Social dynamics in the 21st Century: A study of the pick-up artist (Part 2)

Chapter 2 : General Information and History of PUAs

PUAs short for the term pick-up artist. It is a term used to describe a man who is skilled in meeting, attracting and seducing women. People often think that the terms "players" and "pick-up artist" are the same, but in fact they are different. PUAs are men who employed a learned, structured approach in attracting women while players are men who are naturally good at attracting women and not associated with the seduction community.

The history of PUAs dates back to a book in 1970 by Eric Weber "How to pick up girls". In the 1980s, 2 pick-up artistes named Don Steele and Ross Jefferies began selling their own advice for meeting beautiful women. Coming up with techniques called "Speed Seduction". In 1994, Lewis De Payne, a student of Ross Jefferies founded a newsgroup call "alt.seduction.fast". That was the start of the growth of forums, email lists and blogs where PUAs would meet up to share their experiences and exchange their seduction techinques.

Since then, many seduction teachers tried coming out with competing methods. Their theories were gathered and combined on the newsgroup before being systematically taught by teachers. Two of the most notable of these new teachers were Mystery and David DeAngelo. Mystery is a magician who applied many of his social skills used in stage performance to the art of seduction, creating the "Mystery Method" Many of the terms like "set" and "routine" are taken from the performing arts. David DeAngelo, a former student of Ross Jefferies, is best know for his techinque called "Cocky and Funny". Making statements that combine humour and arrogance. These teachers or in their terms they are known as seduction gurus, have set up seminars, workshops to help sexually fustrated men to meet, attract and seduce beautiful women. The media attention and rapid growth of the seduction community led to the commercialisation of the PUAs. Seduction gurus sell their tactics over the internet though CDs, DVDs, books and e-books.

In 2005, Neil Strauss published a book called "The Game : Penetrating the secret society of pick-up artists" Since the book was released, the seduction community has been receiving increased media attention. The book was featured on the best sellers list September and Octobere 2005. It became the best selling book on Amazon.com soon after its release.

More recently in 2007, Mystery came up with a book called "The Mystery Method:How to get beautiful women into bed". Which led to the feminist being more critical of the seduction community. Saying that the books sexually objectifies women and is offensive to them.

For those who missed the first chapter, here is a link to the it. Stay tune for the next chapter. Comments and suggestions are greatly welcomed.

Chapter 1: Introduction