Pick Up Artist

A Pick Up Artist (or PUA) is quite simply a man dedicated to improving his skills at seducing and picking up women. The Pick Up Artist community began in the early 90s, when a man called Ross Jeffries started a newsgroup (an early internet forum) called alt.seduction.fast (ASF). Men from around the world gathered on ASF, and with the power of the Internet were able to share their tips and techniques for picking up women in venues such as bars and night clubs.

Of the early PUAs, a number emerged as true masters of seduction who would shape the entire community. One of these was a man called Mystery (real name Erik von Markovik), who was one of the first pick up artists to offer bootcamps and lectures where men from the around the world paid him money to teach them how to improve their game.

One of these students was Neil Strauss, aka Style, who went on to write a novel based on his experiences in the seduction community, which helped to make the pick up artist phenomenon more mainstream.

Today there are dozens of pickup companies around the world that teach guys how to improve with women, as well seduction lairs, where guys get together informally to work together to improve their pickup skills. The pickup artist community has also been made the subject of a TV show (VH1's The Pickup Artist) and there are various movie deals in the works.

Do you have what it takes to be a pick up artist?