12 Sep The Problem With Red Pill, Black Pill, Pick-Up Artist, Tradcon, and Other Masculine Lifestyle Models
Reading Time – 9 minutes
I came from the pick-up artist world of the late 2000s and early 2010s. Under the name Blackdragon, I was in the second generation of pick-up artists right after the first generation of guys like Neil Strauss, Mystery, Owen Cook, and a few others who rose to prominence in the mid-2000s.
The pick-up artist community, as it was called back then, was a net positive. It taught normal, everyday beta males how to get with laid multiple women and/or more attractive women. This was the first time in my lifetime, and perhaps ever, that men had access to these kinds of skills. Having grown up in the 1980s, I lived in a world for decades where men did not have this ability. Before the pick-up artist movement, the only men who could get laid with multiple attractive women were A) celebrities, B) rich old men, and C) men we used to call “naturals,” that small percentage of men who were just naturally good with women from day one, having been lucky enough to have been born with personalities full of confidence, courage, social skills, and a lot EQ.
But that was a very small percentage of men. The vast majority of men were not celebrities or naturals and were just everyday dudes trying to figure out how to get laid. The pick-up artist community helped these men. I know because I was one of them.
Those pick-up artist days were good times. It was before the negative stuff that came shortly after, like the right-wing angst of the manosphere and red pill, the anger of movements like MGTOW and black pill, the feminists and left-wingers who started screaming about how it was unfair to women, and when men grew terrified about things like false rape accusations, pandemics, Me Too, or what people said about you on social media.
As time went on, the pick-up artist community faded away and became transformed into one or more of those above groups. Most of you already know this.
What I found interesting, however, was how all of my fellow pick-up artists ended up. Of the 150 or so pick-up artists from that era who were online teaching their audiences, only two of them (that I know of) remain today still regularly and actively talking about women topics: myself and Chase (of girlschase.com). Two out of about 150 (again, that I’m aware of). That’s crazy! Chase and I really are in rarified air.
Pretty much all the rest went away.
But… where did they go?
What did they do with their lives after leaving pick-up artistry behind?
I’ll tell you exactly what they did. The vast majority of these men, and I’m not going to mention any names but many of you know who a lot of these men are, went on to embrace monogamy or something close to it, then proceeded to experience mass chaos in their personal lives for years on end. Drama. Terrible breakups. Horrible divorces. Cheating. Lying. Custody battles. Crimes. In some cases, violence. In other cases, completely imploding publicly, alienating or even insulting their own audiences. In other cases, suddenly snapping, taking the God pill, and suddenly becoming hardcore, and I mean hardcore Christians or Muslims, denouncing everything they had ever done for decades prior.
I am now seeing the same pattern for many men who are coming out of the manosphere and red pill worlds. It’s going to be interesting to watch over the next few years what these men do in their personal lives, as most of them will replicate the madness in their personal lives the former pick-up artists experienced.
Why did this happen?
And why didn’t I go through any of this?
It’s not because these men were stupid. These were some of the smartest men I’ve ever met. It’s also not because they didn’t understand women. Clearly they did, at least most of them. It’s not even that these guys had rose-colored glasses of unreasonable expectations; a hell of a lot of these guys fully understood that the way they were configuring these post-pick-up-artist relationships was probably not long-term stable. (I was a big part of many of their educations on that particular point. “You’re getting monogamous with your girlfriend/wife? That’s cool man, but shit, don’t tell Blackdragon. He’ll be all over you.”)
So why did this happen with so many of these guys?
The answer is simple: pick-up artist is a temporary lifestyle model.
Here’s what I mean. Pick-up artist was and still is a valid set of techniques that really work, at least for the most part (every industry has bullshit and scammers and pick-up artist was no different). You can use them to have sex with lots of cute girls if you have the balls and the motivation to take the time and effort to practice them and persevere through the initial stages when you’re going to do things wrong and look stupid. This is exactly what did between 2007 and 2009. I put in the work, failed, kept at it, and soon it worked great for me, and the rest is history.
The problem with pick-up artist is it’s a lifestyle that is only valid for a few years, not your whole life. There are two times when a man should live the pick-up artist lifestyle of having sex with lots of new women all the time:
- When he is young, as in under the age of 35.
- When he is of any age but has just gotten out of a big monogamous relationship or marriage and never had time to sow his wild oats like a man. Men in that particular scenario should go out and get laid with a mountain of young babes… for only for about 1-4 years, not for the rest of his life. He won’t want to do that for the rest of his life, and that’s the entire problem.
Here’s the question. Do you want to spend your life hitting up girls at clubs, bars, or on the street while swiping through Tinder and Bumble and constantly going out on tons of first and second dates when you’re 57?
The answer for the vast majority of men, including Alpha Males, is no. (Again, unless you just got divorced from a 30-year sexless marriage, then maybe you do that for a year or two before getting back to normal again.)
And that is the problem with pick-up artist. Not that it doesn’t work. It does! The problem is that pick-up artist is only valid for a temporary time in your life. After that time is over, you won’t want to do it anymore and will want to do something else.
The problem is compounded because back in the 2000s, pick-up artists didn’t know this. These pick-up artist gurus, 95% of whom were well under the age of 35, just went out, practiced their skills, banged hundreds of women, and gave no thought whatsoever to what they would want later in life when they were 39 or 46 or 57.
So then they hit a brick wall when they turned 35 or so. I’ve discussed age 35 for men many times in my blogs, how age 35 is the male equivalent of age 33 for women, who suddenly wake up one morning and want completely different things in their personal lives. Once these men didn’t want to bang hundreds of new girls anymore, they had no battle plan for how to live. All they knew was how to have sex with new girls. They had no idea how to manage these girls into long-term, happy, ongoing relationships.
So they defaulted back to what all humans default to, false Societal Programming. When you’re done dating around, false SP tells you to settle down, move in with a girl you like, get as monogamous as possible, possibly legally marry her, and crank out a few kids. So these guys did that… and nuclear explosions resulted. Cheating, lying, drama, violence, breakups, divorces, custody battles, lawsuits, mental breakdowns; many of you know the stories.
As I’ve also analyzed on my blogs many times, once a man has sex with lots of hot women, he is permanently incapable of monogamy. If he’s stupid, desperate, lacks self-awareness, or catches oneitis, he’ll get monogamous anyway, and then he’ll proceed to cheat, get caught, and have all kinds of problems.
I see the same problem today with things like red pill, tradcon, black pill, and Andrew Tateism. These lifestyle models may work or they may not, but all of them only apply to a certain time in your life, after which you won’t want to keep doing them.
Should a 60-year-old red pill guy be going out on seven first dates a week with young girls within a red pill framework? Probably not; he’s not going to be happy doing that and neither would you if you were 60.
Should a 24-year-old guy convert to hardcore Christianity or Islam, immediately get legally married to some 22-year-old girl, start going to church/mosque, and start having babies? Probably not; in the modern era he’ll be divorced within four years and be saddled with alimony and child support that he probably can’t afford. Then he’ll go to jail if he can’t pay it.
Should a 43-year-old guy start loudly lecturing his modern-day Western girlfriend or wife about how she needs to shut the fuck up and respect his authority like Andrew Tate? Probably not; she’ll just scream back a bunch of “Excuse me??? You can’t tell me what do!!!” girlboss shit and a huge argument will ensue. A breakup is likely if he keeps pushing it.
Should a beta male who got rejected by some girl go black pill and stay that way for 40 years straight? Probably not; he’ll be so depressed after not having sex that long before 40 years he’ll probably kill himself either on purpose or by accident with things like drugs or alcohol.
I think you see my point. Even the systems that work only work for a temporary period in a man’s life before he’ll want something different.
And THAT is where Alpha Male 2.0 comes in.
Unlike any other masculine lifestyle model you can find, Alpha Male 2.0 works both right now AND for the rest of your life.
Alpha Male 2.0 works for all men of all ages, regardless of what phase of life they’re in. Alpha Male 2.0 works for teenage boys and it works for old men who are well into their seventies (and men in both of those categories are in my audience, engage in the community, and have been at my live events).
It works for single men, men who are married, men who are divorced, men with girlfriends, men who travel a lot, and men who never go anywhere. It works for men who have kids, men who don’t have kids, men who want kids someday, and men who never want kids. It works for introverts and extroverts. It works for nerds, jocks, punks, fat guys, athletes, and drug addicts. It works for white guys, black guys, Indian guys, Asian guys, Hispanic guys, and any other race you can name. It works for left-wingers, right-wingers, libertarians, and people who don’t know anything about politics or don’t care. It works for religious men and it works for agnostics and atheists. It works for celebrities (yes, literally, though I can’t mention names) and men who want to stay 100% anonymous forever.
Alpha Male 2.0 works for any man, and unlike all other male lifestyle models, it works FOREVER. Once you adopt it as a lifestyle, it will carry you through for the rest of your life. You will never have to stop years down the road when you’re older and say, “Well, shit, now that I want this instead of that, NOW what do I do?”
If you want to stay single and have fun, play with FBs and low-end MLTRs.
If you want a girlfriend, great, get an OLTR.
If you want to settle down and have kids, get an OLTR wife.
If you want to make just a few thousand dollars a month and not work too hard, great, you can do that via your Alpha 2.0 business.
If you want to grind and make millions of dollars, great, your Alpha 2.0 business can do that too (it did for me).
If you’re a young excited guy and want to have sex with 100 girls, you can do that.
If you’re an old man and want to just have a wife or girlfriend with just one FB on the side, you can do that too.
All these things, and many more, are part of Alpha Male 2.0.
You can even integrate aspects of pick-up artist, red pill, manosphere, tradcon, and so on into your Alpha Male 2.0 life.
I purposely designed Alpha Male 2.0 to be an entire-life model. I did this because I saw the temporary nature of things like pick-up artist and red pill. I don’t you want to live an Alpha Male 2.0 life only to be confused in ten years because your priorities have changed.
I’ve been an Alpha Male 2.0 for 17 years. During that time, my priorities have changed, as they should as one gets older. And I’m still 100% Alpha 2.0 despite this.
When I was a recovering 35-year-old beta male in 2007, right after my divorce from a typical (read: shitty) monogamous marriage, I went fucking crazy and had sex with lots of new women for several years, including 18-year-olds (and this was years before sugar daddy was a thing; it was all without any money paid to anyone). But I was old enough and self-aware enough to know that I wouldn’t want to do that forever.
In 2012 I backed down from that craziness and I announced on my blog that I was then looking to eventually settle down with just one woman non-monogamously. I did exactly that in 2017 with Pink Firefly in my mid-40s.
When I left the Collapsing USA in 2021 I re-configured my woman life yet again to adjust to my new five flags international lifestyle, getting new sub-rosters of FBs in several different countries.
Throughout this entire time, I never once became monogamous (because long-term monogamy doesn’t work and I’m not stupid or delusional) but my woman configuration in my personal life would regularly change every few years based on the new things I would want based on my ever-changing age, priorities, and life circumstances.
Now, in 2024 at age 52, I’m changing things around a little bit again to prepare for the next phase of my life that I will hopefully start in 2026. (I can’t talk about exactly what I’m doing yet but I will soon.)
And I’m going to keep being Alpha Male 2.0 for the rest of my life, into my 90s and 100s if I live that long, modifying things a little bit as I get into my older years, but always staying with the proven, freedom-generating, happiness-creating Alpha Male 2.0 lifestyle model that lasts your entire life.
Alpha Male 2.0, once you get decent at it, really is a “set it and forget it” lifestyle model. That’s the kind of model I want, and I assume you probably want it also.
Daniel
Posted at 03:46 pm, 12th September 2024Couple of things.. I’d say you’re more of a relationship management guy at this point than someone who teaches pickup. With the exception of your last article on referral game (which was great btw!), teaching specific front end game skills pre-relationship have been rather absent. I’d like to see more of that from you.
Secondly, it’s important to note that monogamy is a lower T lifestyle. As men age and their testosterone drops (and then drops even more because he became monogamous!) the one woman model is almost inevitable for most guys despite all the drawbacks because they just don’t have the energy and desire to put in the effort to acquire, manage and then reacquire multiple women. Therefore if a guy is unwilling to go the TRT route as you have, this lifestyle wouldn’t work well for him.
Lastly and on that note, I have my doubts as to the longevity of one’s patience in having to acquire new women as a man ages regardless of his T. As all forms of game become more and more difficult and likely morph into other things, it seems that your referral game model will be the most effective avenue for bringing new women in. However that means he’d always have to be dating specifically VYW’s who are the ones with lower ASD to likely give out the referral. I’m not sure if even the vast majority of 2.0’s will be able to do that consistently into their 60’s. And even then there’s no guarantee he’ll get the referral which means it’s back to the dating sites and going on first dates again.
Nail
Posted at 12:30 pm, 13th September 2024There’s still that Locario guy, who’s still been operating since the early-mid 2010s. And probably some other small names. But yeah, this industry will complete fade out over the next decade as America ages, gets worse economically, and less men stay interested in this crap. That’s why you’re seeing the rise of things like sugar dating and (at least in the hyper-Left areas of the USA like NY/Cali) loosening attitudes and laws towards prostitution.
They barely works. Commonly quoted rates of success I’ve heard are around 3-5% at the top end. And on top of all that you can’t choose what the girl looks like; at best you’re spending a great deal of time and energy just begging her to pick you. Selling a “system” (which it’s not, because if it was, it would be a 1-2-3 step formula – the “artist” part in PUA negates any ability for it to be a formula) that produces poor results for most of its buyers IMO is a scam. You might as well say learning Game/PUA is like going to college these days. Lots of effort/resources expended for questionable results.
Now you have guys (like Coach Greg Adams and Aaron Clarey – whom I’d consider Alpha 2.0) telling guys it’s cheaper to just pay for sex. You know the price up front instead of on the backend. Most men eventually get to this point after going through the motions in the first half of their life.
When I’m 60, I’ll probably be banging a hot sex robot if I still bother to have sex by then – you won’t be able to tell them apart from a real women by the time I’m 60. Or I might
Caleb Jones
Posted at 01:50 pm, 13th September 2024I know him; he’s a friend. I’m not talking about guys from 2014, but from 2006-08 or so.
I do not predict any loosening of anti-prostitution laws anywhere in the USA, including in left-wing areas.
Read this: https://alphamale20.com/2016/01/21/prostitution/
But yes, sugar daddy game will massively increase.
3-5% is very good, because the vast majority of guys in PUA didn’t take the time and effort to make it work. Most tried once or twice and then gave up.
Incorrect. That only applies to online dating; daygame and night game, which is what most of PUA was, you see what the girls look like.
Paying for sex is fine as long as you meet the two requirements first, but most men haven’t:
https://alphamale20.com/2017/02/09/okay-pay-sex/
https://alphamale20.com/2017/02/23/okay-pay-sex-part-2/
Caleb Jones
Posted at 01:57 pm, 13th September 2024That’s true today in 2024. That was not the case back in 2009 when I was in the PUA world. The vast majority of my content back then was online dating and how to get laid on the 2nd date.
Today, yes. I’m in a place where I don’t need new women anymore. That’s the entire point of the Alpha Male 2.0 relationship model.
Honestly, I think 95% of the technique on how to get laid has already been said, both by me and many others. I have two entire books on the subject and there really isn’t much more to add (other than weird shit like referral game):
gettosexfast.com
onlinedatingsuccessnow.com
Correct, which is one of the many reasons why it’s so dangerous.
Incorrect. A) it’s not “almost inevitable,” it’s a choice men make. B) As I’ve said hundreds of times, one MLTR and one infrequent FB on the side requires extremely little time and effort. You’re implying an old man needs to have 10 women in his life; he does not.
Incorrect for the 2 reasons stated above.
You don’t need to acquire new women when you’re older. I certainly don’t. Again, that’s the whole point of the Alpha Male 2.0 relationship model.
Either you really misunderstand my content and my relationship models, or you’re trying to disagree just to disagree, not sure which.
Daniel
Posted at 05:47 pm, 13th September 2024@ Caleb Jones My intent is not to disagree, I agree with your content as a workable system. Where I have my concerns is that it’s a “set it and forget it” system as a man gets older if you have to continue to bring new women in on at least a semi or bi-annual basis. This to me does not equate to long term happiness. So even if a man has an OLTR and say 1 or 2 FB’s, those FB’s have a shelf life. Which means when they drop off, if a man hasn’t gotten any referrals from them or doesn’t have any LSNFTE returns at that time, he has to acquire new prospects. Which means going back on the dating sites or whatever and having first dates. I realize that the wise objective is to build up such a hefty roster early on that the influx of returning LSNFTE’s offsets this, but let’s say a man gets started with Alpha 2.0 later in life and only adopts the “you only need 2 women to be non monogamous” model. It’s going to be much more difficult for him to get to this point of a big roster of returning women. So again, he’s back to acquiring and going on first dates. If there’s a piece of the puzzle that I’m missing here I’d be glad to know. All I’m saying is that I can understand why when the typical man is much older he’s going to want to take the path of least resistance. And unless he’s built up a huge roster over the years like you have he’s going to be less likely to achieve what you’re saying. And then Alpha 2.0 will merely be a phase of life he went through.
Jack Outside the Box
Posted at 07:49 pm, 13th September 2024Do you enjoy insulting us? Once again, I must call you out, not on your desire for prostitutes, but on your false belief in the numbers being on your side, while, at the same time, you claim that the majority is beneath you.
It’s not either/or. Rejecting pick up as such doesn’t necessarily mean that you want prostitutes and have zero interest in the presence of female desire. Why are you such an evangelical about hookers on a blog that is designed to help men get into long term relationships with women based on women’s genuine desire, and without having to pay them? You think looking down on us will help your cause?
I have NEVER fucked a woman if I disapproved of her looks.
What the fuck??? I’ve never begged any woman for sex, not even during my darkest times! I legit think that you’re just making shit up now!
Cheaper than marriage and conservative dating, yes. But that’s not what we believe in either. The housewife is the expensive prostitute. The hooker is the cheap prostitute. And the sexually liberated woman is free (in terms of money) if she has genuine desire for you. Genuine desire can’t be bought with money. In fact, her refusing to fuck you unless you give her money precisely negates any illusion of her having any genuine desire for you.
And most men crave a woman’s genuine desire, which is why prostitution will never be mainstream. The housewife and the prostitute are opposite sides of the same coin – generous sex for a lot vs. generous sex for cheap. But most men, like me, prefer selfish sex (selfish on the part of the woman). Her payment is my dick, not my wallet!
You mean, senior citizens? Because, if not, you, once again contradicted yourself. First, you say you’re not in the majority because the majority is beneath you. Then you say that the majority is with you, or soon will be. This is cope! Most men want a woman’s GENUINE DESIRE, which makes paying her with money impossible. Her demanding money precisely speaks to her LACK of genuine desire, which produces most men’s LACK of interest.
Most men will never be like you because (say it with me now) – WE WANT A WOMAN’S GENUINE DESIRE WHICH MAKES OUR DICKS HER PAYMENT!!!
Thank you for admitting that women’s pleasure doesn’t turn you on or gratify you in any way. This makes you a permanent minority, all the cope that you’re the majority (the one that is beneath you), or soon will be, notwithstanding.
Women are just masturbatory receptacles for you, and you don’t care whether they’re into the sex or not, or if they’re even real women or robots. So you don’t care if the woman moans with pleasure, fakes it, or just lays there like a dead fish. That’s something you have in common with rapists, actually. I never understood how a rapist can even maintain his erection while the woman is screaming in pain and trying to scratch his eyes out…..until I had some conversations with men like you who are into hookers, and therefore, don’t care whether the woman enjoys herself or not, or if she’s even real or a robot.
Not all men who fuck hookers are rapists, but all rapists are the types of men who would be okay with fucking hookers because they have one thing in common – they don’t give a rat’s fuck about a woman’s horniness. Scary shit!
The majority of men (such as myself), on the other hand, can’t get turned on unless the woman is turned on. Her orgasms are the sources of mine. If it’s not good for both of us, then it won’t be good for either of us. And that is NOT just some kink that most men will get over in order to join you in hooker land. It’s how we are built. You will NEVER be the majority. But keep dreaming!
Will
Posted at 12:31 am, 14th September 2024I agree with this somewhat.
Caleb, you say you only need a minimum of 2 women to qualify for A2.0. But in practice, it’s more like 15+ women that you’ve “locked-in”. In fact, I started taking this seriously about 2-3 months ago and I had all 3 of my girls LSNFTE me already. I followed all your cardinal rules to a T, but they were 30-35 so I think age may be a factor.
Caleb Jones
Posted at 09:42 am, 14th September 2024Incorrect. You can go many years before needing a new woman under an A2 model, and it doesn’t require a massive roster to do so. Many men in the A2 community are doing this right now with smaller rosters.
You also forget that under monogamy you’ll need to occasionally bring new women in also, when they leave you/get divorced/etc. Will that make you long-term happy?
If your answer is “but what if a guy starts A2 when he’s 65 or 70…” then you’re bringing up the exception to the rule.
Caleb Jones
Posted at 09:48 am, 14th September 2024Read what I said above. Again, this is incorrect. No one ever said you need a roster of 15+ to maintain 2 active ones for many years. This is just not true and both of you are just pulling that magical number out of your asses.
Secondly, even if you needed a roster of 15+ women, okay, take a few years and build that roster that will now take care of you for decades. It’s not that hard.
If I had not moved out of the USA, my roster of American women would still be taking care of me right this minute even if it was one-third its size.
That is a statistically usually scenario and is not typical.
Uh, yes, exactly. Around age 33 is the worst time to do this with women, as I’ve stated many times, because of the transition that occurs at this age. Do this with (ideally) women well under 33 or women well over age 36 or so, as far away from age 33 as you can get.
Daniel
Posted at 05:45 pm, 16th September 2024@ Caleb Jones For the record I never said 15, that was the other guy. However I did say that a man has to be seeing much more than just two women over the course of multiple years in order to build up a roster and that if he doesn’t do this or is unsuccessful in his resurrection attempts on a LSNFTE, then he’s back to the dating sites. You yourself in the the video How To Master Online For A Lifetime say that men who are non monogamous will always have to go back to the dating sites. What I say is possibly if not likely for the older guy, say age 65, he’s not going to want to deal with such nonsense anymore. Which means possibly if not likely, the last stop on his Alpha 2.0 journey is defacto monogamy with his OLTR, now just LTR.
Caleb Jones
Posted at 07:28 pm, 16th September 20241. An Alpha Male 2.0 who is 65 years old will have a roster large enough by then that he won’t need to bring in any new women for the rest of his life if he so chooses.
2. You are assuming that any man over age 65 would be unwilling and not excited to fuck any new women. That is factually incorrect. I know many men in their late 60s and 70s who do this because they enjoy it.
Malkey
Posted at 06:56 pm, 9th October 2024I’ll be honest, I kind of just have this theory that most male influencers in the self help sphere have severe mental issues. Like, spent their whole life ignored and now going mad with power, abusive family, several bad marriages. It’s kind of like our stereotype about insane female actors and singers, but a man who needs to become an emperor god king to fill the hole in their soul. See: Neil Strauss, GaryVee, Tate