Neil Strauss: Hire Me

By: Monica

For those of you unfamiliar with Neil Strauss's The Game, go check it out. Go check it out because I think it is both true and false at the exact same time. Neil Strauss claims to have learned the ins and outs of picking up women. Here you have it, Ladies! The Classic Pick-Up Artist!

HOLD IT.

Everyone who reads this book hails it's genius. Applying mathematics to the dating life makes sense to me, too. In fact, I agree with a good chunk of the book. HOWEVER, you know me and I have to call bullshit. Here's why:

The other day, SoThenShe-- a blog I religiously follow-- posted about having dinner with Neil Strauss and asked him a few questions. When asked how women can pick up men, Mr. Strauss introduced the idea of approaching a man with a question where he can offer his opinion and then, once he seems interested in the conversation, decking out to reverse the roles of the food chain. In the world of dating, women want to be the prey.

I fully agree with all of the above. But it all goes downhill from there because he is asked to offer an example and supposedly THIS is what he says,

"[R]emark that your male cousin doesn’t have the best skin complexion, a bit of an oily face, and you heard about this male makeup kit. Say it won’t look like he’s actually wearing makeup, but it’ll take off some of the shine and oil on his face and it’ll make him look a little better. Then you finish with, ‘I know he has problems meeting women and I think this’ll help him, so the question is, if you had subtle makeup that would make you look better, would you wear it?’ From there you can start a conversation with him."

Mr. Neil, Sir. You cannot be serious. I thought you were a pick-up expert! Here you have the chance to set women straight on how to properly approach your own sex and you come up with that?! I would assume that, while out at a bar on a Friday night, the last thing a guy wants to be discussing is your cousin's acne. That's one of the last topics I'd want to bring up. If you're going for the shock factor, there are many, MANY other ways and examples. But acne and make-up? Oy.

So, I would like to know, dear Neil Strauss, when you introduce such great concepts to the public (because I really do agree with most of them), why, oh why, must you spoil them with the crappy examples? you think people are going to hear that and go, "Oh my God, he's right! Cousin Albert's acne it is!" or, when a couple is approached as to how they met, the husband starts with, "Well Judy here came up to me and asked if I would wear men's make-up if I had acne. I was so intrigued, I asked her to go out with me that Saturday!"

No. Just no.

I know, I know, this was only one poor example, right? Well, if you're interested, you can check out his work and explanations with Mystery, his mentor. Again, great concepts, horrible examples. But entertaining nonetheless.

P.S. Neil Strauss, you should hire me. Face it, you need me. I can provide you with good examples and then all will be well with the world. I'll be sure to run my resume past you.