The current issue of Esquire (August 2005) has an essay on What It Feels Like . . . to Pick Up Britney Spears by Neil Strauss.

Some of you may know Strauss from his book The Game : Undercover In The Secret Society Of Pick-up Artists for which he went “undercover” into the secret society of pick-up artists, seduction gurus and followers who learn specifically how to apply psychological forces and mind technologies and principles of influence ranging from neurolinguistic programming, to covert hypnosis, to focusing and the like all with one specific goal in mind . . . to increase their success at picking up women for sex (while many may be studying these things in an effort to find out how to get a girlfriend, most are not interested in relationships, they’re interested in getting laid by and with as many beautiful women as possible with as few strings attached as can be possible . . . or, as one of the mavens of seduction, Ross Jeffries, used to call his newsletter . . . Get Laid Now). Of course, one needs to note that the word seduction in and of itself is not a negative thing, actually it can be a very good thing . . . the true seduction artist, rather than the just get laid by any means chump, is a master at influence and is able to create an atmosphere or context where the person one is creating a wonderful experience with does the moves and actions, the overt consent into a mutual sexual adventure. The true seduction artist cares about creating a very positive experience together . . . albeit, perhaps, temporarily. Some seduction gurus teach this philosphy and others are just pushing the whole be an asshole to get laid line which is as neanderthal as they come.

Of course, when Strauss says he was undercover, what he really means is that he joined the community, took a lot of classes on influence for the context of sexual scoring, and went out and did thousands of walk-ups, chats, and approaches just like everyone else. He may have had some journalistic ideas floating in his head but he definitely was not a passive observer as the blurb for the article notes that after more than a year of sarging (picking up girls – the term was coined in honor of a cat owned by Jeffries), he was named the best pickup artist in the community within which he was associated. Evidently, an aficionado of the Mystery Method more than others, Strauss does talk about doing thousands of pickups of girls in clubs and elsewhere and how he did go in as an AFC (Average Frustrated Chump) to become a Pickup Artist (PUA).

The Esquire essay is an adapted excerpt from The Game and discusses an interview he was doing with Britney Spears in which she was basically acting like a bored, uncooperative, bitch. He knew that she was just filling in the time with an interview she had no interest in and that he was not going to get any good material . . . especially as the air head factor seemed to be on deathmatch mode. So, he fell back on the pickup skills he had learned and used them to engage her imagination an interest . . . the description is well done and many of the methods he mentions do indeed work . . . they’re classic influence strategies applied to a specific context.

Interestingly, while Strauss tries to paint Spears as perhaps a deeper person than she puts on . . . she really does come off as an airhead with low self-esteem, no interest in other people, and who is spoiled and very unprofessional (recent comments regarding the Rolling Stone article in which the editor described her storming out of an interview after fifteen minutes during a hissy fit as the act of a mature person who knows her own mind is stretching it to be sure . . . Strauss also witnessed her storming out of an MTV interview in very similar circumstances . . . he doesn’t say she’s a spoiled selfish airhead bitch but the impression is very powerfully made). Then again, perhaps she is indeed misunderstood and far deeper than she is presented as.

The piece is well worth the read. I found fault with a few of the statements but for the most part it’s well done stuff.

BTW, Ross Jeffries . . . while very important . . . is not the “father of the pickup community” as Strauss describes him . . . the community has been around a long time and there have been a number of folks who pedaled their wares before Jeffries got the rather brilliant idea of applying neurolinguistic programming principles to the very specific context of meeting and bedding women in a way that made them feel good about the experience. Those of us who remember Eric Weber know that there have been people telling us How to Pick Up Girls long before Jeffries . . . but we also know that he codified things and created a very successful mini-industry with himself at the center and more imitators than you can shake a stick at . . . so . . . love him or envy him, his importance to the community is extremely significant.

Strauss has written, ghost-written, or co-written a number of books, including How to Make Love Like a Porn Star : A Cautionary Tale with megaporn star Jenna Jameson and is a former music critic for the New York Times.

For more . . . see . . . Keeping Score and So What Do You Do, Neil Strauss?. Some books you can take a gander at are How to Pick Up Girls!, How to Get the Women You Desire into Bed by Ross Jeffries, The Art of Seduction by Robert Greene, The Pimp Game: Instructional Guide by Mickey Royale, The Layguide: How to Seduce Women More Beautiful Than You Ever Dreamed Possible No Matter What You Look Like or How Much You Make by Tony Clink, and The Complete A**hole’s Guide to Handling Chicks by Karl Mark and Dan Indante.

By the way, if you have written a book or have another resource (audio, video, or otherwise) related to this topic, feel free to contact me via email to arrange a review or essay here at Life of Brian.