> The pickup artists are on the bleeding edge of the "craft" if you can call it that. It shouldn't be surprising that the stuff they do (or at least the stuff that works) filters down.
I had a friend who used the "craft" and had enough success with it that he was utterly convinced he could get literally any woman to sleep with him. He failed to notice that all of his "marks" could be grouped into roughly two sets of women:
- Those who were unaware of the game being played. They were highly insecure and not intelligent or not socially aware enough to realize they were being manipulated.
- Those who were aware of the game, and were playing it themselves. They were consciously looking to get laid, and they would sit in judgement of their suitors, sleeping with whoever could navigate their "shit tests" and put on an impressive enough performance. An odd sort of "game recognizes game" fencing match.
Personally I thought these performances were an embarrassing dog-and-pony show, but there's no accounting for taste.
Anyway, my point is that some of this stuff really does "work", but it's not nearly as universal as its practitioners like to believe, and the men who practice it are often being gamed themselves. Anyone who is aware of the game (even subconsciously) and not interested in playing it is immune.