Jordan Peterson’s takes on feminism, gender roles, and society at large have been labeled everything from rage-bait to downright harmful—and yet, he continues to find big platforms to share them. Last year, he was on Piers Morgan’s show, now it’s the Joe Rogan Experience, he’s visiting.
While they talked about a lot of very random things, the pair notably dove into some heavy territory, tracing what they see as the rise of both misogyny and misandry in modern culture.
As expected, when topics like gender roles, misogyny, and modern masculinity come up these days, the name Andrew Tate springs out of the bushes.
The self-proclaimed misogynist, also accused of human trafficking and assault, has notoriously continued to influence young minds by glamorizing dominance over women as a symbol of virtue and manhood. And it is this particular relationship he has with young men that Peterson wanted to explore.
“I’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure out why people are attracted to Andrew Tate,” he said.
“I know why they are attracted to Andrew Tate—they would rather be him than an incel, and they are right. It is best to give the devil his due”, he noted without an iota of irony.
The philosopher then explained that young men wouldn’t want to be flabby, sitting in their basements, watching p*rn and “hating women because all of them reject you all the time“, so they are attracted to a hyper-masculine, “almost-parody” of a man like Tate.
Rogan added his thoughts on the same saying, “The thing about men also, if they get rejected a lot, they associate women with pain. And then they get angry at those women cause they caused them pain.”
Continuing to intuitively place the blame on women, Rogan added, “It is a very simple equation. That is how you get a woman hater. The same can be said for a man hater.”
Needless to say, Peterson has in the past found himself in hot water on more than one occasion, thanks to his “intellectual” views on topics he seemingly lacks knowledge of, academic or otherwise.
Jordan Peterson: A broken record?
Peterson continues to be one of the more prominent—and controversial—voices in the ever-growing “manosphere” online.
Alongside figures like Andrew Tate, the conservative Canadian psychologist has been called out for promoting sexist and anti-feminist ideas, though he consistently denies being a misogynist.
With a massive YouTube following of over 8.6 million subscribers, Peterson regularly pushes traditional gender roles, arguing that men and women are fundamentally different and that true equality is unrealistic.
He’s even gone so far as to call trans activism “sexist and delusional,” claiming it denies basic science.
And experts have taken notice.
Tabatha Southey, a columnist for the Canadian magazine Maclean’s, has labelled him “the stupid man’s smart person”. “He’s very much a cult thing, in every regard. I think he’s a goof, which does not mean he’s not dangerous“, she notes.
Harsh in criticism, but perhaps there is truth to the statement. Notably, a student of political science and psychology, Peterson has continued to claim expertise in biology, history, theology, and literature.
He has also claimed that social justice movements fighting the existing oppressive systems are antithetical to Western civilization and promises to prove it beyond a shadow of doubt through what he perceives as science.
Studies have shown that his popularity has contributed to a rise in young men who believe feminism has done more harm than good.
