“The schemes of anti-feminist, anti-women, sexist and misogynistic supremacist content are sort of subsumed within a broader discourse of self-improvement, entrepreneurial-ship, financial independence, dating advice, or health and fitness advice,” says Lawson.
“I don’t think men engage with that content because they’re like, ‘I want to be a sexist’ or ‘I want to be a misogynist,” says Lawson.
“I think they engage with that content, especially young men, because it speaks to a vulnerability or insecurity about themselves that they want to address. In a lot of ways, they’re looking for mentorship, for guidance on how to address that insecurity,” he says.
“It’s interesting to me how a space that ostensibly is about male self-improvement also then becomes this bastion of blaming women, blaming feminism, blaming contemporary gender relations for why things are the way that they are. I think that’s how it gets it’s hooks into people,” Lawson says.
Fleisher says that Tate’s content is conditional on treating women a certain way. “One of the big messages is you listen to my advice, and I’ll make you a better man. That’s one part of it, but then to be a better man you’ve got to reject relationships,” says Fleisher.
“You’ve got to make sure women don’t take advantage of you; you’ve got to look out for number one. You’ve got to treat women in a particular way. That sexist and misogynistic content is packaged in amongst bits that superficially, at face value, seem to be aligned with making your life better.”
“That kind of self-improvement discourse is shot through with anti-women, anti-feminist sentiment that I think really insidiously becomes normalised within the kind of content that these young men are engaging with.”
The desire to search online for role models is why projects like G.G.s can make a difference by showing young men how diverse masculinity can be.
If G.G. could control what viewers take away from his class project, it would be this:
“If you always have this feeling in your heart or in your brain that tells you you’re not enough, that what you’re going through is not what other guys are going through and you should keep your mouth shut until everything is better, I hope that dies down.”
G.G. said that most of the young men he interviewed were going through the same thing but felt alone in their struggle.
“I realised that all of us are going through almost the same thing…I know I’m just a speck in this universe. Very little,” says G.G., “but if I could do one thing, it would just be to help guys realise that they’re not the only ones going through whatever they’re going through right now.”
Giese offers a final warning, one she was given when interviewing for her book, Boys.
“If we don’t create spaces to support young men, then the Andrew Tate’s of the world will.”