"Is PUA Really a Cult?"

Recently, a piece of news caught my attention: "The foreign trash hunting Asian girls has been caught! How did a loser from his own country become a VIP in China?" It's already 9012, yet there are still so many Asian girls being deceived by foreigners.

The gist of the story is that a British internet celebrity is crazily hunting for women across Asia, including Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and other places, filming videos and uploading them to social media for profit, claiming that Asian women are "easy to flirt with."

In no time, the term PUA (Pick-Up Artist) was brought up again, and various self-media outlets began to dig up old articles, reworking them in hopes of creating another viral piece. Then, it was revealed how so-called PUA instructors described their experiences of deceiving girls:

"Sleep with one girl at night, send her off in the morning. At noon, another girl comes over, roll in the sheets, send her off around four or five. At eight, another one comes over to spend the night. Three girls in one day."

Is this guy a duck?

**The Origin of PUA**

PUA culture originated in the United States. In 1970, Eric Weber wrote a book titled "How To Pick Up Girls!" and psychologist Albert Ellis wrote "The Art of Seduction." However, at this stage, there were only a few authors and pick-up instructors, and no community had formed. Later, in the 1990s, a guy named Ross Jeffries based on NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) theory created "Speed Seduction," which aimed to make women infatuated in the shortest time possible. He refined the original pick-up theory based on extensive applications in psychotherapy and human behavior studies, earning him the title of the founder of pick-up artistry.

In 1994, Louis DePayne founded "Alt Seduction Fast," which was a very primitive mailing list for pick-up techniques. Later, "Alt Seduction Fast" gave rise to Fast Seduction, a pick-up forum. Early instructors included Mystery, Juggler (Wayne Elise), David D, Swinggcat, and David X. However, most of their paid courses remained theoretical, essentially charging people to listen to idols boast on stage.

Next, let's talk about Mystery. Originally a magician, he explored methods to attract women through extensive magic performances. In 2001, he began offline teaching, with course fees set at $500 for the first batch of five students, one of whom was a style icon.

The style icon, originally named Neil Strauss, was a top student from Columbia University, passionate about writing. He started contributing to magazines during his student years and published his first book. After graduation, Neil became a music critic for Rolling Stone magazine, writing album reviews for bands like Nirvana, making cameo appearances in Beck and 30 Seconds To Mars music videos, and playing supporting roles in HBO comedies.

While searching for material for an article, Neil discovered the aforementioned pick-up community and became interested. He later participated in Mystery's offline events and, under his guidance, became Style. He also co-founded a project called "Project Hollywood" with Mystery and others in the community, promoting a new lifestyle, which eventually collapsed due to internal conflicts among members.

So, what does this have to do with us? Neil wrote a book about his growth in the community, detailing his entire transformation process. This book is called "The Game," which was later translated by a Taiwanese publisher named Dala Publishing into the more widely known title "The Pick-Up Artist."

In 2007, Mystery hosted two seasons of "The Pick-Up Artist" reality TV show, bringing PUA into the mainstream spotlight.

**Pick-Up Art and Bad Boy Academy**

In early China, benefiting from the development of the internet, a number of pick-up forums began to emerge in 2008, with notable forums like Pick-Up Art Network, Love Dating, Super Dating Studies, and Douban Flirting Group. By 2009, a plethora of original and translated content emerged on Pick-Up Art Network, becoming the birthplace of pick-up culture in China. In 2010, the first large offline gathering, the "2010 China Charming Men Summit Forum," was held, establishing the first cultural exchange platform for PUA in China.

Initially, pick-up art was about helping people improve their image, enhance their hard value, build self-confidence, and increase emotional intelligence, allowing them to break through barriers and bravely interact with the opposite sex. It was a serious social theory.

However, where there are people, there are conflicts.

Various shady characters caught wind of the money involved, and training programs began to emerge. At this time, it was still relatively minor, mainly teaching pick-up techniques and organizing nightclub activities. Some were selling theoretical courses, which essentially had little to do with cults.

Starting in 2012, after several years of influence, in addition to the early PUA veterans who translated foreign works, a group of locally grown PUAs emerged from Pick-Up Art Network, such as Langji, Amigo, Fancheng, Wubu, Crow Redemption, Infatuated Uncle, Melody, and Blue Answer. These individuals were not accepted by mainstream society, but as Pick-Up Art Network grew, they began to turn their lives around.

The veteran PUAs still followed the teachings of Mystery and Style, pursuing personal growth. However, Langji scoffed at this, believing in "just doing it." In his view, only practical experience and quick results were real; everything else was just keyboard warriors, repeatedly flaunting the girls they had seduced as badges of honor.

For introverted guys with little romantic experience, Langji's vivid articles provided a stronger sensory stimulation for PUA learners. Compared to the old theories about gender relations and self-worth, he naturally became a new idol.

Like all internet projects, Pick-Up Art Network had a lot of traffic but couldn't monetize it. So the platform adopted a crude model, charging PUA instructors platform fees. This made everyone unhappy, and at this time, a self-proclaimed disciple of Mystery, a returnee named Tango, quickly established a website called Bad Boy Academy, poaching instructors from Pick-Up Art Network, leading to its decline.

However, like Pick-Up Art Network, although the platform controlled the traffic, the real power and influence lay with the collaborating instructors. Doesn't this sound a bit like the live-streaming industry, where top streamers hold significant influence? As Bad Boy Academy continuously raised platform fees, many instructors fled, and the academy began training instructors to train students. In pursuit of maximum profit, they resorted to deception, leading to a decline in student satisfaction, ultimately transforming in 2017 into a female emotional brand called "Little Deer Emotion," marking the complete failure of Bad Boy Academy.

**Langji**

Returning to Langji, he began various money-making operations that refreshed people's perspectives, deceiving women in various fraudulent ways, such as buying fake luxury brands for the academy, packaging social media profiles, booking VIP tables, and ultimately providing full service (theoretically meaning you don't have to do anything; someone helps you chat until you reach the hotel, and you just show up. ??? Confused face). Then, through the promotion of inappropriate videos, various marketing tactics, and fake accounts, he attracted students, forming a unique cult of worship. As long as you can trick girls into bed, whether through threats, hidden cameras, drugging, or emotional manipulation, it's all acceptable. What else could this be but a cult?

As the leader, he lived a life of luxury, driving high-end cars from Porsche Cayman to Ferrari 458, then Lamborghini, Mercedes G-Class, and Porsche Panamera, fulfilling his dream of nightly revelry. This is his PUA, not yours.

If this person had entered the industry a few years later, he might have had the chance to become the Sun Yuchen of the cryptocurrency world. However, he would only be harvesting profits; this involves deceiving for sex and emotions.

So their goal is not to help you find your destined partner, but to extract money from your pocket so he can find one or more destined partners every day.

**In Conclusion**

If you ask me whether PUA is a cult, I can't give you an answer. It's like a knife; some see it used in cooking shows and think it's good and useful. Others use it for robbery and also think it's good and useful.

Truly charismatic men have always respected women. Respecting others is also respecting oneself. Only those who respect themselves are the most charismatic.

Alright, today the second and third guys are out to meet clients.