Bekah Legg, CEO of domestic abuse charity Restored, says the Church needs to step up and protect women from the growing spread of misogynistic messages.
Andrew Tate was charged in Romania this week on charges of rape, human trafficking and forming and organised crime.
The indictment cites that he and three others organised a criminal group to commit human trafficking. It references seven alleged victims who were recruited by promises of ‘love’ and ‘marriage’ but instead claim to have been intimidated, forced into debt and then into pornography which has since been shared on social media. One woman claims to have been raped twice.
They are very serious charges. Charges which the Tate brothers both deny. In fact, Andrew Tate has since tweeted that this is all a ploy for the Romanian government to get their hands on his vast wealth.
Some of those videos see him posing with cigars and fast cars, others see him talking about choking and hitting women
Who is Andrew Tate?
An ex-kickboxer, he came to fame as a contestant on Big Brother and over the last couple of years has rapidly amassed a huge following on social media with extreme misogynistic views.
He established Hustler University, which describes itself as a “community where me and dozens of experts will teach YOU exactly how to make money.” He also uses it to encourage the 127,000 members, who pay £39 a month for his ‘wisdom’, to flood the internet with his more controversial videos online to boost engagement and his following. Some of those videos see him posing with cigars and fast cars, others see him talking about choking and hitting women, destroying their possessions and stopping them from going out.
his strategy has led to him being one of the most searched-for people on the internet
Why does Andrew Tate matter?
Tate’s rise to fame and influence is frightening. On a political podcast earlier in the year, I heard someone I generally respect refer to him as a silly man who can’t be taken seriously. I don’t agree and the reality is far too many young men, don’t feel the same. Tate’s reach is huge and his influence is staggering on a generation of young men trying to navigate relationships and identity.
He’s been banned from almost all social media platforms for his misogynistic views (although he has been reinstated), nevertheless, his strategy has led to him being one of the most searched-for people on the internet. In July last year, there were more Google searches for his name than for Donald Trump or Kim Kardashian. His Tik Tok videos, before they were taken down, had been viewed more than 11.6 billion times.
Read more on supporting women through abuse
Why our churches need to tackle domestic abuse
What does the new domestic abuse bill mean for women?
The government is taking serious action against domestic abuse but there’s more to be done
This case really matters because we need to challenge and change a culture which says it is okay to treat women as something simply for your pleasure, that you are more of a man if you use your power to get what you want at others’ expense and that men should not be held to account. We need to show that’s unacceptable and to model something different and as the Church it is part of our calling to be doing just that. When Jesus walked on earth as a man, He went out of His way to give dignity and respect to women at a time when no one else did. I believe that He calls his followers to do the same today.
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