LIKE Jeremy Clarkson and Chris Moyles before him, American “pick-up artist” Roosh V has probably written more books than he’s read. Indeed, he has self-published 15 of them, each one dedicated to the same theme: how men can turn themselves from hapless sexual failures into conquerors of women by deploying a set of demeaning mental tricks.

If using hocus-pocus to bed women sounds a little, well, rapey to you, then you’re not far wrong. Roosh branches out from “dating advice” to politics, advocating the legalisation of rape if the victim is on the attacker’s property. Not that he likes rape, you understand. No, apparently he loves and wants to “protect” women. If women know they’re at risk of being jumped on when they enter a man’s house, then they’ll be more cautious, he argues. In his warped world, everyone knows the rules, and fair’s fair.

Now, Roosh V is bringing this brand of “enlightenment” to Glasgow. His gauche followers plan to converge on George Square this Saturday. After their meeting, they will inevitably fan out across the city’s bars and nightclubs to test out these "pick-up techniques" on unsuspecting women who, having been overcome by the pick-up artist’s mental powers, will learn to Respect the Cock.”

When I discovered this, I immediately started a petition against it. I expected a response, both positive and negative (including the obligatory rape threats which, sadly, always come whenever the word “feminism” is used online). However, even I was surprised when more than 15,000 people signed the petition within just a few hours. Roosh isn’t welcome in Scotland.

“Pick-up artistry” is an internet-based gimmick for lonely sexual failures, made to feel like losers by a culture that promotes one version of masculinity: the one that can conquer and destroy women. On the surface, you almost feel sorry for those who fall for its illusions. However, examined in detail, the idea is flat-out dangerous. The basic rule for pick-up artistry is simple: attack a woman’s self-confidence and pride, demean her, make her feel like shit, and make her believe you are superior. Once you’ve accomplished that – with a set of sinister home-brewed techniques explained by Roosh – you can take any woman you fancy home with you. And once they’re on your private property…

To flesh out this nonsense into fifteen $20 books, pick-up artists turn to third-rate pseudo science. You’ll see as many pictures of apes and monkeys as half-naked women on their websites. 

You see, in this world, men are animals whose physical prowess in war separates the biological wheat from the chaff. Deep down, women know this, and respect it, says the pick-up artists, but political correctness gets in the way. Hence, the hocus-pocus. In order to dig beneath the front of politeness, you’ve got to appeal to a woman’s unconscious desire to submit to her male superiors.

Predicatably, pick-up artistry becomes like a gateway drug, enticing the socially incompetent into a society-wide backlash against feminism, the “PC brigade” and women’s basic rights. For the pathetic and the lost, participating in rape culture becomes a means of boosting their own self-esteem.

But Roosh V’s doctrine is also a gateway into other forms of right-wing politics. Once you dehumanise one group – women – and accept strictly biological explanations of human behaviour, you’re basically on the road to the hard-right. A website owned by Roosh contains articles like “5 Reasons You Shouldn’t Feel Guilty about European Colonialism”, “Donald Trump’s Presidential Campaign is the Biggest Political Uprising in Decades”, and “Biology Says People on Welfare Should Die”. According to the Washington Post, “women and homosexuals” are banned from commenting on his website. There’s an important lesson here. Misogyny spreads. It becomes a worldview. It forces you to hate not only women, but the poor and the vulnerable in the name of your own self-worth. That’s why everyone should stand against Roosh. Contrary to his propaganda, we aren’t just apes. We’re social animals. Ultimately, by dehumanising others, you drain your own humanity.

Next week, Rise – Scotland’s Left Alliance has called a protest against forthcoming attacks on abortion rights. And this weekend I’ll be joining action against the Roosh V cult too. Let’s put forward a positive idea of empowered women, where we control our bodies and refuse to bow down to the backlash. Men – if you’re reading, and I hope you are – please join our protests. Defend our right to choose, and our right to be safe from rape culture. Show the Roosh Vs of the world you aren’t ashamed to call yourself a feminist, that you find the label liberating – because you are a social animal, not a sexual parasite.

Bid for new law banning hate speech against women as Scots plan protests against rape advocate

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