How Pickup Artists Changed the Game Amid COVID and #MeToo

How Pickup Artists Changed the Game Amid COVID and #MeToo

When coronavirus started to spread last spring, there was sufficient bravado in Reddit's Seduction forum—a popular gateway to "pick-up artistry"—that the moderators felt the need to intervene.

"This is not the time to cold approach large numbers of women in rapid fashion," they chided in a public safety announcement. "...Stop treating this situation as if it's just some normal obstacle."

Over the past year, posts in r/Seduction have bemoaned the chilling effect of face masks, plexiglass barriers, and a deadly virus on their "daygame": The pickup artist (PUA) term for meeting women in public. But now talk is increasingly of logistics.