Andrew Tate, Matt Walsh, and the Discursive Production and Policing of Gender

Author

Alan J. Bandyk, University of Montana, MissoulaFollow
Alan J. Bandyk, University of Montana, MissoulaFollow

Year of Award

2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

Master of Arts (MA)

Degree Name

English (Literature)

Department or School/College

English

Committee Chair

Kathleen Kane

Committee Co-chair

Erin Wecker, Elizabeth Hubble

Keywords

masculinity, tate, walsh, gender, discourse, production

Subject Categories

Literature in English, North America | Modern Languages | Other English Language and Literature | Philosophy of Language | Rhetoric

Abstract

This thesis utilizes the works of Judith Butler, Simone de Beauvoir, Frederic Jameson, and Edward Said in a discourse analysis of influencers and writers in the right wing "manosphere." The figures analyzed herein are Andrew Tate and Matt Walsh. Their rhetoric aims to create a discursive woman who embodies traditional notions of gender and sex that de Beauvoir critiqued in 1949. The constant adherence and reference to a mythical past exhibits ways of thinking that coincide perfectly with Jameson's own theoretical work with the term and its inherent false nostalgia. Tate's and Walsh's efforts also fall into discursive attempts at policing gender expression and sexuality that mirror Orientalist works that Said critiques in Orientalism. The purpose of the discursive production gains clarity when examined using Butler's recent work on phantasms.

Recommended Citation

Bandyk, Alan J. and Bandyk, Alan J., "Andrew Tate, Matt Walsh, and the Discursive Production and Policing of Gender" (2024). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 12335.
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/12335