Women's Aid — Influencers and attitudes report

What the study found

Women's Aid's 2023 Influencers and Attitudes research surveyed children, young people and young adults. It found that children and young people who had been exposed to misogynistic social media content, such as that of Andrew Tate, were almost five times more likely than those not exposed to view hurting someone physically as acceptable so long as you say sorry afterwards. The research also found that most children and young people could distinguish healthy from unhealthy relationship behaviours, while a significant minority held attitudes that normalised unhealthy relationships. ^[1]

Why it matters here

This research bears on how exposure to misogynistic influencer content relates to young people's attitudes toward relationships and physical harm. It is cited in the discussion of whether watching Andrew Tate content causes misogyny, where the almost-fivefold association offers survey context alongside experimental and classroom evidence. Because the finding is a correlation drawn from surveys, it describes a link between exposure and attitudes rather than proving that such content causes them. The parallel finding that most young people still recognise unhealthy behaviour tempers claims that these attitudes are universal.