Toxic masculinity and banal populism

This chapter explores the relationship between toxic masculinity and political populism, using former cage fighter and internet personality Andrew Tate as an example. While the toxic masculinity represented by Tate does not have a straightforward relationship with contemporary strains of populism. Rather, we want to highlight a subtle net of correspondences in which certain forms of masculine performance draw upon and share common political and cultural tropes with populism, such as the popular authoritarianism, anti-elite conspiracy theories, and a free-market based conceit of individualism. The chapter suggests that these representations of masculinity assist in normalising these populist tropes, and helps weave the assumptions of populism into everyday discourse, cultivating a “banal populism”. As a way of starting a more widespread cultural analysis, this chapter looks at the role of toxic masculinity in appealing to discourses of male marginalisation in a manner that reproduces a populist frame.