Jordan Peterson came under significant fire for what was eventually revealed to be a heavily edited video by Vice in which he proposes a thought experiment regarding the use of makeup in the workplace.
Jordan Peterson has become one of the most influential and recognized intellectuals in the media at the moment after his best selling book ‘12 Rules For Life: An Antidote To Chaos’ and has been selling out shows across the world since. The former Harvard professor is known for his controversial views and is not afraid to argue his point.
Peterson came under fire at the University of Toronto for refusing to use gender neutral pronouns for transgender students. Several videos eventually circulated of the arguments between him and transgender students and protestors
In an interview with Vice News, the topic of the #metoo movement came up and his response was interestingly unusual in true Peterson fashion. Not shocked of the information regarding sexual assault and harassment rampant among Hollywood’s entertainment industry because “Hollywood have been capitalising on sexual misbehaviour for like 100 years.”
Peterson said he believes in any workplace today, sexual misconduct is more apparent than it was 30 years ago, and believes “We don’t know if men and women can work together successfully in the workplace.” According to Peterson, when it comes to ‘sexualising’ the work environment, the average person has no clue as to what the rules surrounding the topic are
Peterson raised a thought experiment regarding uniform – “why should women wear makeup”, and continued to argue that red lipstick is to mimic the colour of arousal. Peterson went on to raise the idea that High Heels were initially designed to make women’s legs appear longer, thus creating sexual attractiveness. As a male, to me this made sense.
Jordan has since gone on to clarify his points on the matter – and other video’s have surfaced showing the full un-edited video. It was immediately clear that the video was heavily edited in order to mischaracterise Jordan’s position.
In light of these clarifications, it is essential to recognise that Jordan Peterson’s contributions to public discourse are often more nuanced and insightful than they may initially appear. Jordan has since stated that he is considering the idea of only doing interviews if they are un-edited
If you’re on the fence about Peterson, this might change your mind as to just how compassionate he really is