The Pickup Game
The billion-dollar pickup industry is surprising, clandestine, and scummy. Expensive courses and training programs claim women are biologically attracted to alpha males. Men will be 21st-century Casanovas if they can overcome shyness and become socially powerful. A brochure says so. Ross Jeffries' 1992 self-published book How to Get the Women You Desire into Bed inspired macho guys to promote online. This compelling exposé dismantles the "date and mate" practices of modern snake-oil merchants. From chat rooms to conference halls, self-help workshops prey on the needy.