Page 119 - Men’s Health - USA (December 2019)

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AS OF 2005, Manson was, in his words,
“a poor, sexless neophyte.” That was the
year he discovered The Game, a pickup-
artist manifesto from writer Neil
Strauss, the personifi cation of a swipe
left on Tinder. Manson became a disciple
of the pickup-artist community, then
quickly rose to a sort of nerd regency.
Throughout his childhood in Austin and
college in Boston, Manson played a lot
of video games. When he had to choose a
pseudonym for online pickup-artist
forums—his nom de douche—he res-
urrected his gamer name, Entropy. He
spent the next seven years traveling,
delivering dating advice on his now-
defunct blog, and working as a wingman
for hire for the kind of guys who would
seek out a wingman for hire. He charged
clients about $800 a day.
Manson volunteers that he began his
career in “dating and relationship advice”
but not that he actually was a pickup art-
ist. When I ask direct questions about
that period, though, he answers them
candidly and casually. I searched for
cached pages from Manson’s old website,
PostMasculine.com, and I was surprised
at the Neil Strauss–ness of some of his
early posts. On his blog, he wrote at length
about subjects such as “Ethics: Bride at
Her Bachelorette Party” (“In hindsight,
pursuing her was wrong”) and “How to thinks about it anymore. But every once in lived in that house [Project Hollywood,
Pick Up Girls in College,” a post Manson a while, I’ll have a conversation with one Strauss’s pickup-artist mothership]
published in 2008. “As soon as you can of those friends and be like, ‘I can’t believe has come away with a bad taste in their
tell a girl is attracted to you, make a move we did that.’ You know? And they’re like, mouth, and many of them openly don’t
on her. Girls at college parties are drunk, ‘Yeah, but we grew a lot and we matured like the guy. You be the judge.” He went
inexperienced, stressed out, and many of a lot.’ And it’s like, ‘Yeah, but we did a lot on: “Pick Up Artist advice up until about
them are looking to hook up. There’s no of kind of shady shit, too.’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, 2007 or so was—and I’m being brutally
place for subtlety here,” Manson wrote. kind of.’ There’s defi nitely confl icted feel- honest here—horrible. Completely inef-
“You can kiss them within minutes of ings about it. I think, overall, for most of fective at best and outright manipulative
meeting them. If you move things fast the men, it was probably a net positive.” and misleading at worst.”
physically, and get them horny, you can get Another deleted post heralds his exit He decried The Game as a marvel of
them in the bedroom within 30 minutes.” from that milieu. “After spending fi ve marketing, a dating get-rich-quick scam.
When I mention years in the Pick Up Artist community, “He launched THE single biggest product
Mark Manson in this post to Manson, I’ve taken my leave,” Manson wrote on launch in Internet marketing history at
London on the he sounds so uncom- September 21, 2010. He then began repu- the time, bringing in over $11 million,”
British leg of his
international book fortable that I apol- diating pickup artistry more frequently Manson wrote. “He then launched his
tour for Everything ogize. “I defi nitely and off ered advice for transitioning business StyleLife which has over 40,000
Is F*cked this year. wrote something to “civilian life.” He also appeared on members each paying $40 per month.
He’s sold more like that, and it’s various blogs, did AMAs on Reddit, and You sure it wasn’t a sales job?”
than 8 million books
worldwide and is defi nitely making devoted a blog post to dismantling The (On his own website, Manson touts his
also in high demand me cringe a little bit Game. “Now, I’m not here to start a smear $48 annual subscription in a Wikipedia-
as a public speaker. right now,” he says. campaign,” Manson wrote of Strauss in like appeal: “I’m an independent writer.
“I have a number of 2010, after an introduction in which he What that means is that I’m not under
guy friends that I expressed his gratitude to the writer for contract at a magazine or newspaper, I’m
met in that commu- exposing him to the idea that it’s possible not beholden to some overbearing editor/
nity. And they’ve for any man to improve in matters of publisher, and I’m certainly not whoring
moved on—nobody seduction. “But everyone I’ve met who myself out to some big media conglomer-

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