"Red Pill" Ideology: How 'Alpha Male' Influencers are Threatening Feminism
In the iconic 1999 film The Matrix, the line “you take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes,” illudes to breaking away from the confines of society and witnessing the truth of institutions. However, modern social media influencers have adopted this phrase to empower men into an “alpha mindset.”
“These influencers will try to brainwash people and make them think what they’re saying is good. Which in reality is sick, and anyone with common sense or common decency can see that,” Nick Castrillo, male model, micro influencer, and self-proclaimed “good guy,” says.
With the rise of these influencers, such as Andrew Tate, young men across the world have turned to fighting against women’s rights in order to enhance their so called “male dominance” and revert back to traditional gender roles.
Making its debut in 2010 with a blog post entitled “The Misandry Bubble,” the red pill movement is founded on the notion that men are oppressed under modern feministic society and should revert back to traditional gender roles—women belong in homes and men are sole providers. Furthermore, the red pill ideology was adopted by far-right supremacist groups in the mid 2010s to highlight their own awakenings and theories.
Following the 2020 Coronavirus outbreak, the movement received a larger influx of followers as “alpha male” influencers took to social media as a way to empower men during trying circumstances. Of these influencers, Andrew Tate, businessman and former professional kickboxer, started to grow his own dominating social presence.
In 2021, Tate founded Hustlers University, an educational platform for young men seeking money and power. Through this platform, Tate instructed users to post controversial clips of him online in a methodic plan to heighten his engagement—and engagement he received.
At the end of 2022, Tate’s name had been searched over 22 billion times on TikTok and was Googled more than Kim Kardashian and Donald Trump alike. However, the influencer, who fans have nicknamed “Top G,” has been called out time and time again for damaging statements, actions, and the brainwashing of youth.
One of these damaging statements took place in a Twitter rant as a response to the #MeToo movement. Tate wrote, “if you put yourself in a position to be raped, you must bare some responsibility.” He follows by stating, “stick to the serious definitions and stop pretending normal male behavior is rape.”
The misogynistic comments do not stop there however, with earlier interviews from his kickboxing days resurfacing and displaying similar stances. “Why would you want to be with a woman who’s not a virgin anyways,” he says. “She is used goods. Second hand.”
Due to these comments, controversy surrounding Tate was at an all time high. Women actively spoke out against his behavior, while supporters flocked to his defense in numbers. Yet, with influencers like Tate consistently in the spotlight, what does that mean for the future of young men, women, and feminism as a whole?
Nick Castrillo, model and influencer, believes that influencers like Tate are ruining people’s perception of men.
“They put this false narrative out about women, politics, society, and it’s making an instant impact,” he says.
Castrillo was in disbelief when Andrew Tate started showing up on his Tiktok “for you” page. “I never enjoyed or believed in what he [Tate] said, his analogies always ended up between men and women,” he explained. “It never sat right with me how he would always belittle women and try to compare the two genders.”
Further into our conversation, Nick started listing examples of comments Tate made that set off a warning signal in his brain. While watching a video of Andrew Tate, Nick described how, “he said that men naturally had a higher IQ than women which I know is completely false. Those little things would just get under my skin.”
Raised by a single mother, Nick has always placed women in a higher regard. “Growing up with no male father figure, you have different morals and see things through a different lens that not a lot of other people see,” he details. “These influencers don’t know how capable women actually are.”
Nevertheless, many young men do not share Castrillo’s sentiment and women are coming forward everyday with how the boys in their lives have taken a liking to Tate and the red pill ideology.
Kelly Pikaart, college student at Montclair State University, explains how her life changed when Andrew Tate started appearing on social media.
“I actually hated it,” she states. “My boyfriend would listen to him all the time and started shaming and making sly comments about other women. He really believed that men could do whatever they wanted in relationships since they were the ones paying the bills.”
With traditional gender roles being the height of what red-pillers stand for, Kelly was confused. “I think a real man is somebody who respects women and does not judge them based on what they do or wear,” she explains. “Because of him [Tate], I think men walk around a lot more comfortable shaming women and outright disrespecting them, especially online.”
As a college student, Kelly spends a lot of time online and has watched Tate supporters grow more and more abrasive with their online presence. “If you go on TikTok and look at the comments section, you will see men disrespect women for what they do, what they wear, how they look,” she states. “It’s ridiculous.”
Regardless, Kelly does not believe this “alpha” trend will be going away anytime soon. “Once one person starts something and they blow up, another one will take their place and have even more damaging views. It’s a never-ending cycle and it’s dangerous to watch,” she says.
Similar to Castrillo, Kelly notes how this movement is only hurting men in the future. “I think younger boys are going to grow up and have a hard time getting into relationships,” she details. “Women don’t trust men anymore because of who their role models are.”
Source: Instagram @taylorgodboutt
Devout feminist and micro influencer, Taylor Godbout, often takes to her profiles in order to highlight the injustices women face every day at the hands of men. However, when Tate first appeared on her TikTok “for you” page, she did not think anything of it.
“When he [Tate] got more involved in social media, I didn’t think he was that bad a guy because the first video I saw was rather tame; he was just talking about philosophy and his own life,” she explains. “Then I started seeing him degrade women… his true colors, and that first impression immediately went away.”
Since then, Taylor notes how she has seen younger boys act differently in both the digital space and in real life. “I think we all can agree that a lot of male behavior has changed since he came onto social media,” she states. “They are all so brainwashed by him and so into this one man who says all this degrading stuff about women. They love it.”
When it comes to the future of young boys, she mentions how they will have a rude awakening once introduced to the real world.
“I definitely think that if we keep letting these alpha male influencers have the platform that they do, there will always be new kids coming onto social media, watching it, and learning that they don’t need to be respectful when they grow up,” she says. “They can both shame women and still have a quote on quote ‘successful future.’”
To continue, Taylor explains, “ I do think that influencers like Andrew Tate are destroying the internet. They are destroying people’s relationships, friendships, and even their own outlooks on life. People see that he [Tate] has a lot of followers and assume he must be right.”
With a basis of agreement, most people acknowledge how damaging “alpha male” influencers, and the red pill ideology has become. Young men are being shaped in a way that has long-standing effects on their persona, relationships, and future endeavors.
With that being said, young women are now being faced with a new wave of toxic masculinity to fight against.
As the feminist movement progresses and women are offered more and more opportunities in life, Tate reestablishes the idea to young men that women are only valuable based on their sexual availability. Nevertheless, Tate fans continue to flock to his defense with videos of the influencer describing women as “beautiful,” and “why women are the most precious thing.”
Again, when the only defense to Tate’s misogyny is combatted by him talking about how women need to be protected and controlled by their partners, the feminist movement takes a new hit of regression.
In an interview with The Feed, Allan Ball, the national director of the anti-violence against women organization, explained how Tate’s comments have the ability to radicalize young men into real-world domestic violence.
“The way it's manufactured, the way these glamorous TikTok videos, in particular, are seducing young men's minds, is very purposeful,” Ball states. “It's glorifying misogyny, he’s a predator.”
Y. Mimi Ryans, owner and therapist at Lighthouse Center for Therapy & Play tells Very Well Mind how these misogynist views play a role into the mental health of both young women and men.
“These perspectives can be damaging as a young woman will grow up feeling less than and young men will grow up lacking empathy for women,” she explains.
She goes on to state that, “parents need to instill in their children that relationships are partnerships and not ownerships. Adults need to stop toxic masculinity at a young age.”
Recently, Tate and his brother were arrested in Romania and released to house arrest after nearly four months on allegations of human trafficking, rape, and forming an organized criminal group. What should have been a win for the internet, young men, and young women alike, actually spiraled into other “alpha” influencers taking his place. So, what can we do?
Step one: TikTok must enforce their community guidelines, which explicitly bans misogyny and hate speech.
Step two: Parents need to monitor their children’s accounts and communicate the basis of healthy relationships and boundaries.
Step three: influencers, politicians, and journalists alike need to bring attention to the hate speech being spread across social media and highlight Tate’s discrepancies.
Women are constantly under fire from society, whether that be losing rights or becoming pawns in the media. With influencers like Andrew Tate preaching the dominance of men to younger audiences, boys grow up with a lack of respect for women and girls grow up with a fear and distrust for men.
Twitter banned Tate from the platform back in 2017 for his statements on sexual assault. It is time for other social platforms to get on board and prevent the future of young men from learning this threatening ideology.
Feminism is not the “oppression of men,” and once society understands that sentiment, young girls might finally have a chance to feel safe in their digital and real-life communities.