the game penetrating the secret society of pickup artists

Mou said he had not tried to manipulate his girlfriend psychologically and did not know what mind control was. In interviews with Chinese news outlets, Mr. But WeChat Index, which monitors the popularity of topics on WeChat, China’s biggest social media platform, indicated that mentions of the term “PUA” soared nearly 1,700 percent overnight after a news article about the woman’s attempted suicide spread across the internet. At its peak in late 2017, Langji, the most-well-known PUA company, employed a staff of about 400 and had nearly 100,000 students, according to Chinese news reports. One of the biggest websites, Paoxuewang, said it had nearly two million members before it was shut down in 2018. Thousands of companies and websites catering to the pickup community and offering dating advice for men have cropped up. Over the last decade, it has become a big business in China. Strauss did not respond to a request for comment.) Chinese men translated what is widely considered a bible of the pickup artist community, “ The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists,” by Neil Strauss, and began sharing his seduction tricks. PUA as a concept came to China from the United States. “After a long time of mental abuse, including cursing, humiliation and vilification, she was filled with pain and fear and lost the ability to push back,” they wrote. “Many of the details of their relationship reminded us of the notorious PUA,” her friends wrote in a long social media post that included screenshots of chat messages between the couple. Friends of the Peking University student and many online users believed that her boyfriend, Mou Linhan, a fellow student, had used such techniques. Pickup artists often employ gaslighting, a form of psychological control intended to make someone question her own sanity. In China, the English initials PUA refer to both the man and his manipulative techniques. Many also did not know that there is a name for men who often use such cruel tactics in pursuit of women: PUAs, or pickup artists. Many people could not fathom how an undergraduate at a prestigious school, Peking University, could end up in such a toxic relationship.

The game penetrating the secret society of pickup artists