Img Source: http://static.deathandtaxesmag.com/uploads/2014/11/Julien-Blanc-sexual-assault-promoting-pick-up-artist-denied-entry-into-UK.jpg
Time news article about Julien Blanc
The url above links to a Time news article about the notorious pick up artist Julien Blanc, who has been banned from Australia, Singapore, and the UK for promoting sexual violence against women. I want to talk about this because I think the pick up artist (PUA) culture, which is thriving because of online communities, is closely related to street harassment. Julien Blanc received a lot of negative backlash for his seminars and videos which teach men to emotionally intimidate and manipulate female strangers into having sex with them. He uses misogynistic and violent language, calling his ability to pick up women the Game which other men need to improve on in order to be like him. Before people called him out, he used to have videos of him choking female strangers and demonstrating his physical techniques on women on the street. In one video he says, “At least in Tokyo, if you’re a white male, you can do what you want. I’m just romping through the streets, just grabbing girls’ heads, just like, head, pfft on the d–k. Head, on the d–k, yelling, ‘Pikachu.'" He over-simplifies "female psychology" by treating women like emotional robots that he can "short circuit" with powerful emotions to get them ready for sex.
PUA culture promotes men to film their encounters with female strangers on the street, who may or may not know they are being filmed. Sometimes the women on camera are noticeably uncomfortable and the men are persistently stopping women with a sense of entitlement. PUA's call it flirting, but I see what they do as street harassment because they often have a specific goal (sex or affirmation of masculinity) motivated by male dominance and entitlement. Sometimes, women play along (possibly because of the pressure of being in front of a camera or not being able to escape the social situation). Again, I want to point out the study that said street harassment leads to self-objectification and the reinforcement that women's role is to please men. Some women could be attracted to PUA's and have sex with strangers because they like it, but I think the public dynamic of masculinity and femininity plays a part in women performing these roles. PUA culture also promotes objectifying women in public, as they pick which ones are "worthy" of their male attention. They make it seem like the world's women are theirs to sexually conquer, as sometimes there are racial overtones when PUA's try to pick up women from a specific ethnicity.
YouTube channels like the popular and controversial Simple PickUp as well as prank channels like VitalyzdTV objectify female strangers for entertainment and cater to men who want to do the same. Simple Pickup has over 2 million subscribers watching them approach women on the streets, sometimes touching them or asking for sexual favors. Their About page says, "Simple Pickup is designed to prove that any guy can attract women. We'll use pickup lines to get phone numbers, answer your questions, and interview hot girls to get their perspective on everything from dating to sex."