PUA
 

There's been a lot of stuff in the news lately about Pick Up Artists - a high profile PUA guru has been asked to leave Australia after a campaign against him (in particular the way some of his videos basically encourage a form of harrassment and assault - wandering around a Japanese city grabbing girls heads and bending them down to touch his cock, whilst yelling Pikachu) and there's currently a petition running to deny him a visa for a UK visit.

I got quite interested in PUA stuff after the Isla Vista murders - given the lad's interest and regular presence in the PUAHate forum. Sp I've been visiting the odd pua site - reading some of their strategies and glossaries of terms - as well as occasionally lurking in a few forums.

Fascinating. And also quite scary.

The attitude to women in these places fucking terrifies me. We are not fully human to the men who write the guides, certainly not in the same way that they are human, anyway. And in some of the forum conversations it seems clear that the men posting are looking at women and seeing things. Things that they desire, but things.

The sense of bruised entitlement is staggering. The codifying of women's internal selves as a set of easily glossed stimuli responses and the flipside of blame and anger at women who do not conform to those stimuli responses is horrible.

These guys are not harmless charlatans. Not only are they fleecing some of the most vulnerable people out there (young men struggling to find their place in the world and connect with women) but they are selling a view of women that is deeply damaging.

This view of women can also be seen in many o fthe Men's Rights sites. Now - not saying that the menz don't have some stuff that really needs addressing (assumptions against them in custody hearings, high rates of male suicide and a real discrepancy in the focus of medical science in some areas) - but a lot of it is just pure vitriol and an absolute belief that women are the real and usurping power in the world (ignoring the fact that women make up a tiny percentage of those in any positions of power, from upper management to politics, to banking and finance) - that they should return to an earlier model of femininity in which they are more passive and compliant.

Though they decry the actions of Elliot Rodgers, they also place the blame for his actions on the shoulders of today's women.

Like this, for instance, from returnofkings.com

Nice huh?

New Statesman did an interesting piece on this. Particularly looking at the pseudoscience and cod evopsyche aspects. Here's a little snippet from PUALingo.com

A concept picked up on by PUA Artist 'Mystery'

http://www.newstatesman.com/future-p...-male-thinking

I should say, inthe interests of fairness, they aren't just dismissive of women and female autonomy - they're also pretty unpleasant about gay men too. And quite a lot of the sites seem to have an undercurrent of racism too - lot of stuff about white men as the victims of a massive conspiracy of the feminist, homosexual, race warrior cabal.

I should also say, again in the interests of fairness - that I have read some equally nasty shit from the extreme wings of the feminist movement, particularly from the 70s and 80s activists - the commune initiative for instance where only women and girls could live and no boys not even babies.

One of the Cracked.com writers (I know, cracked!) wrote a piece on something along the lines of "Why Men Hate Women"
Male writer.
And no, it wasn't unreasonable or spewing, it was fair and balanced, and about how culture is still stuck in the viewpoint of woman-as-prize.
Everything from Mario to St George to Disney to soap operas says a man is a winner if he gets the girl.
And what does that make the "girl".
Prize.
A vagina nicely wrapped up in a package, thank you and can I have a cheaper one just for Tuesday nights, because there's not much on TV then.

My charity shop reading has really surprised me.
Older books.
Shut up, open up, put the food on the table. It was a golden age all right.

I don't hate men. I like them quite a bit. And as Sinatra says, I've had a few.
So I'm not bitter.
But I am sometimes unpleasantly surprised.
F**K Mars and Venus. Just don't be nasty.

Yeahp.

There is a PUA site called Dallas PUA which has a 'recommended reading' page.

Here's what they recommend men read in order to be a pick up artist:


Yep. Fucking dog training book.

And just to be clear that this isn't some accidental inclusion here's what came up on google when I searched 'Dog Training - Lew Burke'

So, I followed the second link and here's what some wannabe lothario thinks about women:

This seems to be a small number of men who are sociopathic, and I would say the best course of action would be to ignore the whole thing







because otherwise these dickheads are getting all kinds of undue attention. Which is why they advertise their deeds at all. FFS this is not a social movement and their work is not going to de-legitimize the female sex. Why pay them any heed?

And apparently you can get banned from Australia for being an asshole? This is the only part of the story that is interesting.

Yeah maybe. I keep coming across their ilk in forums (not this one :P) and comments sections of newspapers. And I've met a few in real life too.

There seems a lot of this kind of thinking (I don't mean the really over the top stuff, this is the milder stuff) amongst lads on the gamer scene. I really think a lot of them wuold be a fuck of a lot happier, and get a whole heap more exxy sexxy action if they started viewing women as other people.

I don't think it was just for being an asshole, to be fair :P

His promotional videos crossed a line into something like incitement to harrass/assault. Or at least that is the rationale. I see where they're coming from, and I think the line was crossed - but I'm not sure banning him is the best response.

Hey, I resent that. :p:

Yeah, he got kicked out actually. Visa revoked. People didn't like the fact that he wanted to teach other men how to choke women. Pretty sure those aren't the sorts of values we like to cherish here in Australia. He can go back to where he came from and stay there till his dick falls off.

eta: I suspect the fact that domestic violence has had a sharp increase here in recent years might have been the argument. We already have a silent problem. We don't need any more fools jumping on the bandwagon because some other fool says it's a good idea.

That's basically what the Victorian police commissioner said about it. There's been a rise not just in domestic violence but in fatal domestic violence in Victoria in recent years - so a man teaching techniques that involve shades of violence and coercive sex is a worrying element.

I also think the reason it turned into actually kicking him out of the country was because when he was prevented from holding his seminar in the original venue he took it onto the river and held it on a boat.

I have my doubts about whether it was the right response. Similarly, the Uk might be about to refuse him entry. Again, not sure if that'sthe right response. So - fewer men will get to see his live seminars - but the furore over him may mean far more young men seeking him out on youtube and the like.

Just like Jesus!

Would you run our gov't? Please?

Haha...highly unlikely grav. You guys like to keep it in house anyway. ;)

Genius.

Just like Jenius!