Manosphere misogynists like to tell themselves fairy tales about women. Their favorite such tale, repeated endlessly, is one called “The Cock Carousel” – sometimes referred to in expanded form as the “Alpha Asshole Cock Carousel” or the “Bad Boy Cock Carousel.” (Hence that Rooster-riding gal you see in this blog’s header about half the time.)
Despite the different names, the story is always, monotonously, the same: In their late teens and twenties, when they’re at the height of their sexual appeal, women (or at least the overwhelming majority of them) have sex in rapid succession with an assortment of charismatic but unreliable alpha males and “bad boys” who make their vaginas (or just ‘ginas) tingle. Then, sometime in their mid-to-late twenties, these women “hit the wall,” with their so-called sexual market value (or SMV) dropping faster than Facebook’s stock price. As Roissy/Heartiste puts it, in his typically overheated prose:
So sad, so tragic, the inevitable slide into sexual worthlessness that accompanies women, the withering tick tock of the cosmic clock stripping their beauty in flayed bits of soulletting mignons like psychological ling chi. A sadistic thief in the night etching, billowing, draping and sagging a new affront to her most preciously guarded asset.
While many women try to pretend they’ve still “got it,” even at the ripe old age of thirty, they inevitably have to either get off or get thrown off the “cock carousel.” At this point the more savvy women glom onto some convenient “beta male” who, while somewhat lacking in sexual appeal, will at least be a good husband and provider for them – and in many cases the children they’ve had with alpha male seed. Those women who don’t accept the new reality are destined to end up alone and childless, surrounded by cats.
To borrow the phrase South Park used in its episodes about Scientology and Mormonism, this is what manosphere men actually believe. Not only that, but they claim that this fairy tale is based on real science.
So who are these mysterious alpha males that get the women so excited? As one guide to pickup artist (PUA) lingo puts it:
In animal hierarchies, the Alpha Male is the most dominant, and typically the physically strongest member of the group. For example, in wolf packs, the “alpha wolf” is the strongest member of the pack, and is the leader of the group. This position of leadership is often achieved by killing or defeating the previous Alpha Male in combat. Alpha wolves have first access to food as well as mating privileges with the females of the pack.
Social status among human social groups is less rigidly defined than in the animal kingdom, but there are some recognizable parallels. Although people don’t often engage in physical violence to achieve dominance, there are still recognizable leaders in different fields who have wide access to material resources and women.
Because the qualities of the Alpha Male (such as social dominance and leadership) are attractive to women, many PUAs have adopted these ideals as models of emulation. In fact, the term “alpha” has come be shorthand for the qualities of an attractive man, and it is a common refrain among PUAs to be “more alpha” or to “out alpha” competitors.
There’s a certain logic to all this. But unfortunately for the PUAs and other manospherians the notion of the Alpha male is based on bad science. The notion of Alpha dominance, as the definition above notes, came originally from studies of wolf packs. Even if we assume that wolf behavior is somehow a good model upon which to base our understanding of human romance – as manosphere men and evolutionary psychologists tend to do – the science behind the Alpha male wolf has now come completely undone, with many of those who promulgated the theory in the first place decades ago now explicitly repudiating it.
The problem, you see, is that the studies underlying the notion of the alpha male wolf, who aggressively asserts his dominance over beta males in order to rule the pack, were all based on observations of wolves in captivity. In the real world, wolf packs don’t work that way at all. Most wolf packs are basically wolf families, with a breeding pair and their pups. When male pups reach adulthood, they don’t fight their fathers for dominance — they go out and start their own families.
As noted wolf behavior expert L. David Mech, one of those who helped to establish and popularize the notion of the alpha wolf in the first place, explains on his website:
The concept of the alpha wolf is well ingrained in the popular wolf literature at least partly because of my book “The Wolf: Ecology and Behavior of an Endangered Species,” written in 1968, published in 1970, republished in paperback in 1981, and currently still in print, despite my numerous pleas to the publisher to stop publishing it. Although most of the book’s info is still accurate, much is outdated. We have learned more about wolves in the last 40 years then in all of previous history.
One of the outdated pieces of information is the concept of the alpha wolf. “Alpha” implies competing with others and becoming top dog by winning a contest or battle. However, most wolves who lead packs achieved their position simply by mating and producing pups, which then became their pack. In other words they are merely breeders, or parents, and that’s all we call them today, the “breeding male,” “breeding female,” or “male parent,” “female parent,” or the “adult male” or “adult female.” In the rare packs that include more than one breeding animal, the “dominant breeder” can be called that, and any breeding daughter can be called a “subordinate breeder.”
So the dominant male wolves – those whom manosphere dudes would still call the alphas – achieve this position not by being sexy badasses but simply by siring and taking responsibility for pups. To use the terminology in the manner of manosphere dudes, alphas become alphas by acting like betas. That’s right: alphas are betas. (For more of the details, see this paper by Mech; it’s in pdf form.)
Also, they’re wolves and not humans, but that’s a whole other kettle of anthropomorphized fish.
I found that one in the mod queue and let it through for the entertainment value. Someone is not a member of the reality-based community…
It kind of reads like bad, soft-core erotica. I picture a title like ‘Alpha in the Boardroom’ or ‘Master of the Elementary School Parents Night’. You know, uninspired and overblown with lots of heavy breathing and grunting but no actual pay-off, and nothing resembling a plot or character development.
Maybe someone would appreciate a chew toy, though! 🙂
That was hilarious. I think jhonest has confused porn for real life and tried to cover up the fact that it’s his little fantasy by throwing out neuroscience words willy nilly.
Of course this
is actually quite disturbing because it furthers the notion that a woman can consent with just her eyes. If he imagines himself as an alpha male, half a second of eye contact is interpreted as desire and he has his excuse to use force to get sex because that’s just what alphas do.
BEHOLD THE ALPHA MALE!
He is a being of such awesomeness that mere mortal minds cannot bear the full glory of his presence. All shall bow and quake before him when he enters a room! All women in the room will immediately strip naked and offer themselves to him! All men in the room will immediately lie down and expose their stomachs to show their submissiveness to him! The rain does not fall upon him and mosquitos dare not bite him! Daisies grow from his footsteps wherever he walks, and his droppings smell of sweet cinnamon buns!
No, he is not a mythic creature but flesh and blood men who walk among us! Believe! Repent! Repent!
all the +1s to sparky!
Song of the Alpha
Listen, my children, and heed my tale!
Beware, beware of the Alpha Male!
Of dominant stature, of looks beyond pale!
Beware, beware of the Alpha Male!
He strides with eyes glowing, he watches his prey.
The hunt, the hunt of the Alpha Male!
He’ll find a young maiden and steal her away!
The hunt, the hunt of the Alpha Male!
You may find him smarmy, draw back in disgust.
Away, away from the Alpha Male!
But he knows your hatred is really your lust.
Away, away from the Alpha Male!
He’ll ask of you questions, I’m not too sure why…
The way, strange way of the Alpha Male!
To goad the affection from another guy.
The way, strange way of the Alpha Male!
As soon as you’re near him, you’ll stutter and grin.
The pow’r, the pow’r of the Alpha Male!
And somehow he’ll cause you to turn feminine.
The pow’r, the pow’r of the Alpha Male!
Though a couple behaviors,
Are products of lovers,
And most of the others,
Are running for cover…
Take heed, my children, attend to this song.
Beware, beware of the Alpha Male!
You’ll find men who think they are him before long.
Beware, beware of the Alpha Male!
kirbywarp, that was a thing of beauty! *applause*
Questions designed to test how receptive women are to weird fake-hypnotic patter.
I am in the presence of an NLP seduction pattern. I feel derisive. I feel gleeful. It will take the full usage of my frontal lobes to keep withering sarcasm in check.
Well, at least you admit it.
I have nothing to add. You guys have covered everything.
How strange that the experience of being a “real woman” is narrowly defined to be heterosexual attraction… Apparently every other aspect of being a woman and being a human being is outside the realm of “real” women.
JHonest’s comment is completely true. Um hmm. The only way it could be more true if if zefrank narrated it.
Behold the true alpha female:
Translation: You are getting sleeeeeeepy. Your eyelids are falling. Soon, you will sex me upon command…
Nope, no sex for you, troll. That last bit there was actual truth, and truth always wakes me right the fuck up. No matter how many teal deer a liar throws across my path with his NLP bullshit spiel.
Also, wtf are “forced questions”? Who or what “forces” them?
Jeebus, in the idiotsphere, it’s like no one has free will or any autonomy at all!
Huh.
That was oddly revealing. Untill encountering an alpha male women are not real women? They exist in some insubstantial capacity, unnoticed and unreal, only attaining actual presence in reality once exposed to the guiding light of an alpha male?
I guess I wasn’t expecting someone to straight up come out and that women have no right to exist without a male attachment, yet there you go.
I have no male attachment, and yet I exist. I must be Schrödinger’s Woman.
@Bina:
So you do have a male attachment? 😛
I have met those d00dz from time to time. They hold eye contact a bit too long and hold you hand a bit too long when introduced. They are seriously creepy.
Aw, bless, he thinks that means women are overwhelmed by his manly alphaness rather than they’re desperately searching for an escape route.
The rest of it was a bit letters to Penthouse forum, though. It’s a Mary Sue fanfiction starring himself, and just as awkward to read as those usually are.
OMG! I had forgotten this is the opening doors thread.
Here where I live in the Peoples Republic of the Puget Sound we all open doors for one another willy nilly. It irritates the bejeepers out of the self styled alpha males. You can tell by the expression on their sad face.
Dude, you described a scenario in which you creeped a woman out. Been there.
@ thebewilderness – those poor, poor dears would really hate it here in Canada, then! Mwhahahaha!
I really want to see that now, because what can they say? “Stop being so polite and helpful”?
I don’t care if this is a feminist site. That doesn’t mean this article is false. It makes sense that the ‘betas’ are the ‘alphas’ in that they are the dominant males. The beta description is that of a more intelligent person, whereas the ‘alpha’ is a mook, or a douche bag-type.
The concept of Alpha male is stupid any way, without any need for scientific breakdown of any sort.
“Hi, I’m an Alpha male, you will want to have sex with me, because I made myself like this stereotype because I understand that is what is attractive to Women, oh and I must confess, I’m not really an “Alpha” male, because i’m basically BEING TOLD HOW TO ACT”
.Hmm interesting…
The defense is: I had no father role model.
Well neither did I, what’s your point? Do you cry, have you cried about having no male role model/father? Why is that? Could it be because “men don’t cry”, listening to what you’re told?
Grow a fucking pair and be yourself, it’s the only way you’re going to attract any one of quality and compatibility.
PS Women and make up are the same.
Article argument summarised: “Alpha is a term used in dominance hierarchies for wolves. However, it turns out dominance hierarchies in wolves don’t work how we thought, therefore every other social hierarchy with the alpha concept is also incorrect”.
^^Something tells me you realised how bad this argument was a long time ago. However, I’m not going through all the comments to see if someone else has pointed out this flaw. Non-human primate DNA and social behaviour is much closer to ours, and much of the research into their hierarchies uses the alpha concept. I don’t like all the alpha/beta pseudoscience passed around in the seduction community… but this counter-argument against its scientific basis in primates (like us) is just as poor.
Anyone who has spent extended time in human groups, will have felt the effects of dominance hierarchies (both male and female varieties). They might have ‘seen’ them too, if they have an interest in social psychology or group processes. Yes, these hierarchies and the value systems they are based on are extremely depressing (especially in terms of human mating behaviour) but that doesn’t make them any less real. I do see the utility in people wanting to pretend these hierarchies don’t exist, but the effort required to do so must be substantial in this age of information.
So you decided to counter one shitty argument with another? (Protip: the existence of social hierarchies does not mean the Greek Letter model applies)