The death of picking up women and why this isn't necessarily a good thing

Anonymous

It was September 2005, Neil Strauss' revolutionary book which delved into the mysterious world of attracting women, 'The Game', had just been released. Suddenly a movement of men erupted, solely focused on improving their chances with the opposite sex and Strauss became an overnight success.

The death of picking up women and why this isn't necessarily a good thing

Within the next 5 years, the world of 'pickup' was consistently moving from strength to strength, almost every major city in the US, Europe and Australia had a 'lair', an inner network of men who would discuss attracting women and organize events. These men could often been seen operating at clubs and bars together on Friday and Saturday nights, building their social circles and status.

The death of picking up women and why this isn't necessarily a good thing

Many coaches and companies emerged to ride the success of this new wave, some of which bringing in millions of dollars a year. Notable ones included PUA Training and Real Social Dynamics. An honorable mention is Simple Pickup, who achieved great success on YouTube by bringing a 'lite' version of pickup to the masses with their funny videos.


Nevertheless, as the culture grew, concern from the outside mainstream society also grew. It seemed like men being the logic crazed things that they are, were viewing women as some kind of code that once armed with the secrets of 'game', could be cracked, resulting in unlimited sex. Of course, you don't need me to tell you that this type of thinking is complete bullshit at best, whilst also dehumanizing to women at worst. But unfortunately the pickup movement did unfortunately attract many men who had this way of thinking.

Things hit a low point in November 2014 when videos emerged of RSD instructor, Julien Blanc, appearing to treat women like sex objects. The entire pickup industry was brought into shame and was hanging by a thread. Blanc was forced to apologize, but it didn't stop him being banned from entering many countries.

I myself had just turned 18 at the time and having recently gone through a breakup and lacking in happiness, I looked to pickup as a way of increasing my social confidence. I'd never dared to approach girls during school and always relied on girls making all the effort and approaching me. Pickup seemed to give me a way to take charge of my dating life. But like many, I was turned off pickup after the Julian Blanc affair, to the point that I cancelled my ticket to a RSD seminar I was due to attend (lucky I did this, because it ended up being complete chaos and those who did attend were shamed and attacked by feminist groups)


Since this time, the rise of feminism in recent years has made it harder and harder for pickup to be seen as a viable way of succeeding with women. Because of the actions of a few, the entire culture has been shamed to the point that simply approaching a woman is deemed to be perpetuating a culture of rape. Pickup artists have gone from being considered suave operators who had the eyes of women to a collection of fuckboys and festering creeps.

The final nail in the coffin came in 2015, when Neil Strauss, the man who started it all, released his book called 'The Truth'. In this book he talked about how the game had ruined his relationships and made him a 'sex addict'. He has since left the world of pickup behind.

The lairs have since dried up and we find ourselves in what I consider to be a dark time. The divide between men and women couldn't be any greater. On one had we have radical feminism and the other hand we have Men Going Their Own Way (MGTOW), many MGTOW guys are actually ex pickup guys who became disillusioned with game and ended up resenting women, which I find to be a very sad thing.

The death of picking up women and why this isn't necessarily a good thing

I'm not here to say that pickup was perfect, far from it. However at its essence it developed a core drive for men to increase their confidence and charisma, becoming a more desirable prospect for women and thus bringing men and women closer to each other. It wasn't all about having sex with as many women as possible, certainly it might have been for some, but many guys used pickup to give them the confidence to talk to that girl they'd been crushing on for years...Resulting in many happy relationships and even marriages. It resulted in far more productivity and bettering of oneself than the often toxic MGTOW community who talk about how happy they are whilst simultaneously bitching about women at every opportunity.

Thank you for reading ~

The death of picking up women and why this isn't necessarily a good thing
37 Opinion