This is a depressing study published in PlosOne on how influencers are perceived and the possible consequences. Teachers report the rising influence of online misogyny on students. Male students often reflect misogynistic ideas. For example, they think it’s “ok to hurt women because Andrew Tate does it”. An important limitation is that the sample size is small. Also, it’s a measurement of perceptions rather than reality, the latter being more challenging to measure.

From the press release:

In a survey study of 200 U.K. teachers, 76 percent of secondary school teachers and 60 percent of primary school teachers expressed extreme concern about the influence of online misogyny on their students. Harriet Over of the University of York, U.K., and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS One on February 26, 2025.

Prior research has shown that young students are increasingly exposed to social media content created by misogynistic influencers, such as Andrew Tate and members of the incel movement. However, few researchers have examined how exposure to toxic online misogyny might influence the experiences and behavior of children and adolescents.

To help clarify, Over and colleagues surveyed 100 secondary-school teachers (teaching children aged 11 and older) and 100 primary school teachers (teaching ages 4 to 11) in the U.K.. The survey aimed to capture teachers’ perceptions of the influence of online misogyny on students.

Analysis of the survey data showed that 76 percent of the secondary and 60 percent of the primary school teachers reported extreme concern about the influence of online misogyny on their students.

When asked about influences on male and female students specifically, the teachers tended to reference instances of male students praising misogynistic ideas and engaging in misogynistic behavior against female students and staff, and instances in which female students were victims of misogyny.

For instance, one teacher reported hearing a male student say it is “ok to hurt women because Andrew Tate does it,” while another reported that female students were “worried about coming to school due to what the boys may say or do to them.”

Ninety percent of the secondary and 68 percent of the primary school teachers reported feeling their schools would benefit from teaching materials specifically meant to address the impact of online misogyny.

These findings are observational and do not confirm a cause-effect relationship between online misogyny and misogynistic behavior of students. Nonetheless, on the basis of their findings, the researchers call for further research into the issue and suggest that addressing it should be a top priority for policymakers, educators, and academics.

The authors add: “Teachers report that male pupils discuss misogynistic influencers with some regularity and that misogynistic influencers appear to motivate discriminatory behavior towards female peers and female teachers. 76% of secondary school teachers and 60% of primary school teachers reported that they were extremely concerned about the influence of online misogyny in their schools.”

Abstract of the study:

Young people are increasingly exposed to toxic online misogyny through social media. However, to date, it is not clear how exposure to online misogyny might be influencing the behaviour and experiences of adolescents and children. As a first step towards answering this question, we gathered data on how such influences are perceived by surveying 200 teachers, 100 of whom were based in secondary schools (working with children aged 11 and above) and 100 of whom were based in primary schools (working with children aged 4–11). 76% of secondary school teachers and 60% of primary school teachers reported that they were extremely concerned about the influence of online misogyny in their schools. When asked to describe an example of the ways in which online misogyny was influencing the behaviour and experiences of male pupils in their schools, teachers referenced cases in which male pupils praised misogynistic influencers, made misogynistic comments and engaged in discriminatory behaviour towards female peers and staff. When asked to describe an example of the ways in which online misogyny was influencing the behaviour and experiences of female pupils in their schools, teachers referenced cases in which female pupils were the victims of misogynistic behaviour and their well-being was adversely affected. 90% of secondary school teachers and 68% of primary school teachers felt that their school would benefit from dedicated teaching materials to address the impact of online misogynists within their schools. Implications of these data for interventions to combat the rise of online misogyny are discussed.