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Journalism of Courage
A Twitter exchange between climate activist Greta Thunberg and former kickboxer Andrew Tate has taken social media by storm, where Thunberg responded to his tweet about his “33 cars and their enormous emissions” with a post that included the term “small dick energy”. As Thunberg’s reply went viral (it has 2.5 million likes already), Tate went into a meltdown, putting out more hateful tweets about the activist and proving her point.
So what is the concept of ‘small dick energy’? How did the term gain popularity, and how does it question toxic masculinity? What are some of the criticisms of the term? We explain.
Andrew Tate is not new to controversies. Earlier this year, he had been banned from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok for his misogynist comments (he got his Twitter account back after Elon Musk bought the platform).
Events have moved rapidly since we wrote this explainer, and Tate has now been arrested. Read about that here
In 2016, Tate had participated in Big Brother UK, but was evicted after an earlier video of him assaulting a woman emerged online. He offers courses on wealth creation, with his website proclaiming, “I’m Andrew Tate – World Champion Kickboxer & Multi-Millionaire. I grew up broke and now I am a multi millionaire. I teach the deserving the secrets to modern wealth creation.”
Tate does not agree with Thunberg’s work on climate activism, saying she “believes your government should tax you into poverty to stop the sun from being hot.”
On December 27, he tagged Thunberg and tweeted, “Hello @GretaThunberg. I have 33 cars. My Bugatti has a w16 8.0L quad turbo. My TWO Ferrari 812 competizione have 6.5L v12s. This is just the start. Please provide your email address so I can send a complete list of my car collection and their respective enormous emissions.”
Thunberg responded on December 28 with, “yes, please do enlighten me. email me at smalldickenergy@getalife.com.”
Since then, this tweet has received 424K retweets and 91.4K quote tweets. While Thunberg has not said anything more on the subject, Tate has tweeted and retweeted hateful comments about the teenaged activist, including putting out a video where he sits in a silk robe and questions her gender — exuding, all the time, extreme small dick energy.
Despite its name, ‘small dick energy’ has nothing to do with the body part whose slang term it references. The focus is on energy – people with small dick energy are petty, insecure, and cover it up with hollow swagger at best and random cruelty at worst. You know such people: men (and women) who crave approval, and, unable to get it, resent the world and will happily destroy it.
That uncle who hasn’t made much of his own life and so tries to control younger people around him? Small dick energy. The boss whose career has plateaued and is mean to talented juniors? Small dick energy. The cousin who is doing well but feels people don’t worship him enough and so can’t stop bragging about the car he drives and the miles he runs? Small dick energy. Loserly internet troll who exists to abuse successful women? Immense small dick energy.
The opposite of this is ‘big dick energy’ – a confidence, even swagger, that comes from security, and not from an urge to dominate. People radiating big dick energy are happy with themselves, and use their shine to lift others up, not pull them down. Big dick energy is often held as the opposite of toxic masculinity: it is a force, but positive and non-threatening.
Crucially, people from all genders can have big dick energy.
To take examples from fiction, Fred, George, and Ginny Weasly (smart, brave, kind) from the Harry Potter universe have big dick energy, while Draco Malfoy has small dick energy. Shah Rukh Khan’s character in Kal Ho Na Ho has big dick energy. Jane Austen’s Elizabeth Bennet has big dick energy in oodles, as does Joe March from Little Women. William Shakespeare’s Mark Antony in the play Julius Caesar has big dick energy, the actual man in history less so.
While the exact origins of the word are unclear, it was all over the internet in 2018, when American singer Ariana Grande put out and then deleted a tweet about her then fiance Pete Davidson. As Twitterati discussed this, one user, @babyvietcong, tweeted, “Pete davidson is 6’3 with dark circles, exudes big dick energy, looks evil but apparently is an angel, and loves his girl publicly the only thing wrong w him is that he’s a scorpio but anyway…..id married him within a month too.” According to The Guardian, this user borrowed the phrase from a tweet by @imbobswaget.
The term struck a chord, and the internet spent many happy hours discussing which famous figures and fictional characters have big dick energy and who conspicuously lack it.
Many have pointed out that while the terms seek to critique toxic masculinity, they still link — even if jocularly — worth and positivity to the size of genitalia, a silly idea from that same toxic world. Others argue that how insecurity can make people vicious is a grave subject, and the term ‘small dick energy’ is difficult to take seriously for a constructive discussion.
