Magic bullets by nick savoy6/8/2023 ![]() ![]() In turn, pickup artists have come to objectify desirable masculinity as a secret, embodied knowledge, which distills a biopolitical sense of seduction as a life-enhancing value that can be cultivated. What does the transformation of a marginalized and esoteric society into a commercial industry that enrolls millions of men show us about the crafting of men’s sexual identities and the objectification of seduction as a skill set? This essay is about the pragmatics of pickup artists and their followers, from subculture to mainstream discourse, featuring cut-throat competition for followers and financial accumulation within these communities. These men are assembled and trained by a “pickup artist” (PUA), and they deploy ritual ways of socializing to overcome inhibitions, optimize the practice of seduction, and transform their personal identity-from AFC (“average frustrated chump,” in their parlance) to “PUA.” Along with digital means for meeting strangers, these communities have emerged over the past 10 years from a subculture to become a globalized commercial industry that transforms masculinity into a program for seductive embodiment. ![]() ![]() ![]() In nearly every major city of North America there exists a “seduction lair”: an association of men who train each-other in embodying seductive masculinity to pick-up women. ![]()
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