Jovanni Logan-Saunders

Dr. Pirrone
ENGL 202A
02/14/2016
Pickup Artistry Proposal (FINAL TOPIC CHANGE)
Whats attractive to women? That is a question that has confused
many young men like myself for a long time. A lot of us grow up with an idea
of what is attractive behavior versus what is not. Many of us take in what we
learn from television and our families, and we put it to use, simply because
that is all we know how to do. Many young men have found great frustration
in trying to attract the opposite sex, and this called upon a solution. It was
not until recent decades that the pickup community arose to help men
become more attractive to women.
This is a topic that interests me greatly since I have always had
problems attracting the girls I wanted in high school. It was not until my
senior of high school did I discover the pickup community (I needed to learn
how to ask out my prom date). Since then, I have been captivated by the
content which I have discovered on the internet (and few books I have read),
applying what Ive learned to real life situations to see real results.
A common misconception about the pickup community is that it is just
a group of creepy guys trying to trick girls into sleeping with them by using
dishonest, deceitful tactics. The pickup community has received a
considerate amount of backlash from radical feminist communities because
of this misconception. I believe many misconceptions like this one arise
because many people do not give pickup further exploration, or approach it
with an open mindset.

If you go on YouTube, you are bound to come across at least one video
of a guy picking up girls. The medium of todays social media has allowed
what used to be a secret, and rather small community, to somehow become
a global community. Although it seems like everybody knows about pickup,
that does not mean everybody is actually practicing it.
My three research questions are as follows:
1) To what extent are men actually applying advice which they have
actively learned from pickup artists and attraction experts?
2) What does society/mainstream media tell us is attractive versus what
do pickup artists tell us is attractive to women?
3) To what extent do women know about the seduction community, and
how do they go about pursuing men, if at all?
I will state that one bias I hold is that learning about success with
women is great for any guy who is unhappy with his dating life/sex life/social
life.
An article I found that related to courtship describes how sexism and
sociosexuality (the degree to which individuals require closeness and
commitment prior to engaging in sex) correspond to use of assertive mating
strategies by men. Assertive mating strategies are said to involve attempts
to isolate women, to compete with other men, and to playfully tease or insult
women. Two studies conducted stated that both benevolent and hostile
sexism were associated with assertive mating strategy preference and use
for both genders. They also stated that low sociosexuality (unrestricted
attitude toward sex) was associated with assertive mating strategy
preference and use among both genders.
APA Citation:

Hall, J. A., & Canterberry, M. (2011). Sexism and assertive courtship strategies. Sex
Roles, 65(11), 840-853. doi:10.1007/s11199-011-0045-y