The history of the seduction community.
There have been many infamous seducers throughout history ranging from Casanova to even Elvis Presley. But no group or society of people existed for any length of time who shared information between each other that really worked.
The first book on the general topic of flirting with and seducing women was written by Eric Weber in 1970 and called “How to Pickup Girls”. A pretty basic book by today’s standards and knowledge of social dynamics but it still set the path for the beginnings of the seduction society.
In the early 1980’s two Californian seduction and dating gurus emerged and started teaching their own brand of advice on how to meet women.
One of these was a guy by the name of “R. Don Steele”. His theories on the art of flirting are mainly influenced by Russian born American writer and philosopher Ayn Rand and her theories of “objectivism”. In the method he called the “Steel Balls” approach, Steele focuses more on teaching men over 35 to meet and seduce young women. Or at least women who are younger than the students themselves.
The second name to emerge was that of “Ross Jeffries”. His theories on attracting women are mainly influenced by hypnosis experts and writers Grinder and Bandler and their theories on Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). Ross’s seduction style and collection of ideas are called “Speed Seduction” or (SS) for short.
In an attempt to market Speed Seduction, in 1994 Ross Jeffries had Lewis De Payne, then a student, create the Internet newsgroup called alt.seduction.fast (ASF).
The ASF newsgroup really was the true birth of the seduction society. It enabled a small number of men and the odd woman from all around the world to exchange ideas, flirting tips and reports on what worked for them. The main reason that community members use handles and nicknames to this day is because these nicknames were the online names they used on the original ASF newsgroup.
What made the community different from more main stream advice at the time was both the non-politically correct approach that seemed to sit well with guys and unlike most mainstream advice, some of the methods really did work!
Because the community used newsgroups to communicate most people had no idea how to access them or what they even were. So from the beginning the society was only available to those computer savvy enough to access it. For a few years the ASF newsgroup and Ross’s Speed Seduction was the main focus of the community and Ross was the acknowledged guru with little challenge from anyone else. Ross then wrote his book “How to Get the Women You Desire into Bed”.
Around this time male escort NathanX (aka Nathan Xavier) and now sex coach joined the community in search of advice on how to improve establishing quicker rapport with female clients to help them relax and enjoy sex more. He then started contributing to the small community.
Eventually the un-moderated ASF newsgroup became overwhelmed with too many posts, spam and flames. Ray Gordon, another self proclaimed seduction guru, was a large contributor to the flames and spam on the group.
In order to moderate the posts, the “Learn the Skills Corporation” created a moderated alternative to ASF known as “Moderated ASF” (mASF) and Ray Gordon was banned forever. The PUA formhandle took over the running of this group.
Ross Jeffries had had a long run as the leading guru of the community, but from around 2000 onwards other men in the community were coming forward as alternative teachers or gurus. Ross gradually lost his position and status as the main guru as different methods and competing theories emerged.
Some of the best theories, seduction tips and methods were collected together into what was called the “Lay Guide”. Which was really just a collection of posts from the various top pickup artists of the time such as Mystery, Ross, Manic high, Grand Master Flash, Nathan and so on. The “Lay Guide” in more recent times even became a published book and is available on Amazon. It was good for what it was for the time but is a little dated in its explanation of social dynamics now.
Next an ex-student of Ross Jeffries’, David DeAngelo, started teaching his own theories and methods. Allegedly Ross tried to steal David DeAngelo’s girlfriend of the time and they subsequently fell out over it. What really actually happened only they know. Suffice to say David broke away from Ross and created his own school called “Double Your Dating”.
David DeAngelo’s approach (Cocky and Funny) was a lot more politically correct than Ross’ and was able to enter into more mainstream media and became more accepted by it. Ross never really tried to angle his approach so he could reach a wider more mainstream media in the way David has over the years.
Ross has drifted further and further away from the community and hasn’t been present at any the large scale conventions, such as the Cliff’s List ones, for the last few years. This may in some part be due to the fact that he sees all other methods other than his own as copies of his original theories and as such, inferior to his own. So much so he was nicknamed “mine99” for claiming too often that he had already developed theories during his 1999 conference – the joke here being that whatever new theory came out, Ross would claim it as his own and reference his conference of 1999. Even to this day he is refereed to solely as Mine99 by some people.
Without doubt Ross was, and always will be the Godfather of modern seduction and the seduction community. Without Ross there would have been no secret community learning how to meet women and we would not be as advanced as we are in the understanding of social dynamics.
Much of Ross’ terminology and general ideology is still in use even though he has fallen out of general favour.
Another man to come forward was a Canadian who goes by the name of Mystery (aka Erik Von Markovik). Mystery’s style came through an understanding of social skills based upon his performances as a street magician. Mystery’s style was originally called FMAC, Find, Meet, Attract, Close but later evolved to the name The Mystery Method.
Many of the terms still used by the community like “routine” and “set” are taken from terms magicians use and introduced by Mystery.
Mystery method didn’t use the NLP patterns like in Ross’s Speed Seduction and for some guys seemed more natural and less manipulative of women.
Mystery’s approach became popular and he was the first person to take students out “in field” (a community term) into night clubs to demo his own methods and critique his students in what are now called “boot camps” or “workshops”.
One of Mystery’s first students was the writer Neil Strauss, who went by the community handle of “Style”. Neil originally joined the community assess the possibility of writing a book on the people of this odd ball secret community.
Neil, or “Style”, became extremely accomplished in approaching women, seducing women, how to flirt and social dynamics and eventually became a seduction coach himself.
Project Hollywood was born. Mystery, Style, Juggler, Herbal, TD and others rented a mansion in the Hollywood hills and started teaching hundreds and hundreds of students. Other lairs and projects started forming all over the world in Sydney, London, New York and so on.
Neil wrote an article in 2001 for the New York Times detailing his exploits in the community. This spring boarded his book entitled “The Game” which came out some time later and become a top seller.
Many other names, schools and coaches emerged during the period following 2002 onwards as the community became bigger and bigger. Around 2004 saw the more general commercialization of the community as more and more schools were offering and selling products, bootcamps and workshops.
The difference between the community and mainstream dating advice was that the “community” instructors were actually going out day and night testing and improving their methods “in field”. The top guys in the community could seduce a woman every night if they wanted to and had gotten their skills down to a science. The academic and mainstream community was and still is years behind on a practical level of applied seduction techniques.
Neil Strauss’s book “The Game” was released around September and October of 2005 and hit the New York Times best-seller list. Neil compared the community to a men’s self-help movement and the book detailed his journey from being really poor with women to a seduction master.
The “Community” was forever changed when “The Game” was released. The secret society was no longer any great secret. Literally thousands of guys were joining the seduction lairs each week. The once secret society of geeks who had become masters with women had now got itself a mainstream platform. People saw that what these guys were doing was working and people wanted a part of it.
Just after the release of “The Game” hundreds of guys were signing up to learn seduction skills at various gurus workshops and bootcamps wanting to know the secrets.
Neil appeared on a number of TV programs to promote “The Game” including Richard and Judy in the UK and The View in the US.
Later Wayne “Juggler” Elise hosted a TV series in the UK, on Channel Four called “Seduction School” all about teaching guys how to get better with women. Even more people became aware of the community.
The teachers and schools of the community gained more and more commercial success and became more professional businesses. These include the Badboy lifestyle, Real Social Dynamics, PUA Training, Style Life, Charisma Arts, Pickup 101, Swinggcat Method and Master Your Sex Life.
Each dating school now teaches their own style and specializes in their own theories. For example online flirting, night clubs, day game, rapport building, confidence and so on.
In 2006 former male escort NathanX formed “Master Your Sex Life” (MYSL). This was and is the only school of sexual self improvement for men where techniques can been seen and learned live in their totally unique live workshops. Master Your Sex Life is the only company to specialize in the whole arena of sexual self improvement. Every other school teaches dating advice only.
In 2006 Mystery split with his long term business partner Savoy and The Mystery Method corporation to form the Venusian Arts corporation. The Mystery Method still continues but without Mystery as an instructor.
2007 saw the release of the book “The Mystery Method : The fool proof way to get any woman you want into bed”. Mystery took the community more mainstream by appearing on programs like the US Conan O’Brien Show to promote his book.
August 2007 will see the new reality show called “The Pickup Artist” on VH1 following Mystery, Matador and J-Dog as they teach guys how to go from likable, quirky personalities who have trouble getting women into “Master Pick Up Artists”
Estimated 2007/2008, the movie based on Neil Strauss’s book “The Game” and the seduction society has now been optioned by Sony. It is planned to be directed and produced by the brothers Chris and Paul Weitz who also directed American Pie.
Another awesome thing that will come out of the community is the long awaited “Sexual Mastery for Men” product by NathanX. Said to be 10 volumes of DVDs/CDs and book on sexual mastery. Teaching all his secrets skills learnt from 10 years working as a male escort to women. It is said to be hitting stores in Europe and the US in 2008 and is set to reshape sexual understanding for men.
Other seduction schools and trainers from the community are also know to be in talks for various TV shows and series around the world. So you are sure to see lots more dating gurus with funny names on your TV over the next few months and years.
Gradually, the art of seduction and secret seduction community has gone from nerds on a newsgroup to large scale commercial success as it now helps tens of thousands of men every day improve their sexual, social and romantic skills. If all these guys are learning these skills its obvious that those who don’t know will be left behind.
The quality of the available information on social dynamics, sexual skills and how to succeed with women has vastly improved. The knowledge of what’s sexually possible and how to massively improve on our sexual skills beyond what most guys think is possible is available to learn today. Maybe it’s time you looked into the world of seduction and found out what’s possible.