Atheism-Plussers, people at Skepchick and some so-called Freethought Bloggers (the femtheist team) insist that Evolutionary Psychology is bunk, and they desperately want everyone to believe so.
That’d be a lot easier if they believed it themselves – you see, at Kickstarter, Ken Hoinsky managed to raise enough money to write a book on getting awesome with women, a Pick Up Artist handbook. Femtheists went apeshit crazy calling it a rape manual (?), defaming the backers by calling them rapists (??) and asking Kickstarter to ban the project. (Yeah, social justice+censorship! Woohoo!)
Funny thing: the pick up artist community and its philosophy, as far as I am aware, is entirely based on pop Evolutionary Psychology. If EvPsy doesn’t work, why are these people so worked up about a book that is based on ‘ineffective‘ theories?
Letting aside the efficacy issue, I don’t see how “getting awesome with women” and having consensual sex with them is the same as rape! I think this is way too disrespectful towards actual rape and sex assault victims. You don’t get to call it rape if you wanted and consented into having sex (and if you’re old enough to make informed choices). We can discuss all you want about being tricked into having sex -I won’t call that “rape”, either; “lie” fits best-, I can see some PUAs doing that… but calling it rape? Really?
Isn’t that too low even by Rebecca Watson standards?
**Update: My fellow SINner Damion has pointed me in the direction of a Slate article which casts new light on the matter:
But about ten hours before the end of the funding period for Above The Game, blogger Casey Malone found some of Hoinsky’s posts on “seddit,” the sub-Reddit devoted to pick-up and so-called “seduction” techniques, and archived them in case Hoinsky scrubbed them, which he in fact did.
They include such charming suggestions as: “Decide that you’re going to sit in a position where you can rub her leg and back. Physically pick her up and sit her on your lap. Don’t ask for permission. Be dominant. Force her to rebuff your advances.” And: “Make her push your hand away as you get closer to her vagina.” Also: “Pull out your cock and put her hand on it. Remember, she is letting you do this because you have established yourself as a LEADER. Don’t ask for permission, GRAB HER HAND, and put it right on your dick.”
To be fair to Hoinsky, he does suggest that, “If at any point a girl wants you to stop, she will let you know. If she says ‘STOP,’ or ‘GET AWAY FROM ME,’ or shoves you away, you know she is not interested. It happens. Stop escalating immediately and say this line: ‘No problem. I don’t want you to do anything you aren’t comfortable with.'” But it’s a lone bit of caution in what otherwise sounds like a guide to sexual harassment.
That being the case, I think Hoinsky owes an apology to his fans and, most importantly, to women who have been victims of sexual harassment. He should remove any content even remotely similar to that from the book, and keep it a regular self-help book, about “getting awesome with women”, but without being a dick – I don’t think that’s too much to ask!
