Originally posted by Master of the Universe
1) Most of the methods are more about power and control than about mutual attraction.
DeepBlue posted something a while back on attraction versus obligation. A lot of these tips and tricks are geared towards men who want to talk women into having sex with them because they feel there's nothing inherently attractive about them that would draw a woman's attention in the first place.
Here's my least favorite tip:
When asking her out, don't ask her IF she wants to go out with you but say something like "Let me pick you up at five," as to suggest that you already KNEW the answer was YES.
In sales, you want to assume that your customer is going to make the purchase and use language that presupposes she has already made up her mind; thus, creating obligation.
So, let's say the customer starts having second thoughts about purchasing the widget. You use a variety of tactics (foot in the door, counteroffers, door in the face, etc.) to make her feel obligated and then you close the deal. After she purchases the widget, she'll have to convince herself she did the right thing even if at the back of her mind she regrets her decision (this is called cognitive dissonance).
So, basically you can manipulate a customer to purchase a widget out of feelings of obligation. You close the deal. She's holding the widget, you're holding the money, and everyone's happy. She takes her widget home and starts wishing she never purchased it, tough luck. Transaction finished. End of relationship...
This doesn't translate well in approaching women:
You con a girl out of her number and come across as too slick... she'll blow you off.
You hook up with a semi-drunken girl at a party and she feels embarrassed, she'll never talk to you again.
You ignore a woman when she's trying to tell you that she's not interested... she'll become frustrated and lose respect for you.
The only way you'll have a true, back and forth relationship is if SHE wants to be with you. If she's ATTRACTED to you and not OBLIGATED to be with you... ask a girl "Would you like to go out with me for coffee?" You give up a ton of control... or do you?
2) A lot of the "gurus" seem to think that their way is the only way. Anything else does not work.
A lot of gurus are scamming people out of their money, but who can blame them? We all like easy money. Hell, therapists stay in business and most of them just collect money and listen to people whine all day long.
3) They are way too complicated. There are literally hundreds of different pieces of techniques to supposedly pick up a chick, and most of those contradict each other. Getting girls should not be on the level of designing a nuclear warhead.
I love the thirteen-step method... not sure who it belongs to but one of these pick-up fellows brags of a thirteen-step success plan.
The reason this person has a following is because people with little success want to believe there is a secret, some magic formula that everyone WITH success is following to a T while they remain oblivious. To an extent, when I stress skills over attitude (I've noted a split between skills-oriented posts and self-improvement-slash-attitude oriented posts) I'm sort of buying into the philosophy that my success will triple with some sort of illuminating discovery... oh, I'm supposed to wait SIX days and not FIVE before calling!!! Stupid me!
I'm losing hope.
Just be a Man?
4) Too many rules
This is kind of funny. I asked the best athlete I know how to slam dunk a basket ball and he told me "Practice." I asked the greatest musician I have met to tell me how to perfect sight reading and she said just do lots of it. Someone asked me how to graduate high school and college with a perfect *** and then it struck me... I didn't have a multi-step answer for him; no such algorithm existed, not to my knowlege. So I said "Study."
Study? Perhaps I should have sold him a six hundred dollar course on Speed Testing or I may have offered him a weekend seminar where I watch him study for an exam and inject criticism as I see fit.
5) Many of the rules only work in theory. They don't work in the real world.
I certainly haven't tested every rule I have encountered so I have no opinion here. I will say that when I started reading GM ("method" available on ASF advocating all sorts of sexual overtones and blatant innuendoes... basically, being an obnoxious jerk and injecting the occasional "just kidding" when she goes to slap you) I thought to myself that I would never FORCE this sort of behavior on a girl unless she was extremely receptive from the start and showing signs of wanting to go there herself.
DAYS BEFORE CALLING
Yeah, this remains the greatest controversy in the dating and seduction arena. I usually call within three or four days but not on a friday or saturday. I threw this rule out entirely before and then called a girl the same day I got her number (matter of convenience). She blew me off and my friends criticized the hell out of me for... "Making myself appear desperate." But I wasn't desperate, I just had an idea that required us making plans far in advance and I wanted to call her. "But you looked desperate." I don't really care how I looked. It was convenient for me to call her when I did. "But you looked desperate."
Don't call the same day you get the number.
CHALLENGE
I used to say challenge this and challenge that.
I'm not gonna tell you that was THEN, and now I'm this enlightened sage who looks back on THEN and chuckles.
No, but I started thinking... WHERE DOES this all-important Challenge come from???
THEORY I: I have a lot going on in my life right now. If you want to see me, I'm not easy to come by.
If this is true, this is true. If this ISN'T true then what do you gain by pretending it's true? I'd rather spend quality time with a girl and have her know I've got nothing else to do than spend a friday night alone in my apartment with some chick wondering how many days it'll take for me to call her.
THEORY II: You're gonna have to chase me and not the other way around.
I don't like this. I think if I like a girl and I know her enough to understand why I like her, then I should be honest about how I feel. Why play hot and cold? So she won't dump me? Fvck, if that's the sort of girl she'll be then I won't waste my time with her in the first place. So many guys (present company included) will lose track of standards if it means dating, kissing, or getting naked with a pretty girl. They don' t want to lose the pretty girl so they play these games to "challenge" her. WHY not spend time getting to know the girl instead and then decide if she is worth your time?
MYSTERY
I'm spider man.
Here's one that sounds dumb. Mystery? I used to say mystery this and mystery that, but I'm discovering that women like men, period. Women are always gonna need men just as men need women. Why try and keep them guessing about you? So they fill in the blanks with ideas that you're the man of their dreams? I think women are attracted to you by virtue of the fact that you are an attractive man... If you are an attractive man, you WANT her to know that. If you seem like you're hiding something, she probably won't want to be with you even if you pass the initial test of attraction.
YOU ARE NOT THE PRIZE
Why can't people meet half-way? The guy's the prize, the girl's the prize, bla bla bla... If you are an UG and you only approach women that could model, you will always feel that you are trying for the unattainable. What do you get from that? The feeling that your life is incomplete without the approval of some model prize chick? Or how about if you're intelligent and you only approach women who are less intelligent and easily manipulated. What do you get out of that? Power? Control over other human beings?
SUPPLICATION
There are some guys who are whipped. They are pathetic. Don't be that guy unless you only feel comfortable in relationships where someone else is controling you.
That being said...
I think saying an occasional "I'm sorry" when you mean it, or an "I'm glad you're here," or "You smell nice" when you are being sincere... well, it makes you HUMAN. It acknowledges that you are human and that you appreciate and respect other human beings... even ones with vaginas.
Guys who say they never apologize... I know a couple. Guys who always have to have things THEIR way or NO way. Insecure freaks. So what if women think they're "Tough." They'll never be happy and neither will the woman they're with.
COMPLIMENTS
Only when sincere.
I was kissing and getting into heavy petting with a REALLY HOT girl who thought she was REALLY UGLY (***I do not recommend low self esteem chicks and I have stopped going for them***). I kept telling her how "beautiful" she was and how hard she made me in a futile attempt to get her to have sex with me. I thought if I could play on her insecurity and stroke her ego I'd get laid (I'm really not as antisocial as this makes me out to be - my conscience was beating me up over this...). Well, instead of getting laid, she got really defensive and kicked me out of her dormroom... d'oh. I'm sort of glad that's what happened in retrospect... I'm less evil, I guess.
A week later, I was talking to this girl I had all-but given up on and out of the blue gave her some sweet, sincere compliment... BWAM! She kissed ME.