Pickup artist describes a man who considers himself to be skilled, or who tries to be skilled at meeting, attracting, and seducing women.
The use of pickup in this context, slang for making a casual acquaintance with a stranger in anticipation of sexual relations, dates from at least the World War, as attested by antiprostitution posters,[1][2] and is again attested in the 1970 book How to Pick Up Girls by Eric Weber.[3] The phrase was also popularized by Pick-Up Times, a short-lived 1970s magazine and the 1987 semi-autobiographical film, The Pick-up Artist, written and directed by James Toback.[4]
The term pickup artist is also associated with the seduction community, a heterosexual male subculture based on the goal of improved sexual and romantic abilities with women. Pickup artists develop pickup lines similar to, yet more complex than the stereotypical pick-up line. Routines and gambits are developed to stimulate attraction switches often combined with techniques derived from neuro-linguistic programming.[5] Spontaneous PUAs or Spontaneous Gamers use both self-help and an understanding of social psychology to achieve this. They aim to improve their seductive capabilities through the development of different lifestyles. The culture surrounding pickup has spawned an entire industry servicing those who want to improve their social and seduction skills with consultations and in-field training. What makes this industry different is that people learn skill sets to meet the women they want, instead of being set up by matchmakers.
There is sufficient interest in pickup that some dating coaches like Nick Savoy, Mystery, JT Tran, Kezia Noble, Vincent Biagiotti, Daryl James, Adam Lyons, Richard La Ruina, Chris Luna,[6] James Marshall and Owen Cook have become pickup instructors full-time and have gone on to found companies that offer training for PUAs such as ABCs of Attraction, Love Systems, Venusian Arts, PUA Training, Pro Seduction Training, Craft of Charisma and Real Social Dynamics, respectively.
The term pickup artist entered the popular lexicon in 2005 upon the arrival of Neil Strauss's best selling book, The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists, also in 2007, from the reality television series, The Pick-up Artist, shown on VH1, starring Mystery.
Pickup artists and their industry receive mixed to bad responses from the press and general public, with many regarding both the practice and theory immoral, sexist and self-centered, which has led to the creation of companies that disassociate from the industry.[7] Pickup has also been heavily parodied, in March 2011 The Scott Mills show on BBC Radio 1 debated Neil Strauss' The Game in many shows.[8]