Pickup artist
Pickup artist describes a man who considers himself to be skilled, or who tries to be skilled at meeting, attracting, and seducing women.
The use of pickup in this context, slang for making a casual acquaintance with a stranger in anticipation of sexual relations, dates from at least the World War, as attested by antiprostitution posters,[1][2] and is again attested in the 1970 book How to Pick Up Girls by Eric Weber.[3] The phrase was also popularized by Pick-Up Times, a short-lived 1970s magazine and the 1987 semi-autobiographical film, The Pick-up Artist, written and directed by James Toback.[4]
The term pickup artist is also associated with the seduction community, a heterosexual male subculture which strives to improve sexual and romantic abilities with women.[citation needed] Pickup artists develop pickup lines similar to, yet more complex than the stereotypical pick-up line.[citation needed] Routines and gambits are developed to stimulate attraction switches often combined with techniques derived from neuro-linguistic programming.[5] Spontaneous PUAs or Spontaneous Gamers use both self-help and an understanding of social psychology to achieve this.[citation needed] They aim to improve their seductive capabilities through the development of different lifestyles. 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.[citation needed] What makes this industry different is that people learn skill sets to meet the women they want, instead of being set up by matchmakers.[citation needed]
There is sufficient interest in pickup that some dating coaches like Nick Savoy, Mystery, JT Tran, Vincent Biagiotti, Adam Lyons, Richard La Ruina, Chris Luna[6] and Owen Cook have become pickup instructors full-time.[citation needed]
New books are being made every year because "game" keeps evolving.
The term pickup artist entered the popular lexicon in 2005[citation needed] upon the arrival of Neil Strauss's best selling book, The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists, also in 2007, from the reality television series, The Pick-up Artist, shown on VH1, starring Mystery.
Pickup artists and their industry receive mixed to bad responses from the press and general public, with many regarding both the practice and theory immoral, sexist and self-centered[7]. This has led to the creation of companies that disassociate from the industry.[8] Pickup has also been heavily parodied, in March 2011 The Scott Mills show on BBC Radio 1 debated Neil Strauss' The Game in many shows.[9]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "Them days is gone forever", Media library (poster), University of Minnesota, http://umedia.lib.umn.edu/node/47260.
- ^ "If you want to drop bombs to the set of the rising Sun…", Media library (poster), University of Minnesota, http://umedia.lib.umn.edu/node/64807.
- ^ Weber, Eric (1970), How to Pick Up Girls (1st ed.), Tenafly, NJ, USA: Symphony Press.
- ^ Strauss (2005), pp. 124, 144.
- ^ Tom Chivers (14 January 2010). "Pick-up artists, online seduction and dating tips". UK: The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/relationships/6987982/Pick-up-artists-online-seduction-and-dating-tips.html. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
- ^ Copage, Eric V. (6 June 2010). "For new pick-up lines pay $377 and go practice". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/07/nyregion/07dating.html?_r=1&src=twr. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
- ^ "pick up artist". Pick up artist. http://www.pickup-artist.com/. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
- ^ "Real Life Attraction". Real Life Attraction. http://www.rlaschool.com. Retrieved 18 May 2011.
- ^ "Radio 1". UK: The BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00gq42l.
- Berkowitz, A. (11 August 2007). "Single Files: You, too, can be a pickup artist".[dead link] Times Herald-Record. Retrieved on 20 August 2007.
- Getches, Catherine (2 July 2002). "The original pick-up artist". Salon.com. Retrieved on 25 August 2007.
- Mapes, Diane (15 August 2007). "The Singles File: Is 'The Game' reduced to target and ambush?". Seattle Post-Intelligence. Retrieved on 20 August 2007.
- German Blog with information and interviews "http://www.singleboerse.de/was-ist-ein-pick-up-artist.html"
