Most people have heard about the arrests of Andrew and Tristan Tate in July on charges that include rape and human trafficking.

The Tate brothers built their fortune through webcam pornography and by marketing misogyny and male dominance as success. One of their courses was even called “Pimping Hoes Degree.” Andrew Tate has said that women should “bear responsibility” for being sexually assaulted, and he described them as “empty vessels” who are “programmable.” At one point, he was one of the most searched people in the world.

That should have set off alarms, but instead it became content.

The Tate brothers built a global following, became extremely wealthy, and gained cultural and political influence by degrading and harming women. Their message spread through viral videos, podcasts, interviews and support from people who defended them, downplayed their rhetoric or portrayed them as victims of a culture that had become “ too feminine.” This is how misogyny moves from the fringe into the mainstream: not quietly but with a microphone.

Unfortunately, the Tate brothers are hardly unique.

Jeffrey Epstein created an empire that exploited and trafficked girls and young women while powerful people looked the other way. Larry Nassar sexually abused hundreds of girls and young women by taking advantage of the trust placed in him as a doctor. Harvey Weinstein used his influence in Hollywood to prey on women whose careers often depended on his approval.

Different men and different industries, but the same lesson. Our culture has too often rewarded those who harm women.

The abuse of women and girls has long been ignored, excused, protected and even turned into profit. Meanwhile, those working to create more opportunities for girls and women have to fight for a fraction of that attention. This isn’t accidental, and it shows what our culture chooses to reward and what it ignores.

For more than 20 years, I’ve worked at the intersection of entrepreneurship and gender equality. When I created Go! Go! Sports Girls, I wasn’t just making a doll. I was challenging the stories we tell girls about who they can be. Most store shelves were filled with fashion dolls and products focused on beauty and appearance. Making dolls that celebrated girls’ strength, leadership and athleticism meant going against the status quo, and it remains an uphill battle.

I’ve learned that it is much easier to sell stereotypes than to challenge them.

Today, misogyny is rewarded with clicks, algorithms, headlines and endless attention. It teaches boys that domination is strength, men that contempt is confidence, and girls that their humiliation is entertainment.

Women and girls should be able to live free from exploitation, abuse, trafficking, harassment and violence. No one should profit from harming or degrading women. Boys deserve role models who teach respect, not domination, and girls deserve a culture that supports their potential instead of making money from stereotypes. None of this should be controversial.

If it is easier to profit from misogyny than to empower girls, then the problem is not just the market. The real problem is the culture, and when culture rewards cruelty, the damage spreads.

Every click, every share, every purchase and every platform are a choice about what, and who, we value. The real question is whether we’ll keep amplifying the people who degrade women or finally stop handing them the megaphone.

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Jodi Bondi Norgaard is the creator of the award-winning Go! Go! Sports Girls brand and the author of “More Than a Doll: How Creating a Sports Doll Turned into a Fight to End Gender Stereotypes.” She worked with the White House Gender Policy Council under the administration of President Joe Biden and the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media.

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