Masculinity, according to critical theory, is, by definition, oppressive. And patriarchy, which gives males privilege must be torn down. The culture in which the rising generation of men swims daily tells them that their manhood is repulsive, automatically making them evil oppressors.

Thanks for joining us for our June Fatherhood Month celebration series, Men Helping Sons Embrace Biblical Manhood. We begin this series with a look at a new phenomenon that is impacting young Christian men. Evangelical Pastor, Seth Troutt, ran into this phenomenon while speaking at a junior high winter camp. He saw eight eighth grade boys sitting in a circle in the woods during free time. He walked up to them and asked, “What are you gents talking about?” For a few moments, they resisted answering. But one caved and answered, “we’re watching an Andrew Tate video.” A few months later a pastor of a large church full of college students said to Troutt “We’re having an Andrew Tate problem, especially among our high school and college boys.”

For those unfamiliar with Andrew Tate, he is a former kickboxing champion-turned-social-media-influencer who has become popular among young men for his views on masculinity. Tate has become a phenomenon among young males including many Christians. He has over ten million followers on X. According to one U.K.-based market research consultant, in 2023, one in three 16 to 25-year-old men said they had a positive view of Andrew Tate. Regarding his influence on American Christian teen boys, Nancy Pearcey, author of The Toxic War on Masculinity, wrote recently on X: A former graduate student of mine now teaches at a high school, and she sent me an email saying, “All my male students are fans of Andrew Tate. They are even including quotes from Andrew Tate in the yearbook.” I asked, “Where do you teach?” She answered, “At a classical Christian school.” I believe that young Christian men are paying attention to Andrew Tate because he is pushing back against the cultural pressure that is emasculating men. This episode examines closely five identifiable components of that pressure, coming not only from the culture but from the church.

Let’s begin by digging deeper into the Tate phenomenon. Shane Morris, of the Colson Center, puts his finger on the attraction of young males to Andrew Tate’s message. He writes, “Mainstream culture, under the influence of progressive and feminist ideas, has for years dismissed everything distinctive about men as “toxic.” Male strength, competitiveness, and physicality have been denounced in pop culture and medicated in schools. The idea of fathers leading a home has been mocked ceaselessly on television, and boys have been subtly taught there’s nothing they can do or aspire to that girls can’t do better” (Andrew Tate’s Counterfeit Masculinity, January 29, 2025).

As one Tate interviewer said, “Our culture’s message to young boys today is, ‘Stop being yourself. Sit still. Stop joking. Suppress your aggression. Share your feelings. Obey. Female qualities are virtuous, masculine qualities are oppressive.’” Many in the rising generation of males are tired of being emasculated. With no positive vision of manhood that matches their masculine shape, many boys and men turn to online gurus who assure them, contrary to the message they get everywhere else, that their masculinity is good. The attraction of Christian teens to the broken masculinity of Andrew Tate should be a wake-up alarm to the church. If we do not present our boys with a biblical call to masculinity, they will be attracted to broken ones.  I want to say that again. If the church does not challenge our boys with a call to biblical manhood, they will be attracted to broken ones. 

Five Obstacles to Boys Embracing Biblical Manhood

1. The Reality of Toxic Masculinity

In 2017 the public was shocked and repulsed to learn that many high-profile men were acting as if they were sexually entitled to a degree that no one realized. The hedge fund billionaire, Jeffry Epstein, got away with trafficking young women for many years with the collusion of high level celebrities and politicians. USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar sexually abused hundreds of young girls. Following the exposure of numerous sexual-abuse allegations against film producer Harvey Weinstein in October 2017, the #MeToo movement began and spread virally as a hashtag on social media. This exposure has been a welcome force for righteousness.

But the #MeToo movement was just a visible, culture-wide recognition of the awful abuse of women that has taken place in every culture of the world. Every Calvinist must agree that men have had the positions of power in every culture and because of their depravity, have abused women. Not only has the church been slow to address this evil in the culture, but it has also been slow to address this evil in the church, especially churches with all male leadership. In the past, extreme views of male headship have caused Bible-believing pastors to counsel wives to remain submissive to their husbands despite being abused, the church leadership being way too slow to demand repentance of abusers or else be excommunicated. Too often Christian wives have been counseled to “forgive” their husband’s unfaithfulness and take him back sexually, when she should never do that without strong evidence of his repentance. Forgiving does not mean trusting an untrustworthy man enough to give yourself to him. The harm that toxic male behavior and bad male leadership have caused to girls and women even inside the church is immeasurable. No wonder so many women object to Biblical teaching about masculine authority. No wonder so many women are driven into the feminist fold. Consider the story of Nancy Pearcey, author of The Toxic War on Masculinity. She writes,

I had two fathers, a Public one and a Private one. I loved and admired my public father. He was a respected university professor with a strong work ethic. He was willing to pay steep tuition costs for all six of his children to attend a Lutheran elementary school. On Sundays, he made sure we were all neatly lined up in church at the front of the sanctuary. Dad was ambitious, intelligent, and charming.

My Private father was a completely different man. At home he frequently went into rages that terrorized the entire family: shouting, punching and kicking. He would call us pigs and stupid idiots. He was open about his violence, saying, “Do this or I’ll beat you.” Then he carried through on his threats….He was careful to hit us where the bruises would be covered by our clothing, so that no one at school or church ever suspected. Watching my siblings get beaten was as traumatic as experiencing it myself…About halfway through high school, I abandoned my childhood religious upbringing. Not surprisingly, given my experience with my father, I was drawn irresistibly to the feminist movement, devouring all the classic books, from Betty Friedland’s, The Feminine Mystique to Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex, to Kate Millett’s Sexual Politics, and many more.

I have yet to meet a feminist who has not been deeply wounded by a man. Men use their power to harm women. That fact has created a cultural and personal reaction to any traditional or biblical views that assign men authority or power.

2. The Influence of Critical Theory in Today’s Culture

Critical theory, also known as cultural Marxism, is rooted in Karl Marx’s worldview that the definitive lens for viewing culture is conflict between two classes, the oppressed, proletariat workers and the oppressor, rich, bourgeoise land and factory owners. Class struggle against the oppressing privileged class in this worldview justifies the murder of business owners and seizure of their property. Under Moa Zedong, Marxism enflamed violent hatred in Chinese peasants towards the wealthy, justifying the brutal annihilation of factory and land owners. History reveals that eventually 65 million Chinese lost their lives through Mao’s evil Marxist policies.

Cultural Marxism (critical theory) began with Italian Marxist Antonia Gramsci, who extended this oppressor/oppressed lens into every aspect of culture. Thus, not only are laborers oppressed by business owners, but the poor are oppressed by the rich, blacks are oppressed by whites, women are oppressed by men, homosexuals and transgendered oppressed by cisgendered people.

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