Pick-Up Artist Tricks Men Should Really Stop Using

Let’s break down the playbook moves that won’t get you laid

Photo by cottonbro from Pexels

If you are a single male, there is no shortage of dating advice on “picking up” women.

Most of this nonsense began in 2005 with Neil Strauss’s bestselling book, The Game: Undercover in the Secret Society of Pick-up Artists. Strauss shined an ugly blacklight on pickup artists, or “PUAs” — an underground society of men sharing manipulation tips on how to get laid.

I stress the manipulation part. These men do not practice the art of seduction. The pickup artist focuses on conquest, not connection. They even refer to women as “targets.”

And Strauss is their dissonant mascot. With his shiny bald head, froglike eyes, and nasally voice, he certainly doesn’t look like your typical fuckboy. But somehow, he became a modern-day Rasputin (minus the hair) by learning PUA techniques.

And his story doesn’t end well.

But if we look at the PUA techniques he taught men; it is not hard to see why.

The neg

One evening, I was sitting at a bar sketching while waiting for my (then) boyfriend to arrive. A tattooed guy sat down next to me, looked over my shoulder, and said, “Hey, you are not bad. I will…