Redditor's PUA Kickstarter Project Recommends Sexual Assault

There’s a pick-up artist project on Kickstarter — (over)funded almost exclusively thanks to Reddit, natch —- that encourages men to “force” women to rebuff advances because “personal space is for pussies.” Will Kickstarter shut it down before the creator receives over $15,000 this afternoon?

Ken Hoinsky, aka “TofuTofu” on Reddit, launched a Kickstarter so he could “properly publish” a bunch of advice he had posted online over the past three years in a book called Above The Game: A Guide to Getting Awesome with Women. He initially only sought $2,000, but supporters have donated nearly $16,000 to read his thoughts on slimy seduction. Most of those supporters are Redditors, according to Hoinsky, who started spamming me with email last month, begging me to write about his exploits.

“Wanna let your readers know [about the Kickstarter]? I’m sure they’ll have a field day with this,” he wrote in May, as if we were collaborating on a project. I didn’t respond, but he updated me nonetheless: “The funding has reached 300% of goal, almost exclusively from reddit. I think your readers will find the story of a book on meeting women, stemming from an online community like reddit, very compelling.” When I finally told him I wasn’t interested, he wrote: “Boo… I showed it to my brother’s Jezebel-addicted ex-girlfriend and she went on a 3 hour diatribe about it. Your readers will eat it up! Come on, a bunch of nerdy guys on reddit live-blogging their exploits with women? You can’t make this shit up :)”

That sealed the deal: I love mocking/calling out pick-up artists, but I was definitely not going to write about this pathetic fameball. Until I read that Hoinsky endorses straight-up sexual harassment and assault. Here’s some of his advice (via Casey Malone):

Get CLOSE to her, damn it!: To quote Rob Judge, “Personal space is for pussies.” I already told you that the most successful seducers are those who can’t keep their hands off of women. Well you’re not gonna be able to do that if you aren’t in close! ”

“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.”

“Decide that you’re going to sit in a position where you can rub her leg and back. Physically pick her up and sit her on your lap. Don’t ask for permission. Be dominant. Force her to rebuff your advances.”

“Sex: 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.”

Kickstarter’s guidelines prohibit “offensive material (hate speech, etc.).” Does cheerful sexual assault count? Find out by tweeting at @Kickstarter or reporting the project here.