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WHY MARRIAGE SURVIVES
The Atlantic
|September 2025
The institution has adapted, and is showing new signs of resilience.
"There is zero statistical advantage" to getting married if you are a man in America today, Andrew Tate argued in a viral 2022 video on "why modern men don't want marriage." Women, he believes, are worthless anchors-"They want you monogamous so that your testosterone level drops," he posted on X last falland your marriage is likely to end in ruin anyway. "If you use your mind, if you use your head instead of your heart, and you look at the advantages to getting married," there are none.
The loudest voice in the manosphere is infamous for many things, including criminal charges of human trafficking, rape, and assault. (Tate has denied these charges.) But he is also notorious for launching a new front in the culture wars over marriage, aimed mostly at teenage boys and young men.
Tate believes that men no longer receive the deference they deserve from women in marriage, and bear more risk in divorce. He argues that men should focus on getting strong, making lots of money, and using-but not investing themselves in the opposite sex. His evident appeal-clips of Tate gamer hundreds of millions of impressions on YouTube and Tik Tok-would seem to be yet one more sign that our oldest social institution is in trouble.
This story is from the September 2025 edition of The Atlantic.
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