Julien Blanc, also known as RSD Julien, is a self-described “executive dating coach” seemingly without a conscience. In expensive seminars held in hotels around the world the Real Social Dynamics instructor teaches men to “Make Girls BEG To Sleep With You After SHORT-CIRCUITING Their Emotional And Logical Mind,” as his breathless promo material puts it.
What this means in practice? Manipulation, mind-fuckery and in some cases outright physical assault — none of which he makes any attempts to hide.
Indeed, a video Julien himself put out in September showed the “dating” guru working his particular magic on unsuspecting Japanese women — by putting them in headlocks and/or pushing their heads to his crotch.
In footage from one of his recent workshops, he told a roomful of hopeful creeps that in Tokyo,
if you’re a white male, you can do what you want. … I’m just romping through the streets,just grabbing girls’ heads, just like, head, pfft on the dick.
After discovering a video featuring some of this footage — the one I’ve embedded at the top of this page — feminist activist Jennifer Li set up a petition on Change.org urging the Como Melbourne hotel, and other hotels hosting Real Social Dynamics seminars, to boot Julian and his comrades, charging them with “[making] a living by teaching men how to violate women through physical and emotional abuse.”
Li also started up the hashtag #TakeDownJulienBlanc in order to spread the news and organize opposition to Julien’s seminars.
It worked. The video featuring Julien’s abusive tactics went viral, racking up a quarter million pageviews on YouTube, and the petition quickly garnered nearly fifteen thousand signatures.
And the Como Melbourne hotel listened:
Following an objective review, we are in the process of advising Real Social Dynamics of our decision not to proceed as their event venue.
— The Como Melbourne (@ComoMelbourne) November 4, 2014
[UPDATE: RSD quickly rescheduled the event at a different location.]
Li and the other #TakeDownJulienBlanc organizers are now aiming their sights on hotels hosting other RSD events in Seattle and Austin, Texas. Anonymous has also gotten into the action.
It’s easy to see why the #TakeDownJulienBlanc campaign has spread so quickly. Pickup artists are a sleazy, manipulative and generally pretty amoral bunch But “RSD Julien” takes PUA creepiness to a whole new level, teaching his acolytes a form of “pickup artistry” that bears a strong resemblance to domestic abuse.
In his promo material, he boasts that his approach is
Offensive, It’s Inappropriate, It’s Emotionally Scarring, BUT IT’S DAMN EFFECTIVE
He tries to pass this off as a joke, but it’s really not; his techniques are clearly abusive.
I pointed out some of his bizarre gaslighting tricks in a post last year. But if anything he seems to have gotten worse since then.
Indeed, Julien recently Tweeted a picture of the Duluth Power and Control wheel, a tool used by anti-DV activists to highlight abusive behavior, declaring it to be a handy “checklist” of techniques to use to “MakeHerStay.” (Another sleazeball pickup guru I’ve written about a lot, Heartiste, also claims to have found inspiration in the Duluth wheel.)
And then there’s what Julien calls the “Choke Opener,” which he has documented in a series of pics showing him with his hand around the throats of assorted women, all of which he’s helpfully tagged with #ChokingGirlsAroundTheWorld.
As Julien sees it, these, er, pickup techniques enable men to, as he declares in all-caps on his site, to
DEVELOP PANTY-DROPPING MASCULINITY WITH THIS ROCK-SOLID STRUCTURE TO SELF-GENERATE THE POWERFUL EMOTIONS GIRLS CRAVE
Well, he’s generated some powerful emotions, all right, though I don’t think anger and disgust were the ones he was going for.
@Elecktra – glad you got out of there, and e-hugs for you if you want them.
@idle – but they THINK they practice BDSM for sure. Apparently, they think that EVERYONE wants/practices BDSM, if they’re using some evo-psych crap to back it up. And all the “girls” are subs and all the men are doms and there’s no other way to do it ever. I honestly don’t know whether to feel sorry for these guys for their views on sex and gender or to be physically ill. I think I need to fetch the bucket just in case…
I’m betting many of them, if not all of them, are.
The entire point of PUA tactics is to trick, drug, manipulate or intimidate a woman into sex. Consent is not a consideration. These guys are not PUAs for the consensual sex. It’s about the thrill they get from hurting women. It makes them feel manly and superior to insult, rape, harass and assault women. They think women owe them sex and should be punished for not giving it to them on demand. They make a point of treating a woman’s consent as an obstacle to overcome by any means necessary.
I live in the area, and I am seriously considering going down to St Kilda at 7pm, watching them, and performing a citizen’s arrest when (and not if, since it’s supposed to be a ‘live demo tour’) he assaults someone in that manner.
Keep in mind that if this is how he feels completely comfortable behaving in public and posting online, he’s even worse when he has a woman cornered where there are no witnesses. Just my personal thoughts on him: There is no doubt in my mind that Julien the proud serial sexual assault perpetrator is a rapist.
SOMEBODY FETCH US SOME BRAIN BLEACH STAT. Preferably polar bear cubs.
I’m using my mobile on wifi so I can’t access YouTube or post cute pictures. D:
Those pictures of him choking women in Denmark are going to haunt me. You can’t see their facial expressions but I bet they were frightened for their lives. And this is meant to be a pick up tactic! It’s that Margaret Atwood quote to a T.
It’s not a polar bear but it’s two other cute furrinati:
http://www.cutecatgifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/bie.gif
http://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/128/590x/secondary/112334.jpg
Real Social Dynamics is also the same PUA company that produced Jeffy, the “rape van” pickup artist, covered by Jezebel a few years ago:
http://jezebel.com/5980600/prominent-pick-up-artist-drives-a-rape-van-and-harasses-women-on-okcupid
http://jezebel.com/5981578/angry-texts-from-the-rape-van-pick-up-artist
Is it too much to hope that somebody kicks the shit out of him? Pulls a James Caan from the Godfather?
I hate to resort to violence, but what else to you do with someone who not only doesn’t think that hurting others is wrong but gets off on causing pain to the vulnerable.?
You know, I found you guys about two weeks ago via a search re: GG. I have read a lot of the site including comments (yesterday >800 on one thread featuring Woody, Woodyred and Elizabeth/Erin, remember them?) and have to share how impressed I am. I have been in a very quiet little bubble since my son died and haven’t had much contact with the world for many, many months. It has been a powerful learning experience to find this site and this community.
I am still adjusting to even knowing about such horrifying monsters. I won’t even call them men because I know that there are actual men who are wonderful, who are human and real. Like David, like the men who comment here, like my sons.
I just wanted to thank you for the education and entertainment. I may not comment much but I am lurking and learning.
Jeeeeesus. Read through the dude’s website thingy, which was just chock full of words (and ADJECTIVES! must be trying to brainwash people, also RANDOMLY capitalized WORDS).
The most interesting bit was the “testimonials” where even his supporters are shocked by what he does and wonder why he hasn’t gone to jail yet, calling him “uncontrolled.” And these are testimonials he’s decided to put on the selling page.
Because despite what MRAs keep trying to claim, violence against women is never taken seriously. Unfortunately, he will probably not face any legal consequences for his actions until he escalates and puts a woman in the hospital. And from the look of things, he has a pretty good chance of escalating. I was only exaggerating a little when I likened him to BTK. It’s clear that he gets off on both lack of consent and associating sex with violence. It’s only a matter of time before “PUA tactics” aren’t enough to arouse him. Look at how young he still is.
This guy has potential serial killer written all over him.
Prima facie evidence of assault and battery.
Specifically, in my state…
http://i.imgur.com/JLw9kjE.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/bJuebnj.jpg
http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0wgrwSKdT1r2beps.gif
He has a low probability of getting hurt because he seeks people and situations he knows to be vulnerable. I hope, without the slightest hint of remorse, that he makes a judgement error before he ends up seriously hurting or killing someone. Rather him than someone of value.
My cynical side suspects this is a marketing ploy. It’s a message to his target audience: “Look just how far you can push things and still suffer no consequences.” I suspect many in that audience are thrilled by that message.
Also, I suspect a lot of his followers also take comfort in being able to say things like “Sure, I may keep pressuring women after they say no, but I don’t go around choking them. I’m not out of control like him.”
This creep reminds me of a kid a couple years behind me in high school, who was kind of out of control.
A year or two after I graduated, this kid took soapy water and poured it into the coin slot of the Coke machine in the high school. Someone told him if he did that, the machine would malfunction and dump its stock. Well, it didn’t and he got into real trouble.
The creep in the OP is like that. He thinks there’s some cheat to make the sex machine malfunction and dump sex all over him. I hope someone stops him as soon as possible, before he hurts more people.
Did the background get changed? I’m seeing a gradient between dark gray and light gray instead of the usual wallpaper.
as a lesbian this makes me so sad at the men defending this as “male sexuality”. they admit that they are monsters with no shame
Ugh, I’m feeling triggered just looking at those choking photos. I can guarantee if anyone did that to me (even my partner) it would set off a panic attack.
@titianblue @grumpyoldnurse @sorceressensorcelled Thank you, thank you and endless thank you’s for your hugs and kindness =)
@Master of the Boot
“Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster… for when you gaze long into the abyss. The abyss gazes also into you.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
It’s always the first impulse… but then we’d be no better than abusers themselves.
That’s why I think it’s great that people like Blanc, Pepper and many more are exposed for the danger they represent.
However, it’s really frustrating that sometimes there’s no social condemnation at all and that they simply walk away unaffected.
@Jarred H
Just like the GG (and other random) harassers that don’t stop because they don’t get caught.
People like Blanc and those that approve harassment (on the streets, at nightclubs, at college, online, and/or anywhere else) don’t even think of women as less.
In their twisted cosmovisions, it makes sense: how can misogyny exist to them if they don’t even consider women humans? Women are not people to them, so they think it’s absolutely natural for them to do what they do.
@Master of the Boot,
Maybe not. Although I wish the manosphere as one would go step on a mega lego, wishing actual violence upon them and sinking down to this douchebag’s level isn’t the way to go. You can add your signature to the petition however to cancel further talks by Julien Blanc here (I think this is the right link, sorry if it’s not):
https://www.change.org/p/the-como-melbourne-hotel-cancel-julien-blanc-and-rsd-s-seminars-takedownjulienblanc
@zennurse,
All the hugs for you if you want them, and I’m so glad if this community is helping you in whatever way it can.
Thanks Misha and for the link.
I’ll repeat my favorite David Futrelle line, always think of it when I see these PUA’s
” Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?”
I was lurking in 8chan this morning relative to the GG WW1 action on Tumblr and just kept wanting to post THIS IS YOUR MOTHER, WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOURE DOING?
It is hard to imagine how PUA’s explain to their female family folk why they do what they do, how they justify such unspeakable, nasty behavior. Can their family be unaware? Does mom just day, “That’s nice, dear.”?
I would never.
I think exposure, censure, and boycotting by the hospitality industry are the best way to combat this sort of thing. Men like this rely on the element of surprise and the fact that there aren’t strong legal or social sanctions against choking and insulting women in public. (Well, there are some social sanctions, but they’re mostly invisible to the Julien Blancs of the world.) Raising awareness of these tactics can only help.
No, he’s not effective at attracting women. But he is DAMN EFFECTIVE at attracting glurge-for-brains sleazebags who have plenty of cash, a burning need to get laid uber alles, and zero human decency.
You have to wonder why his followers don’t ask “If you’re so great with women, why do you have to resort to physical force to get them to interact with you?” I think it’s because the sort of people who pay big bucks for a “Real Social Dynamics” seminar are already so cynical and entitled that, rather than learn how to work within society’s standards, they want to be told that it’s OK to reject them altogether. They want their fantasies confirmed and their egos stroked. They want to be told “Laws and social conventions are for weak, timid, fearful people! You are not one of them! Literally walk down the street and grab what you want. It’s there for the taking!”
It’s like paying a get-rich-quick guru hundreds of dollars and being told to “Steal from cash registers! IT TOTALLY WORKS!”