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“You don’t want to crush masculinity in the hope that what you get is peaceful men. You’d have to be such a bloody fool to think that’s a good idea. It’s as bad as thinking if you hyper-protect children, nothing bad will happen to them,” Dr Peterson states. He continues in the same vein, saying that if we lived in a world where things like ambition, confidence and competition were neutered in men, presumably so that women and society could thrive, the world would actually be a much more dangerous place than it is right now. “When you make something weak in one direction, it seeks strength inappropriately in another. Whatever you repress or fail to develop lives underground and waits for its
BEHIND THE SCENES Amy Grier
“I nearly stopped writing this piece halfway through. I got fed up of having to defend myself for interviewing Jordan Peterson and ‘giving him yet more publicity’. But isn’t the point of good journalism to try to understand divergent points of view? Especially when they affect you, your readers and the people your readers care most about? Dr Peterson’s fame comes from saying precisely the kind of disruptive stuff that sparks a debate. The most dangerous thing we could do would be to dismiss it.” opportunity to manifest itself in crooked form.” You only have to look at things like the rise of the incel community to know this to be true. After speaking to Dr Peterson, I pick up the phone to Will again. I want to know one thing: what does he wish women understood about masculinity in 2019? There’s a pause. He’s not working out what to say – he’s merely trying to guess whether or not I’ll be offended by it. “The assumption is that men do not suffer. But suffering is not gendered. Yes, we as men need to get better at speaking up about it. But perhaps society needs to get better at really listening when we do.”
BEHIND THE SCENES Amy Grier
“I nearly stopped writing this piece halfway through. I got fed up of having to defend myself for interviewing Jordan Peterson and ‘giving him yet more publicity’. But isn’t the point of good journalism to try to understand divergent points of view? Especially when they affect you, your readers and the people your readers care most about? Dr Peterson’s fame comes from saying precisely the kind of disruptive stuff that sparks a debate. The most dangerous thing we could do would be to dismiss it.” opportunity to manifest itself in crooked form.” You only have to look at things like the rise of the incel community to know this to be true. After speaking to Dr Peterson, I pick up the phone to Will again. I want to know one thing: what does he wish women understood about masculinity in 2019? There’s a pause. He’s not working out what to say – he’s merely trying to guess whether or not I’ll be offended by it. “The assumption is that men do not suffer. But suffering is not gendered. Yes, we as men need to get better at speaking up about it. But perhaps society needs to get better at really listening when we do.”
