Confessions of a Pickup Artist Chaser: Long Interviews with Hideous Men [Kindle Edition]

Clarisse Thorn (Author), Beautiful Disasters Photography (Photographer)

Book Description

There's an enormous subculture of men who trade tips, tricks, and tactics for seducing women. Within the last half-decade or so, these underground "pickup artists" have burst into the popular consciousness, aided by Neil Strauss’s bestselling book "The Game" and VH1’s hit reality show "The Pick-Up Artist." Some men in the seduction community are sleazy misogynists who want nothing more than power and control. Some are shy wallflowers who don't know how to say hi to a girl. The one thing they all have in common is a driving need to attract women.

Clarisse Thorn, a feminist S&M writer and activist, spent years researching these guys. She observed their discussions, watched them in action, and learned their strategies. By the end of it all, she'd given a lecture at a seduction convention and decided against becoming the next great dating coach. In "Confessions of a Pickup Artist Chaser," Clarisse tells the story of her time among these Casanovas, as well as her own unorthodox experiences with sex and relationships. She examines the conflicts and harmonies of feminism, pickup artistry, and the S&M community. Most of all, she deconstructs and reconstructs our views on sex, love, and ethics — and develops her own grand theory of the game.

* * *

ABOUT CLARISSE:

Clarisse Thorn is a sex-positive educator who has delivered sexuality workshops and lectures to a variety of audiences, including museums and universities across the USA. In 2009, she created and curated the ongoing Sex+++ sex-positive documentary film series at Chicago’s historic feminist site, Jane Addams Hull-House Museum. She has also volunteered as an archivist, curator and fundraiser for that venerable S&M institution, the Leather Archives & Museum. Clarisse's writing has appeared across the Internet in places like The Guardian, AlterNet, Feministe, Jezebel, The Good Men Project, Role/Reboot, and Time Out Chicago.

Find Clarisse's blog at clarissethorn.com, or follow her on Twitter @ClarisseThorn.

Cover image copyright 2005 Beautiful Disasters Photography.

Product Details

• File Size: 585 KB
• Print Length: 322 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B007I5HRQU
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #73,296 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #23 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Politics & Social Sciences > Women's Studies > Feminist Theory
  • #91 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Women's Studies > Feminist Theory

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A Feminist Sex Writer Takes a Strange Journey into the "Seduction Community" March 12, 2012

By Rachel Swirsky

Format:Kindle Edition

For a couple of years now, Clarisse Thorn has been interviewing and hanging out with the community of pick-up artists, a community she finds fascinating and... well, from a feminist perspective, sort of problematic, too.

Clarisse dissects the pick-up artist movement in a way that's easy and intuitive to read for people who aren't familiar with it, and does a good job of balancing insightful feminist critique with generosity toward her interview subjects. Readers will probably have different reactions to that balance-I fully expect this is a book which some PUAs will call irredeemably vicious and some feminists will find frustrating for its light hand. I come down somewhat more grouchy and skeptical than Clarisse Thorn does in the narrative, but I don't think that's a barrier to reading the text; in fact, I think Clarisse's generosity makes the analysis much more interesting than it would otherwise be since it creates subtle, highly finessed arguments.

Clarisse's analysis is as interesting, easy-to-follow and well-laid, but the most compelling thing in this book is not the analysis itself but the way in which Clarisse uses memoir to supplement her analysis. Clarisse is a brilliant sex writer with what appears to be (on the page, at least) an unflinching ability to reveal herself through writing. That talent is highlighted here as Clarisse fleshes out scenes that create a parallel emotional and intellectual journey, allowing the reader to travel with her through the insights and frustration of her time on the fringes of the pick-up artist community. Her intelligent writing about S&M and polyamory help establish her presence in the text as someone with a subaltern point of view, and place pick-up artistry within the context of other sexual subcultures so that the book's criticism is grounded in an almost ethnographic framework which works to keep the text from becoming sensationalist or exotifying.

I found a few nitpicks from a social justice perspective as I think is inevitable with this type of book, and I'm sure that others would find different ones. Reading with my writer's eye, I'd suggest that the book could use a 5-10% trim, particularly between the halfway point and the two thirds point. Leaving aside those points, I found this a really interesting read, and I would particularly recommend this book to anyone who is intrigued by the conjunction of feminism and pick-up artistry.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Some Gems of Insight, But Too Bloated January 11, 2013

By Cristina M. Hartmann

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Clarisse Thorn takes us for a ride within the Pickup Artist (PUA) community (alternatively called the "Seducation Community"), analyzing PUA techniques with a feminist S&M lens.

Here is the good bits first:

Clarisse has a very unique way of analzying PUA tactics, using not only feminist theory but practices within the S&M community. That was an unexpected treat, since I was unfamiliar with Clarisse's writing prior to reading the book. I particularly liked her take on the famous freeze-out technique.

She has an easy-to-read, engaging and personal writing style that many reader will enjoy. Since Clarisse used her own love life as a parallel for the PUA community, you feel like you get to know the woman behind the name.

But here's the bad:

At times, Clarisse's writing can get a bit repetitive, especially towards the end. That was a shame since it overshadowed some of the great insights that she had. For example, at the end of every chapter, Clarisse adds a tl;dr section, which not only unnecessarily beefs up the page count, but is a bit patronizing to the reader.

When I started the book, I had expected a rigorous analysis of PUA techniques from a feminist perspective. There was some of that, but there was a lot of discussion aobut Clarisse's love life and friends that seemed superflous at best, self-centered at worst. It got so bad at somem points that I skimmed ahead to the stuff that I came for: PUA tactics.

Also, this book needs a better editor. Not only was it bloated, but the author uses terminology that is simply incorrect. For example, "USA men and women" should be "American men and women." These kind of mistakes happened o ften enough to distract from the content.

In summary, this book isn't a bad read if you want a quick overlook to PUAs, S&M and feminist theory from a deeply personal angle. If, however, you're looking for more rigorous and in-depth analysis of the PUA lifestyle, this book isn't for you.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Hot and Fast March 19, 2012

By katyhuff

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I picked up this book for the David Foster Wallace reference in the title and the sexy reputation of the author. I only put it down so that I could eat something without endangering my kindle. It's a fast-paced, chatty, cerebral, and ultimately sex-positive and feminist dissection of the pick up artist subculture, which turns out to be a seedy amalgamation of internet fora, night clubs, nerds, hedonists, misogynists, misandrists, sociopaths, and ordinary men (and women).

Clarisse is unflinchingly honest (radically honest, even) about the occasionally hot, often tormented, and chronically analytic headspace she experienced as a sex-positive feminist investigating the bizarre subculture of pick up artistry. She risks endangerment of her sanity, her feminist paradigm, and her person to stalk, interview, and, yes, flirt her way through the underworld of geeks and sleazebags of pick up artistry.

I was morbidly fascinated as she fluidly reviewed the myriad vocabularies, philosophies, and 'techniques' that have evolved within this strange community. I was then relieved when, after outlining and explaining this disturbing world, she tore it to shreds in a dissection that is too honest to completely please anyone involved: pick up artists, feminists, and innocent bystanders will all leave with a lesson or two.

I can only hope she's already conducting her next undercover investigation of the next fascinating subculture she'll write about.

More About the Author

Clarisse Thorn writes and speaks about sex, gender, new media, and communities. Her writing has appeared across the Internet in places like The Guardian, AlterNet, Feministe, Jezebel, Ms. Media, The Good Men Project, The Rumpus, Role/Reboot, and Time Out. She has delivered lectures across the USA, from museums to universities to SXSW-interactive.

In 2009, Clarisse created and curated the four-year-long Sex+++ documentary film series at Chicago's historic feminist site, Jane Addams Hull-House Museum. In 2010, she returned to the USA after working on HIV mitigation in southern Africa. She has also volunteered as an archivist, curator and fundraiser for that venerable S&M institution, the Leather Archives & Museum. Clarisse spends most of her time in San Francisco and Chicago.

Find Clarisse's blog at clarissethorn.com, or follow her on Twitter @ClarisseThorn.