Highlights
- [The message] that marriage is a trap ... is invariably repeated on the online right, usually by Andrew Tate, and it’s reaching a lot of teen boys. Post This
- Leaning into work, rather than family life, is the path to prosperity. But this seductive message is completely at odds with the facts. Post This
- This Valentine’s Day, my advice is simple: if you’re in a good relationship, get married. If you’re married, invest more in your relationship. Post This
Isn’t marriage a trap, mostly for men? Don’t most married couples end up getting divorced? And aren’t most men happier when they’re single? These are the kind of questions I get from young men whenever I make the case for marriage at speaking events at colleges and high schools across the nation—recently in North Carolina, Virginia, Texas, and Utah.
I don’t need to ask where these men heard that marriage is a trap. It is a message invariably repeated on the online right, usually by Andrew Tate, and it’s reaching a lot of teen boys—even a group of Mormon boys that I spoke with last month in Salt Lake City.
If you haven’t heard of Tate, he is the biggest voice in the online manosphere today—with more than 11 billion views on TikTok alone. A 37-year-old former kickboxer who has been described as the “king of toxic masculinity,” he believes the institution is a bad deal for men in our egalitarian age. (He was also charged in 2023 with rape and human trafficking in Romania.)
“I don’t think many men actually benefit from marriages or relationships anymore,” said Tate on a recent podcast. In Tate’s view, any man in his right mind ought to stay single, make lots of money, and play with his toys (Tate is partial to his Bugatti), rather than make a long-lasting commitment to love.
Continue reading at The Free Press . . .