“My thighs bother you? »
Sophie* still smiles as she thinks of these four words, written in marker on her little brother’s frail thighs. It was three years ago. All over Quebec, boys showed up at school in skirts to denounce the strict dress codes imposed on girls. Sophie didn’t even need to convince her brother to join the cause.
“He put on my skirt. He passed others to his friends. He even wrote “Are my thighs bothering you?” on her legs,” she says.
Sitting cross-legged on her bed, the 17-year-old lowers her head. Maybe it’s from having said it out loud, but the memory suddenly seems far away.
Today, her little brother – we’ll call him Félix – thinks that a woman’s place is at home. That his duty is to raise the children, to cook well. That a man’s job is to provide for his family, to protect it.
What happened in 3 years? Two words: Andrew Tate.
Like many boys his age, Félix, 15, has become a worshiper of the British-American influencer, who is facing accusations of rape, human trafficking and exploitation in Romania.
A clear impact in Quebec
Before being banned from almost every platform, including Instagram, TikTok and Facebook, Andrew Tate became the face of a growing cohort of masculinist influencers, who advocate a return to traditional gender roles online.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Many high school teachers in Greater Montreal have testified to the popularity of Andrew Tate among their students.
A year and a half ago, we wrote about the rise in popularity of these self-proclaimed “alpha males” with barely veiled sexist, even misogynistic remarks.1.
At the time, the impact of these influencers on young Quebecers was not clear. Today it is evident.
We spoke to teaching staff from eight high schools in Greater Montreal, all of whom attested to the popularity of Andrew Tate among their students. This can be reflected in derogatory jokes, sexist comments thrown around in class without any restraint and even tensions between boys and girls.
The Center for the Prevention of Radicalization Leading to Violence, which offers a support service to schools struggling with hateful acts, has noted an increase in requests for assistance with gender-related issues.
It’s clearly more important in the last year or two than it was in the past.
Louis Audet-Gosselin, scientific director of the Center for the Prevention of Radicalization Leading to Violence
In interviews, several raised the same impression: something is happening with the guys. But what, exactly? And above all, who takes care of it?
Love Andrew Tate
Félix studies in a private school on the South Shore. He has progressive parents. A feminist big sister.
Before he discovered Andrew Tate, he was a moderately opinionated teenager, the type who wore a skirt to school to speak out against sexism.
According to his sister, Felix started following the influencer in the summer of 2022. At the time, Andrew Tate was at the peak of his popularity. He accumulated millions of subscribers on his social networks and his videos generated hundreds of millions of views. Ex-kickboxer recycled into a male personal development guru, he regularly posed on his social networks in front of his collection of weapons or his numerous luxury cars. To his impressionable young audience, Andrew Tate conveys the image of a virile man, respected by his peers and very wealthy, brimming with confidence.
Sophie thinks this is what initially attracted her little brother: the promise of success – material, physical, professional.
PHOTO ANDREEA ALEXANDRU, ARCHIVES ASSOCIATED PRESS
Andrew Tate last month upon arriving at court in Bucharest, Romania, where he faces charges of rape, human trafficking and exploitation.
But she also knew what Andrew Tate said about women. That they were “inherently lazy.” That their value was inversely proportional to the number of their sexual partners. That they had “some responsibility” in the sexual assaults of which they were victims.
And she was horrified. Let his brother follow him. Let him defend him, at all costs.
To this day, Félix refuses to believe the heavy accusations weighing on his idol, still awaiting his trial.
Sophie opens her phone. She wants to show us a video that her brother recently sent her on Instagram. The young woman on screen defends Andrew Tate, saying the accusations of rape and human trafficking against him are bogus.
Once my brother wanted to show me a video in his saved Instagram posts, and it was just Andrew Tate’s face. Everywhere.
Sophie
Its popularity is not limited to social networks. It percolates into reality.
Recently, her brother complained about women who use “their privilege to falsely accuse men of rape.” Another time, he ordered his sister to go “get dressed” because she was wearing a tank top exposing part of her stomach at home.
His outfit made him “uncomfortable,” he told her by way of explanation, to which Sophie pointed out that he himself was walking around the house without a sweater. ” It is not the same. You are a girl,” he would have replied.
Sophie tried every possible means to reason with her brother. His father too. In vain. “For him, the woman must stay at home and the man must protect his family. The debate is completely closed,” says the teenager.
It was Sophie who initially contacted us. She worried about what she saw online. From what she heard at school. Because she also polled her friends about Andrew Tate’s popularity. She feared that her brother was not the only one. It is far from being so.
“I think it’s serious that so many young people my age adhere to this,” she says.
Sophie is angry. Against Andrew Tate. Against strong algorithms that push a certain type of content as soon as they suspect interest on the part of the user. Against her brother, whom she loves despite everything. And yet, it’s not anger that we hear in his voice. It’s sadness. And helplessness.
“My father made a metaphor the other time. He said Andrew Tate is like a hydra. If you cut off his head, he’ll grow two more. The problem goes deeper than Andrew Tate. »
*Fictitious first name to protect the identity of a minor