People use Kickstarter to raise money for all sorts of dubious projects. Celebs funding movies. Celebs funding albums. Tips on how to rape women.
Wait, what?
Oh yes. Behold, Above The Game: A Guide To Getting Awesome With Women, by Ken Hoinsky of Connecticut, a new book that conflates advice on how to date rape women with tips on seduction.
Blogger Casey Malone deserves the kudos for reading this pickup artist nonsense and bringing it to the attention of the appalled Internet: originally published as a nine-part series on Reddit (which should be our first clue of the level of douchetiude we are dealing with), Above The Game teaches men to blast past all barriers of consent with “aggressively escalated” physical touching of women, also known to non-rapists as sexual assault. It’s more about teaching men how to control and manipulate women than it is offering harmless romantic advice. For example, here’s a quote advocating non-consensual grabbiness:
All the greatest seducers in history could not keep their hands off of women. They aggressively escalated physically with every woman they were flirting with. They began touching them immediately, kept great body language and eye contact, and were shameless in their physicality. Even when a girl rejects your advances, she KNOWS that you desire her. That’s hot. It arouses her physically and psychologically.
No … that’s creepy. You are CREEPY, dudes. Resistance or rejection are never signals to try harder (or throw a tantrum); they’re signals to stop. Even women who are turned on by dominance during sex — myself among them — want everything we do to be consensual, with a partner we desire. Not some entitled creeper who foisted himself upon us.
Oh, but it gets better.
Hoinsky’s advice doesn’t just stop at advising men to keep touching women, regardless of whether she “rejects” your advances (i.e. gives you a shove). He says to PUT HER HAND ON YOUR DICK. Yes, really:
Pull out your cock and put her hand on it. Remember, she is letting you do this because you have established yourself as a LEADER. Don’t ask for permission, GRAB HER HAND, and put it right on your dick.”
Real talk? “Don’t ask for permission” is a one-way ticket to Rapeville. Although, whoever is following this “advice” is a fucking idiot who is better off behind bars, no?
Or how about this one offering tips on secluded locations that you can take women to, um, “seduce” her:
Get creative and really think about all the different locations you can get alone after hours. Is there an isolated beach nearby? Great, go put a couple beach towels in the trunk of you car. Do the seats of your car lay down? Great. Have keys to your office after-hours? Fan-fucking-tastic! And of course you can always try to go to her place (but then you give up a tremendous amount of logistical control, so tread carefully.)
A question I would love to know the answer to is why Kickstarter is allowing a fundraiser advocating sexual assault to be posted on its site. In fact, it’s raised over $16,000 as of this writing. That’s why it’s important to sign this DoSomething.org petition asking Perry Chen, the CEO of Kickstarter, to take down the project, refuse to issue Hoinsky the funds, and publicly apologize for posting the project on Kickstarter in the first place. I’ve signed it and I hope Frisky readers will, too.
[Kickstarter]
[Feministing and Salon via Casey Malone]
[DoSomething.org]
Original by Jessica Wakeman
