Jordan Peterson is on Question Time – but who really is the Canadian controversialist? The psychology professor whose provocative views on gender politics have angered many will appear on Question Time as a guest panellist

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock all day, you might have seen people across Facebook, Twitter, and even in person wondering why Jordan Peterson has been asked onto Question Time as a guest panellist.

The man has been described as “a darling of the alt-right” and “a dumb intellectual”. But he rejects those tags, and has been extremely critical of alt-right beliefs, particularly its identity politics, which he called “genocidal in its ultimate expression”.

In turn he has been criticised by leaders of the alt-right.

The i newsletter latest news and analysis Email address is invalid Email address is invalid Thank you for subscribing! Sorry, there was a problem with your subscription.

He will be debating UK politics on one of the most popular political shows in the nation.

But who is Jordan Peterson, why is he so controversial, and what does he believe in?

Who is Jordan Peterson?

Jordan Peterson is not from the UK or affiliated with UK politics.

In fact, he’s a 56-year-old professor of psychology at the University of Toronto.

In 2016, however, Peterson became known for far more than his lectures.

He first entered the spotlight after a Canadian human rights law was amended to ensure that transgender people were given more protection and that they had a right to be addressed using their preferred pronouns.

Peterson criticised the move and said he would not be forced to use the preferred pronouns of transgender students, saying that he was not going to become “a mouthpiece for a language that I detest”.

In fact he does use many transgender and non-binary people’s preferred pronouns, though he reserves the right not to, saying of such pronouns as ze and zir: “There would be no foregone conclusion that I would address you by the pronouns of your choice. The first thing I would ask is ‘is that just a narcissistic powerplay.”

The self-help guru has also published several books, including 12 Rules for Life.

He also has a YouTube channel with 1.5 million subscribers, and says 80 per cent of his subscribers are men, though he’s not sure why.

How is he relevant in the UK?

People in the UK might know him from his interview with Channel 4 journalist Cathy Newman.

After the heated interview, in which Peterson alleged that the gender pay gap doesn’t exist, Newman received a slew of death threats from Peterson’s followers.

Jordan Peterson during the controversial interview (Photo: Channel 4)

“There were literally thousands of abusive tweets – it was a semi-organised campaign,” the TV presenter told The Guardian.

“It ranged from the usual ‘c**t, bitch, dumb blonde’ to ‘I’m going to find out where you live and execute you’.”

On the back of his YouTube channel and Patreon, Peterson is said to have a net worth of $1.5 million.

What does he believe?

On gender identity:

Jordan Peterson believes that gender is based in biology. The ability of individuals to subjectively self-identify as transgender or non-binary is “like explaining the world is flat,” he said in a YouTube video explaining his views.

“I don’t know what the options are if you’re not a man or a woman,” Peterson said in his first video. “It’s not obvious to me how you can be both because those are by definition binary categories.”

On the gender pay gap:

Peterson believes that the gender pay gap comes from deep biological differences that no amount of social engineering will remove.

Speaking to Cathy Newman, he said that the gender pay gap doesn’t exist because “the market is dominated by women. They make 80 per cent of the consumer decisions…. for fifty years we’ve celebrated rights and privileges, and they’re shallow.”

On ‘cultural Marxism’:

The YouTuber also said that “cultural Marxism is destroying America,” a line more commonly associated with anti-semitic thinking.

Peterson denies affiliations with alt-right thinking, though he has spoken at events organised by the likes of The Dutch Lion, a Dutch group who take a hardline stance on immigration. During his time addressing the group, he referred to developing countries as “pits of catastrophe.”

On gender roles and feminism:

Peterson wrote that while order is masculine, chaos is feminine, in his book Maps of Meaning. He says that the current state of society is chaotic because of “radical feminism.”

He has also said that “radical feminists” don’t speak out against human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia because they desire to be dominated.

Plus, he regards the fight for diversity and against all-male panels as political correctness.

On Islamophobia and racism:

Peterson has said that Islamophobia is “a word created by fascists and used by cowards to manipulate morons” and that white privilege is “a Marxist lie”.

He criticised Toronto university’s Black Liberation Collective and said that “they’re perfectly willing to push violence as a solution to social problems.”

“Their leader believes that white people are inferior because they don’t have enough melanin in their skin,” he said.

On climate change:

Peterson has denied climate change, saying that climate change research cannot be proven right and “doesn’t think anyone’s an expert on climate change.”

“I’m also very sceptical of the models that are used to predict climate change,” he says in one of his YouTube lectures.

On his meat diet:

The former probably makes more sense considering Peterson eats an all-beef diet. He believes that the diet had combated his severe depression and anxiety, and has helped his auto-immune disorder and psoriasis.

On male violence:

In the wake of a van attack that killed 10 people in Toronto in 2018, it emerged that the suspect, Alek Minassian, had praised the incel movement on social media before the attack.

The incel community is a misogynist subculture which dehumanises women, seeing them as the enemy and believing they withhold sex.

Peterson denies that the incel movement derives a lot of its thought from his teachings, but he does advocate ‘enforced monogamy’, believing that a society that discourages multiple partners is one in which men are less violent.

Jordan Peterson will appear on Question Time at 10.45pm on Thursday alongside Diane Abbott, Kwasi Kwarteng and David Aaronovitch.

This article was altered on 3 December to clarify Jordan Peterson’s relationship with the alt-right, his use of preferred pronouns, his attitude to self-identifying transgender people and the anthropological meaning of “enforced monogamy”