Sports Illustrated unveiled its famed annual swimsuit issue this week that features plus-sized cover model Yumi Nu, but best-selling author and psychologist Dr. Jordan Peterson was not a fan of the selection and shared that personal opinion on Twitter.
He immediately faced intense backlash and sharp criticism for doing so, however, and ultimately announced that he would be stepping away from the “toxic” social media platform, at least for the time being, TheBlaze reported.
Peterson doesn’t find new SI swimsuit cover model attractive
It all started Monday when Peterson quote tweeted an article from the New York Post about the newest SI swimsuit cover model and shared his own commentary with regard to his opinion of Nu’s relative attractiveness compared to traditional ideals and norms and what her selection as the cover model implied for society more broadly.
Sorry. Not beautiful. And no amount of authoritarian tolerance is going to change that. https://t.co/rOASeeQvee
— Dr Jordan B Peterson (@jordanbpeterson) May 16, 2022
In the article from the Post that Peterson shared featuring Nu, the model described in an interview how she had been informed of her selection as this year’s cover model and what it meant to her as an Asian-American and plus-sized woman.
“It’s amazing. I’m on cloud nine. This is nothing I could prepare for. It’s unexpected,” Nu said. “I feel like we’re in a place right now where people are making space for more diversity on magazine covers. It’s a big time for Asian-American people in media. I know I play a big role in representation in body diversity and race diversity, and I love to be a role model and representative of the plus-size Asian community.”
Explanations not accepted by critics
Peterson was almost unanimously attacked and disagreed with in the replies to his post, which soon prompted an attempted explanation — with links to studies — of what he had initially implied about attractiveness with regard to the cover model.
“It’s a conscious progressive attempt to manipulate & retool the notion of beauty, reliant on the idiot philosophy that such preferences are learned & properly changed by those who know better (see [links]) but don’t let the facts stop you,” he tweeted.
The personal attacks only intensified, though, so Peterson posted, “Rage away, panderers. And tell me you believe that such images are not conscious and cynical manipulation by the oh-so virtuous politically correct.”
Enough is enough
Eventually, the harsh criticism of his own opinion on the matter proved too much, and after recounting the positive experience he had during a recent hiatus from Twitter, Peterson wrote, “The endless flood of vicious insult is really not something that can be experienced anywhere else. I like to follow the people I know but I think the incentive structure of the platform makes it intrinsically and dangerously insane.”
In a follow-up post, he said, “So I told my staff to change my password, to keep me from temptation, and am departing once again. If I have something to say I’ll write an article or make a video. If the issue is not important enough to justify that then perhaps it would be best to just let it go.”
Finally, in response to a user asking why he had used Twitter at all if he didn’t like it, Peterson tweeted in conclusion, “I’ve been torn between the responsibility I feel to stay informed and provide value to my subscribers and my observation that Twitter is unacceptably toxic.”
