King of Nothing by Nathanael Lessore
We were lucky to hear Nathaneal speak at our recent conference and the room was engrossed in his messaging. His guest blog today will certainly get you thinking!
A couple years ago, my nephew, who was ten years old at the time, started asking me questions about Andrew Tate. Trying not panic, I calmly asked my nephew how he knew that name, and he told me that everyone at school watches Tate’s videos. One of his questions was “does Andrew Tate hate women?”
Fast forward one year, and my teenage cousin (maybe fourteen at the time) comes over for coffee. When he starts using phrases like, “most women think that…”, and “If someone is an alpha male, they can…” I take the front foot and ask if he watches Andrew Tate. The answer is a very proud yes.
Thankfully, the logic in the support for these types of influencer falls apart very quickly when questioned by any adult.
Where this links directly to the inception of King of Nothing, is that I have a friend who’s a school teacher. He was telling me that the effect of these videos was so rife in his secondary school, that the staff decided to do an assembly about it.
Only they pulled out at the last minute, as they were afraid that this might only encourage students to further seek out Andrew Tate’s content.
It got me thinking that there must be an alternative way to get a counternarrative into schools. And so my editor and I worked especially hard on tackling the issue of toxic masculinity, weaving it as a thread through a (hopefully) comedic narrative.
The story itself is that Anton, a school bully whose peers prescribe to toxic online content, has his life saved by the emotionally open Matthew. Anton pays Matthew back by making him “cool”, and as the story progresses Anton begins to question his own take on masculinity.
Having done multiple school visits, I’ve seen for myself the effects of this new culture of teens in the “red pill” space. I’ve heard terms like “beta male” being regularly thrown around as insult (as though we are wolves and not human beings), I’ve been asked if I drive a Lamborghini, I’ve heard homophobic slurs, and I’ve seen higher levels of disrespect for female teachers than male ones.
On a micro scale, my fears are selfish and personal; I don’t want my nephews and cousins mistreating women, and I don’t want my nieces anywhere near someone who consumes this type of content. On a macro scale, the physical safety, and respect, of ALL women and girls, and the LGBTQ community is at risk the longer this fad continues.
If King of Nothing can deter even one child from misogyny and sexism, then my editor and I have done our jobs of educating as well as entertaining. And at least that’s something.