A recent post in the subreddit r/TwoXChromosomes claimed there’s a “new brand of misogyny in young men” that the original poster found to be quite scary. Judging by the thousands of upvotes and comments, it appears that numerous Redditors agree.
The author of the post, a female teenager in her senior year of high school, explained that she could handle traditional misogyny in older men even though it was “extremely harmful.” However, she had a problem with this “newer wave of incels and Andrew Tate fans.”
“At least old misogynistic men have some sort of internal reasoning born out of tradition for their terrible views,” she wrote. “The newer wave of incels and Andrew Tate fans, though? [They] scare me more because their misogyny isn’t born out of something like tradition or even just a want for control; it’s sheer hatred and bitterness.”
Incels, aka “involuntary celibate,” are an alarming group of insecure men that are redirecting their perceived rejection and sexual frustrations into hatred against women. This attitude can manifest into verbal abuse, physical intimidation, and even acts of violence.
RELATED: Is All The Drama Surrounding Olivia Wilde’s New Film Really Just Old-Fashioned Hollywood Misogyny?
“Wow. Yes!,” one person responded. “Grandpa portrays women as inferior in the ‘they are weak and must be protected therefore give them less rights and smack your wife around a little to keep her in line’ kind of way. My generational peers are a ‘you don’t want to f*ck me because you are a stupid wh*re who should be killed for being useless’ kind of way.”
So, where is this hatred and violence stemming from? Some women joined the conversation with their thoughts.
Some Believe It’s A Response To The Success Of Modern Feminism
A woman in her 50s posited that this could be “[pushback] due to the success of feminism.” She noted that independent women who have high standards for the men they date mean that a man has to do “so much more to get [her].”
“That represents a huge shift in the power dynamic,” she went on. “Those [who] can’t up their game have weaponized that failure into a movement. That movement’s sole aim is to counteract those gains made by women. But all it’s doing is making those men even less desirable.”
Others agreed with this sentiment.
“This hits the nail on the head for me. They’re weaponizing their own inability to be better to women,” another person added. “The very idea that they have to do more than the bare minimum to be considered worthy of a woman fuels them.”
Social Media Has Helped Indoctrinate Young Men
As we know all too well, algorithms on social media often can help promote controversy, misinformation, and hate. There were many comments about the notable people who profited by creating and distributing incel content, including Andrew Tate.
Many were worried that young boys, who are very much impressionable to the content they consume, have been hearing and internalizing this new more violent form of misogyny.
“My ex-husband is a Tater-Tot (my lil word for Andrew Tate fans) and he’s turning our 7yo son into one,” one woman wrote. “The stuff I hear my son saying that I know his dad instilled through Tate videos is really scary stuff.”
Others linked the rise of violent incel content to the radicalization we have been seeing as a whole.
“Political radicalization (we know which side) is happily coinciding with radicalization of every shItty aspect of that side,” another person added. “Misogyny, racism, treatment of the poor, conspiracy theory, anti-intellectualism…”
Could Porn Be The Cause?
Instead of Andrew Tate, many commenters believed violence in porn was the cause of massive damage to the younger generation of men. But, everyone is afraid to talk about it.
RELATED: If You Regret Your ‘Tramp Stamp,’ It Might Have More To Do With Misogyny Than Aesthetics
“Porn is some kind of sacred f*cking cow, and if you criticize it you often get reductive nonsense in reply about what an insecure prude you are,” one user wrote. “The racism and the violent misogyny in porn is not okay.”
Another user expanded on why this violent porn might exist in the first place.
“The porn business model is built on fewer than 10% of users, but those users are special because they pay for 90% (ish) of the porn that is directly paid for (as opposed to watch for free / ads stuff), and they watch a TON of it,” they wrote. “Those users are also special because they’re into the most extreme, violent and illegal stuff … so the porn business caters to them more than the other 90% of users.”
Not Every Young Man Is A Misogynist
Tate may be popular with young men, but that doesn’t mean all of them are buying into this new brand of misogyny, said one Redditor in a more hopeful comment.
“I’m really glad my son is both social and a kind and generous young man,” she said. “He was briefly exposed to Andrew Tate and found him disgusting.”
By recognizing where this hatred is stemming from, we have more power to stop it. Hopefully, there will be enough men joining the fight against incel ideology to squash this minority bulls*t.
