![]() The sine qua non of this narrative, or ideology, is “social hierarchy.” Much of it is framed by the idea of becoming the “alpha” within a group, or at least of understanding the hierarchy of a social situation enough to make sure that a man is valued enough to be a potential mate, literally by " demonstrating value." A PUA proceeds through his routine with the aim of ascending the hierarchy, which in turn inevitably gives a go-ahead for using further seduction routines.Īs “encyclopaedia for pick-up artists” describes it: ![]() (And I hope I’m not the only one appalled by the implicit threat in the penultimate step: “last-minute resistance.”) This is what is known in the business as “structured game,” though even proponents of the more improvisational “natural game” accept the need for some adherence to an overarching methodical narrative, some combination of attract/comfort/seduce. It uses something called the “M3 Model” of seduction:Įach step, broken down into further constituent steps, is designed to ease a woman into the idea of sleeping with a man she’s just met. If you want to buy into this ideology, you can, for example, pay Erik von Markovik of Venusian Arts (better known as “Mystery,” perhaps the founding father of the modern industry) for literature, classes, and boot camps that explore his patented Mystery Method. (Arthur Chu’s “ Your Princess Is In Another Castle” is also good at expanding on the nerd-romance trope of women as characters to be “won” by a determined hero, rather than being autonomous beings both capable of choice and deserving of respect.) Not for nothing has Neil Strauss, author of The Game, called it “the revenge of the nerds.” ![]() It takes the phrase “press her buttons” too literally, and assumes there’s a de facto biological Konami code that any man can use on any woman. Pick-up artists sell an ideology about women, and an odd one at that-cod evolutionary psychology and pop anthropology mashed together into a kind of brute forced seduction, or a quantified romance that approaches women like mechanical devices that can be debugged and reprogrammed. Yet it's not a coincidence that PUAHate was the first and only place where Rodger felt as if he was among people capable of understanding him. Pick-up artists, after all, are all about structuring as many opportunities to meet and seduce women as possible, in every kind of possible social situation. This attitude might seem alien to pick-up artists-by now, a recognisable pop culture stereotype, the subject of reality TV shows and bestselling books-and to those inside the community it might seem unfair to link them to a mass shooter. He was, as he described himself in his final video, "the superior one, the true alpha male," and every woman in the world was thus in violation of his natural rights for ignoring him. His expectation was such that he felt his designer clothes, his BMW, even his bone structure marked him out as "a descendent of British aristocracy," a person who women should be uncontrollably attracted to for his obvious social value. Apart from the female counselor his parents pay to spend an afternoon with him, he never has a full conversation with a woman he goes to a party, and stands in the corner, waiting for someone to talk to him first. Again and again he sets out to find a girlfriend by going to a local mall or park, sitting on a bench, and waiting. They blamed women with a bile that gave Elliot Rodger a sense of belonging.Ī "perfect gentleman," Rodger was driven by an immense sense of entitlement, and yet the surprising thing about his women-hating autobiographical manifesto is how little time he ever spends with any of them. Yet is now a dead link because many of its members reacted the other way-they blamed the women for not doing as they should, instead of the broken models of human interaction that they paid money for. ![]() It was nominally a place for those who felt conned by the pick-up artist promise, and many of its members were rightfully suspicious of what they had come to see as snake oil. Elliot Rodger, the Isla Vista shooter, was a member of the PUAHate forum.
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