Pickup artists (PUAs) are a group of predominantly heterosexual men whose goal is to seduce women using psychological manipulation referred to as "game". PUAs often refer to themselves as the seduction community or the pickup community. The rise of "seduction science", "game", or "studied charisma" has been attributed to modern forms of dating and social norms between sexes which have developed from a perceived increase in equality of women in Western society and changes to traditional gender roles. Commentators in the media have described "game" as harassing, as well as sexist or misogynistic.
History Modern pickup artist practices have been traced to the 1967 publication of The Art of Erotic Seduction by rational emotive psychotherapist Albert Ellis and Roger Conway and the 1970 publication of How to Pick Up Girls! by Eric Weber. These how-to guides encourage men to meet women through the "pickup". Ross Jeffries taught workshops, promoted a collection of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) techniques called "speed seduction" from 1988, and in 1991 published How to Get the Women You Desire into Bed. Other exponents established themselves in roughly the same era but lacked contact with each other. In 1994, Lewis DePayne, then a student of Jeffries, founded the newsgroup alt.seduction.fast (ASF). This spawned a network of other Internet discussion forums, email lists, blogs, and sites where seduction information and techniques could be shared. Other pickup teachers emerged with competing methods, and became known within this community as "seduction gurus" or "gurus". Their study groups gradually developed into meeting groups for the seduction community, historically known as "seduction lairs". A lair typically involved an online forum and in-person group meetings. In the late 1990s, Clifford Lee began his Cliff's List Seduction Letter as a central independent voice of the community. The community was brought to greater mainstream awareness with the 1999 film Magnolia, in which Tom Cruise portrayed a charismatic yet emotionally troubled pickup guru who was loosely modeled on Jeffries. In 2005, journalist Neil Strauss published The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists, an exposé of the community which reached the New York Times Bestseller List and made pickup techniques known to a wider audience. The community was further publicized with the television show The Pick Up Artist (2007–2008) on VH1. In recent years, various popular pickup artist forums and groups (formerly "lairs") have gone offline. The pickup artist community now operates mostly on Telegram through pickup artist communities such as Game Global, where members find wingmen to "game" within more than 300 cities around the world.
Concepts Many pickup artists (commonly abbreviated PUA) work on their "game" by improving their understanding of psychology, their confidence, and self-esteem – collectively termed "inner game" – and their social skills and physical appearance (physical fitness, fashion sense, grooming) – collectively termed the "outer game". Many members of the community believe that one's "game" is refined through regular practice, with the idea that the abilities needed to interact in this way with women can be improved. The pickup community has a special terminology for describing "game" and male–female dynamics and social interaction. Learned through study groups and products, this creates an insular community. Pickup terms are borrowed from everyday English vocabulary or from male-dominated fields like business, sports and the military. Pickup artists see four types of "outer game" where they can meet women.
Day game Night game Message game Social circle game "Night game" refers to meeting women at night, often in locations such as bars and clubs, whereas "day game" refers to meeting women during the day, often in the street, parks or shopping malls. "Message game" refers to meeting women through messaging, online dating and social media, and "social circle game" refers to meeting women through social circles, such as events, parties, universities or even the workplace. The Southern Poverty Law Center characterizes pickup artists as a male supremacist community.
Industry The former pickup artist Roosh V, who has since recanted aspects of his past and converted to Orthodox Christianity, had self-published 14 books describing techniques for seducing women. According to Salon, such books are the "cash cow" of the pickup industry. The culture surrounding pickup has spawned an entire industry servicing those who want to improve their social and seduction skills with consultations and in-field training. The media attention and rapid increase in pickup gurus have led to commercialization and competition. Gurus sell workshops, books, e-books, DVDs, CDs, online video courses, and video-call mentoring over the Internet.
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