by Kearin Green
*Trigger Warning: SA, misogyny*
If you haven’t heard of the world’s most famous misogynist, Andrew Tate, you’ve likely been granted a blessing in disguise. You may have heard of him for several reasons. Maybe you saw when he was he was roasted by Greta Thunberg in a tweet which gained historic 1M+ likes; you followed his prolific arrest in Romania for rape and human trafficking charges; or maybe your creepy uncle decided to show you his videos at the worst family dinner of your life. Either way, you’ll be inclined to agree that his beliefs are dangerous; especially for the young men and boys exposed to his content.
Photograph of Andrew Tate. Courtesy of British GQ.
The British-American media personality gained popularity in the last year on social media due to his controversial and significant content that broadcasted his beliefs about masculinity (which has been referred to by others as ‘toxic masculinity’) and his conservative views on women. This includes believing women should shoulder all responsibility when victims of sexual assault and that they are a man’s property, emphasising the ‘traditional’ belief that women exist to be eternally subservient to men. As he continued to exhibit his extreme opinions online via YouTube, podcasts and beyond, his beliefs spiralled from insulting to violent as he revealed at one point that if he ever got accused of cheating by a woman, he would beat her.
As Tate’s trial remains pending in Bucharest, (his main base since 2017), a surprising pal of his has been upgraded from understudy to central performer in the far-right display of solid conservative beliefs and clickbaity videos. Pearl Davis, a 26-year-old American currently based in the UK, whose beliefs are almost as strong as Tate’s own. She is dedicated to spreading Tate’s word, going as far as to host him on her podcast and making a ‘welcome back Andrew’ Instagram post following Tate’s release on bail.
Hannah ‘Pearl’ Davis is a Chicago native who has been living in the UK for over a year. Bought up in a large and wealthy family, her fame as a commentator has skyrocketed since unapologetically voicing her views and engaging in debates on Piers Morgan’s TalkTV segment “Piers Morgan Uncensored’ on several occasions in July this year.
A selfie of Hannah Pearl Davis wearing a T-shirt captioned "Women Shouldn't Vote!"
Her content creation goes back just as far as conducting street interviews in London with individuals discussing abortion rights, body positivity (and how much she hates it) and arguing with anybody in sight who disagrees with her.
Her views have only become more extreme the more prevalent she has become. Before Piers Morgan, Davis appeared on a chaotic VICE debate panel where she managed to take centre stage throughout the duration of the panel; expressing that, in her opinion, feminists complain too much and that women seeking abortions should be more responsible and stop sleeping around. Whilst one can’t deny, for a few specific situations, that there is a thin line of logic in this argument, Davis blew her chance of gaining respect before she even allowed herself to be considered.
Davis’ transparency about her friendship with Andrew Tate gave her the attention she needed that would get her 1M+ subscribers on Youtube, banned on Tiktok and 3 guest spots as an unaware ‘pick-me girl’ on TalkTV. Through these appearances, the height of her extremism has been reached as she shows off her ideals, such as believing women should not be allowed to vote and that divorce should be illegal. On Twitter, she has repeatedly, and enthusiastically, exclaimed her desire to repeal the 19th Amendment of the United States Constitution (which gave women the right to vote) and uses the argument that when voting for women was legalised only 4% of women wanted this change.
Her argument has been criticised by the opposition and labelled as weak with many YouTube commentary channels (e.g. Hasanabi Productions ) emphasising how poorly she debates. Her attempt to substantiate her beliefs by highlighting a statistic from a century ago lacks logic at its’ finest. It doesn’t take into account factors that led to this census; from poor quality education at the time to women fearing how the change would influence their lifestyles.
"Her attempt to substantiate her beliefs by highlighting a statistic from a century ago lacks logic at its’ finest."
Another similar incident occurred in the 1970s when Republican housewives opposed the Equality Rights Amendment (the ERA) because they feared their daughters would be drafted amid the Vietnam War, that their husbands wouldn’t be able to grant them alimony and that they would be forced to work. Davis appears to represent this fear that both eras of women held. Yet, she has made herself an anomaly. Whilst women of the past feared the future, women like Davis appear to yearn for the past and fear the current present. Almost like famed anti-feminist Phyliss Schlafly, she contradicts what she believes in. Just like Shlaffely, she is a woman who works to get her message out there whilst broadcasting that women belong at home.
Further controversies have followed Pearl on top of her controversial opinion about the 19th Amendment. On Youtuber Ethan Klein’s podcast- H3 Podcast- Pearl, who, for the record, has no children, stated that women are happier being stay-at-home mothers instead of focusing on a career. In efforts to expose further hypocrisy, she has also been slammed for condemning and slut-shaming women who lose their virginity before they get married among other things. Not only because many progressive individuals disagree with her outlandish statements, but because Pearl has revealed that she is not a virgin and has never been married.
Her latest controversy has likely severed her ties with TalkTV after being ‘ambushed’ during her most recent, and last, appearance regarding a video she posted of her freestyling on her guitar and complaining that cancel culture doesn’t allow society to ask proper questions; using the example of not being able to freely discuss if Hitler was actually a good guy. This video equivalent to shooting yourself in the foot resulted in Piers Morgan slamming Davis on the show as she refused to apologise for what she did; stating repeatedly that the song was about freedom of speech rather than about Hitler or the Jews- a word she mouthed rather than said in the video.
An Instagram post by Pearl: featuring Andrew Tate and captioned "Welcome Back Andrew!"
Underneath the shallow outer layer of Pearl Davis (i.e. her comments, beliefs and associations with individuals like Andrew Tate) lies a fascinating psychology yet to be understood about her. Pearl has stated in the past that she believes women are too emotional as an argument against her beliefs. Alongside this, Pearl herself appears steel-skinned in many debates and appears to have the ability to quickly let the daily criticism she receives fly past her. She laughs off her opponents and often has a relaxed smile on her face no matter how intense a discussion or debate she is involved in becomes.
Pearl’s belittlement of her own sex demands many questions that she will likely never answer. Davis speaks daily on her YouTube channel, emphasising how women are less than men, less intelligent, and less ethical because they ‘allow men to pay for their mistakes' and that women have been below men for centuries and asks why should that change. Speculation about Pearl’s past and overall reasoning has sparked even more demanding inquiries. Newspapers like the Evening Standard and Insider have reported that Davis’ mother served on the board of directors for UN Women USA, which has wide support for national gender equality programmes. Her persona as a figure is mysterious and often questionable as viewers and commentators continue to question how genuine her beliefs are, or whether she is using hysterical beliefs for clickbait and therefore profit.
If Davis is legitimate, she will eventually disappear into the shadows with other ‘traditional’ women as she intends. The legacy she is creating for herself and other women will land herself in an eventual trap. If she continues to preach her misogyny, her adoration for dominant, conservative men and frustrating traditional values that most women would never want to live by, she would have to lead by example.
As a woman with these values, she will need to get off the internet, listen to her husband and remain indoors like the women suffering under the oppression of the Taliban. Davis must stick with the dominant, toxic husband she marries no matter how much he abuses her. After all, she preaches that divorce should be illegal because people aren’t allowed to make mistakes and must commit to the very end.
As she remains locked up in her proverbial house in the suburbs, lacking freedom and autonomy at least everyone will know that she stands by what she believes and that she’s legit. No matter how much potential it has to make her miserable, she can always look to the Stepford Wives to know that this is how women were intended to be.