| So, I've been watching "The Pick-Up Artist" with Mystery, and after having gained a bit of understanding during the first season, I was more able to appreciate the demonstration Mystery and Matador gave during the season 2 opening.
What I saw was, what to my mind looked like douchebaggery. Even if both the guys and girls had the time of their life, I still wasn't comfy with what I saw. From the negging, to the constant effort at maintaining high value at all costs, to the hot'n'cold "You gotta validate me before I validate you"-routine, it all looked like such a unfriendly facade compared to how Mystery acted around the participants. Then he seemed really likable.
Now, I could understand it if this facade was required for initiating the relationship, but could be discarded afterwards. But from what little I've read on the subject of being a PUA, lack of congruency is what kills it for a lot of guys, and that they won't be able to hold on to a woman over time (cheating, break-up) unless they stay congruent with how they first attracted her.
What I'm concluding from this is that basically, in order to not be an AFC, I need to transform into what to my eyes looks like a douchebag (even if it isn't actually experienced that way by anyone participating), and stay that way for as long as I'm in the relationship. That I need to constantly watch my value around my snagged woman, constantly keep her working for every bone I throw her, and neg her every time she gets uppity. That I can't let my guard down and be myself, that I can't be emotionally vulnerable and unguarded with her, that I can't speak to her the way I would a friend. That she is basically just sex, fun and tightly controlled conversation on legs.
And with that conclusion, I gotta ask, is that really preferable to being an AFC? Am I missing something here? Is everything I thought I knew about relationships with women false? Is it all some animalistic competition for prestige and sex, a constant, life-long social sparring match designed to keep the woman on her toes enough not to leave me?
Cause, if I have the choices between two extremes, where I on one hand have to be a worthless tool, or on the other, an ever-vigilant douchebag, with no apparent middle ground, then I gotta say, the world is truly harsh. Way harsher than I ever suspected. I't be a slap in the face big enough to turn me off the game before I ever even tried. Also, with the apparent empirical success of PUA's, I find it extremely hard to question their theories and outlook, so I can't very well go "You're wrong! You have to be!" either. Most depressing.
Tell me it ain't so. That I don't have to become something I despise, basically sell my soul (no matter how enjoyable the lifestyle would be), just to get and keep the kind of woman I want.
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