In July a TikTok megastar and former kick-boxer whose entire personality is based around virulent misogyny was searched for more times on Google than Kim Kardashian or Donald Trump. Once hidden in the dark corner of the internet inhabited by the far-right, incels and so-called red pill followers, Andrew Tate and his ilk are now in the mainstream, and their brand of violent hatred towards women racks up billions of views on TikTok (from which he has now been banned, as he has from Facebook, Instagram and YouTube). Given TikTok’s target users are teenagers, many of those viewing Tate’s videos will have been young, impressionable boys. As a secondary school teacher, I’m worried about what this could mean for a whole generation of boys who are soaking up and normalising these abhorrent views – and what it means for the girls and women who are subject to these attitudes.
This country already has a problem with misogyny in schools. In 2016 an inquiry by MPs found that more than half of girls and young women said they had been sexually harassed in school or college the previous year. I can think of countless instances within places I’ve worked where female students and teachers have been subject to sexualised and violent behaviour which, if it happened on the street, would be a clear-cut matter for the police. Cultural norms don’t wait outside the school gate, and children bring views that they’ve garnered online or from family members into the classroom with them.
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