”

Those are the words spoken by an eight-year-old school boy, after a classroom discussion on equal pay in football turned sour. No matter what questions she asked or what counterpoints she gave, the teacher, based in Edinburgh, “could not shake his world view”.

“Sadly, there have always been instances of sexism and misogyny in schools,” says another teacher, also from Edinburgh. “But I’ve noticed some nuanced changes lately - particularly over the past six months or so.”

This, he told NationalWorld, coincided with when self-proclaimed misogynist and social media influencer Andrew Tate began to grow in popularity. “In August, I started getting questions like, ‘do you like Andrew Tate, sir?’ ‘Did you see Andrew Tate’s video last night?’

“Then over the past few months, there’s been a shift in some of the boys’ behaviour. More cockiness, less respect. I’ve heard a fair deal of inappropriate comments, too.”

The secondary school English teacher said that most of the boys in his school that are “supportive” of Tate seem to be between the ages 14 and 16. “They like the lifestyle,” he explained. “The expensive cars, the luxury house with a pool.”

“So some of them aspire to lead a life like his,” he continued. “But others also seem to genuinely believe what he is preaching and presenting as the empowerment of men. They idolise him.”

Tate, alongside his brother Tristan, was recently arrested following allegations of sexual assault and human trafficking, and remains in prison in Romania. Tate was born in the US but grew up in Luton in the UK, and rose to fame in 2016 after being kicked off Big Brother when a video was released which appeared to show him attacking a woman.

He now has 3.5 million followers on Twitter, while on TikTok videos circulating under the hashtag #AndrewTate have been watched more than 14 billion times. Tate has said that women belong in the home, shouldn’t drive, and are men’s property. He has also said rape victims must “bear responsibility” for their attacks.

And these attitudes are also having an impact on female students. One teacher told NationalWorld how whenever she’s around some of the older girls at her school, they “come up to her really upset and in tears because of the things the boys say in relation to Andrew Tate.”  She continued: “The boys seem to see it as a ‘cool’ way to kind of unite against the girls, and be like, it’s ‘us against the girls.’ It’s a problem. It’s getting worse.”

The teacher added that she thinks some of the boys lack a real understanding of the issues surrounding Tate. On one occasion, when a group of boys were chanting “Tate, Tate, Tate!”, she questioned them, asking if they knew what he had “been in the news for”, and pointing out some of the things he had said.

“At that point,” she said, “they switched from ‘he’s cool’ to going ‘oh’. So there’s definitely some kids who have a misconception about what he is, and I do think a lot of kids are just jumping on the hype. But I fear that it is shaping their world view and changing how a lot of boys think.”

Some children have started turning to charities for help. One girl, 13, said in a phone call to Childline: “All the boys in my class are so influenced by [Andrew Tate]. They’ve started picking on me and some of my friends because we are girls wanting to become things that ‘aren’t for women’. It’s made me feel like I’ll never get into my chosen field considering people like them will be in the future generation. I hate it so much but I know I can’t do anything to stop it.”

Another 13-year-old told of arguments she’d been having with her brother, who “idolises” Tate and will “not change his mind” on him, no matter how “vile” she thinks he is. Meanwhile, a young boy struggling with his mental health told the charity he was “embarrassed to talk about it” as he should be able to “tough it out, like Andrew Tate says in his videos.”

Even some parents are at a loss, with one mother telling the NSPCC Helpline: “I’m calling about my 17-year-old son. I’ve noticed his behaviour has been changing lately; he seems to have a strong dislike towards women. Like, he often refers to girls as ‘bitches’ and that men are basically the superior sex.

“I’m worried he’s being radicalised from what he’s viewing online. I can’t be sure what sites he’s looking at but he’s mentioned this Andrew Tate fella, who I’ve seen has millions of followers. This is not the kind of person I want my son looking up to.”

Recently, schools have recently been trying to engage in more conversations about Tate. “Initially,” one teacher explained, “when his name was first mentioned, a lot of us thought let’s shut it down immediately - ban his name from the classroom. I straight-up told the boys who asked that I think Tate is a disgrace of a human being.”

But when Tate’s name kept cropping up, they realised it was important to engage in conversation. A teacher explained: “I want to know why they’re drawn to this man, as it can help us educate. We’ll talk about why they like him, and then ask if they think what he said in a certain situation is acceptable. I’ll ask, what do you think about his views on this?

“It can be hard in the middle of a classroom setting, but taking five minutes to stop and talk is important. Because this isn’t a case of kids picking up bad language in a video game - this is a man who is actively pushing a narrative that creates a ludicrous position of a white straight man being oppressed.”

A Department for Education spokesperson told NationalWorld that it has published statutory guidance which states schools should be “alive to issues such as everyday sexism, misogyny, and gender stereotypes.” They added that further, non-statutory guidance will also be published later in the year, which will “provide practical advice on how to create a whole-school culture of respectful relationships, and how to teach about sexual harassment, sexual violence and violence against women and girls.”

The spokesperson also mentioned the impact that the Online Safety Bill will have, saying it will require technology firms “to enforce their age limits and protect children from being exposed to harmful material online."

What are some of the things Andrew Tate has said?

• On men and women: “I think the women belong to the man.”

• On escaping rape convictions: “40 percent of the reason I moved to Romania. I’m not a f****** rapist, but I like the idea of just being able to do what I want. I like being free. If you’re a man living in England or America or any of the western world right now, you’ve decided to live in a country where any woman, at any point in the future, can destroy your life.”

• On his attraction to younger women: “18 - 19 year-old women are more attractive than 25 year-olds because they’ve been through less dick.” 

• On how only men should have multiple partners: “Read the Bible, every single man had multiple wives, not a single woman had multiple husbands. Female promiscuity has always been disgusting and frowned upon.”

• On ‘masculine’ life: “The masculine perspective is you have to understand that life is war. It’s a war for the female you want. It’s a war for the car you want. It’s a war for the money you want. It’s a war for status. Masculine life is war.”