Writing about abhorrent misogyny pretty much every day of every week can get a tad depressing. So I’m glad to have some actual good news to report. Good news, at least, for non-misogynists.
The #TakeDownJulienBlanc campaign has taken off internationally, and the “pickup artist” who advocates choking women as a clever “opener” has been kicked out of Australia, his visa revoked.
In an op-ed in The Independent yesterday, self-described “Aggressive Chinese Girl” Jenn Li explained why she started the #TakeDownJulienBlanc campaign and what it has accomplished so far:
Julien Blanc, a “dating advice” consultant working for Real Social Dynamics (RSD), travels around the world teaching men how to manipulate, and in some cases, sexually assault women. …
In Blanc’s videos his treatment of women is – to put it lightly – horrifying. There are videos of him going up to women, clasping their throats, while putting his finger on his lips, saying “shhh”. For reasons beyond me, he has decided to document this abuse by labelling the videos of him doing this with his own hashtag: #ChokingGirlsAroundtheWorld. …
When talking about how to “seduce” a Japanese woman, he is quoted as saying: “Just grab her… To take the pressure off, yell Pikachu or Pokemon or Tamagotchi or something”. He is obsessed with degrading Japanese women, and abusing his white male privilege. “…
By perpetuating the idea that Asian women are a “free for all” for predatory men, he is encouraging other pathetic men to abuse them. …
When I first started the campaign, I had almost no strategy; I just threw things and hoped they stuck. I called the Japanese Embassy, reported him, wrote to the press, did the hashtag thing, and started a petition on change.org.
I’m now targeting venues who are hosting his events. The campaign is still in its early stages, but something has seemed to have stuck. We have been able to shut down events in Melbourne, Brisbane, Austin, and Seattle, and Eventbrite have stopped hosting his events.
In Melbourne, as I noted a couple of days ago, Li and her supporters convinced the hotel hosting his event to boot him. Blanc ended up having to host the event on a boat, and sent an assistant along to conduct the “seminar” in his place. Locals organized a protest and the event itself was shut down. Not long afterwards, local authorities reported that they had revoked Blanc’s visa. He’s now left the country.
Li’s next goal? To shut down Blanc’s scheduled seminars in Japan in two weeks.
RSD founder Owen Cook, aka “Tyler Durden,” has posted a weird, rambling “non response” to the controversy on his website, a strange mixture of apology, defiance and self-justification. After announcing that “we’re not NOT responding. :),” he basically throws Blanc under the bus:
I think Julien’s video was absolutely stupid. It was totally out of context and he posted it to get shock, not realizing the full outcome. I’m sorry about the video. I would have taken it down if I’d seen it, but don’t monitor all social media postings.
I watched Julien’s entire Free Tour from that event today, and he talks about not degrading women and how he’s just kidding around. The full infield clips have the girls laughing and asking him to kiss them and things like that. He deliberately left this out of the video to make it inflammatory. Again I don’t approve that behaviour and frankly neither does he, he was an idiot to post that.
Then he complains that #TakeDownJulienBlanc supporters are
deliberately taking things out of context. … I see fake twitter accounts claiming to be Julien, or videos from me with sarcasm that are cut to say insane things I’m not saying, and that have context when you watch the whole thing. They know they’re doing this and think it’s funny, so there’s not a lot of dialogue to be had.
So I’m not NOT talking… it’s just that there’s nobody to talk to. 🙂 I’ve apologized in other threads and condemned the behaviour. From there it is what it is.
He follows up with a weirdly self-aggrandizing spiel:
All I care about is my ability to do good in the world. RSD has been a cool vehicle to do that. If it isn’t a viable vehicle anymore, I’ll continue to do good. The people who watch our stuff honestly have no idea what it’s like to be a shy guy trying to learn to meet girls, or the pain it causes. They have no context for why we teach guys what we teach, after years of trying different things to see what works.
It doesn’t matter. I’ll always do amazing work and make the world better. As long as I can do that, I’m happy. The vehicle is just a temporary form that has to be discarded like anything else, whether tomorrow or in 50 years. As long as I’m alive I’ll keep finding new vehicles to do good things.
It seems like SJW’s cause a lot of trouble for good men as well as bad. I think it’s important people find out about them. I think the mainstream media does a lot of messed up things as well. I’ve honestly felt guilty for not addressing these issues for a while now, but was too busy teaching “pick up” which I’m sure people sensed I did more out of obligation to the community that helped me, than it being my main focus.
So regardless of what happens, I’ll continue to do good. I’ve spent days working on RSD related stuff, no different than before. I personally expect RSD to be fine. My life is basically the same as it ever was, not really different. I’ve been planning on building something new for a long time, and have a lot of things in the works with it even before this, so if it’s not fine I’ll do other things.
I suspect the plain English translation of all that is: CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP I THINK WE’RE SCREWED.
As far as I know, Blanc himself hasn’t offered any response to any of this yet — aside from quietly taking down Tweets featuring pictures of him choking women.
For the latest on all this, check out the #TakeDownJulienBlanc hashtag on Twitter, and follow Li herself at @JennLi123.
You can also sign a petition to Take Down Julien Blanc and RSD’s Seminars and Web content. Last I checked, the Change.org petition had garnered more than 30,000 signatures. There’s another one directed at the Japanese government here.
For more on the campaign against Blanc, see:
Julien Blanc, the ‘female attraction’ expert, glorifies sexual violence. The fewer seminars he holds, the better, by Somayya Ismailjee at TheGuardian.com.
Julien Blanc, self-described pick-up artist who promotes choking women, leaves Australia and has visa cancelled, at ABC.net.au.
Australian Government Deports Notorious “Pick-Up Artist” Julien Blanc, by Mark Di Stefano at Buzzfeed.
Also, charging $2000 per man to tell them that abusing women is the key to their happiness sounds to me like . . . pretty much the opposite of helping those men.
Cry Troll! And unleash the Wargies of War!
(apologies to Shakespeare)
Strangely, I care enough about my fellow human beings that I don’t really consider the efficacy of assault and abuse to be relevant to the question of whether it’s ethical or not. “But it works!” is not exactly a strong moral argument in favour of waving guns at people to get them to give you all of their money.
Update – the petition to keep him out of Japan is up to over 40,000 signatures, and they’re getting ready to present it to the immigration office.
That’s just, like, YOUR opinion, dude. But hey, at least you announced from the outset that it is bullshit.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Pull the other leg, sparky, it shoots hot buttered popcorn.
He’d lose. And it would serve him right.
Newsflash, putz: “Freedom of speech” does NOT protect those advocating crime. And how is strangling women into sleeping with you NOT a crime? And how is he NOT advocating it? Have you even watched his video?
No, I guess you haven’t watched that video. Because “choking girls all around the world” IS female abuse, fuckhead.
Newsflash: MEN ALREADY RULE THE ENTIRE FUCKING WORLD. None of them need “empowerment”. Especially not to commit rape. They already get away with it, you idiot.
No, he doesn’t.
No, he isn’t.
No, it isn’t.
You mean your PRIVILEGE. Which is NOT a right.
I’ll believe THAT when I see it. Frankly, he looks like shit on a shingle, and his dress sense is straight out of a dumpster. Who’d sleep with THAT?
Uh, I don’t. NOBODY does. Who are you even talking to?
“Boohooohoo! Evil sluts won’t sleep with me unless I force them! It’s all their fault! Bitches!”
Most don’t. And NONE appreciate being grabbed around the neck by random assholes in the street.
Really? Then why did Australia kick him out? BECAUSE HE BROKE THEIR LAWS, YOU MORON.
Most of his quotes are him joking. It’s all taken out of context, a context woman might find hard to understand. I’ve watched a lot of juliens stuff and not once did I feel he was encouraging abusive actions.
Funny, but all the context anyone needs is already out there. He doesn’t strike me as funny, let alone attractive and desirable. And NOBODY chokes people as a “joke”. If you have to explain it and then castigate the audience for not laughing on cue, it is YOU who lacks a sense of humor.
Especially since you came to whine and pout and stomp your feet and cry on a site dedicated to mockery of idiots such as yourself.
I love the idea that you can sue someone for starting a Change.org petition, that’s just precious.
Urgh…the last bit from Trolly McTrollington should have been in blockquotes. Here, monster, have another little piece of my arse.
Also, I love their use of the word “infield”. What is this, a game of baseball?
It’s real cute that Kurtis thinks Julien Blanc didn’t do anything wrong by choking women and shoving their faces in his crotch, and then concludes this:
Kurtis, I can’t say I really trust your judgement about what constitutes abusive actions here.
There’s another troll arguing that Blanc’s “techniques” work so it’s all good in this thread, too.
I suspect they are fantasising that they are really secret agents.
Re: freedom of speech
Not only do these putzes not understand what freedom of speech means in the US, they have no comprehension that other countries have different laws. The US is actually an aberration in how their freedom of speech laws work compared to other western countries.
Hi there, Savethebees! Have a Welcome Package!
Quoting your comment in case people missed it – that’s good news, all right!
Just a reminder for trollfuckwit:
I hope this will be visible even tough this is not one of the latest posts on the blog.
Julien Blan is scheduled to give his “workshops” in two Brazilian cities soon. Brazilian groups have started a petition to prevent him from entering the country and have his events there. If they cannot prevent it, at least I wish that authorities will be aware of how many people find him toxic. I would ask you to sign this petition. Many non-residents of Brazil are doing so in order to give their support and show how terrible Julien Blanc is. It would be great if you could take part.
https://secure.avaaz.org/po/petition/Policia_Federal_Brasileira_Explusao_de_Julien_Blance/?fbssga
For the first time this year, I can be proud to be an Australian. Thanks for sharing all of the links guys, I’ve been comment lurking and petition signing!
I’ve been lurking on this site for nigh on a year now, and reading the main post make me uber sad. And then I scroll down to the comments, and read all of you awesome people and it restores my faith in humanity. This site is seriously one of the only comment sections that don’t routinely devolve into a cesspool of hatred.
Also, hope y’all don’t mind me signal boosting this event in Berlin?
https://www.facebook.com/events/1498651573742783/?ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular
And right now I’m highly amused to be Australian.
I’d love to be a fly on the wall when coal-is-wonderful Tony has meetings with staffers designing strategies and speeches and 3 word mantras for the G20 meeting about climate change policies and realities. He looks a real dunce now that US and China have pre-empted the tone and content of any mention of ~that~ topic.
Brazil petition signed and passed along. I have at least one Brazilian friend on Facebook, so I know this will keep rolling.
Thank you for your support! 🙂
Joining the Berlin event and spreading it. I hope we can get this individual’s disgusting message away from everywhere, even from his home country.
Further good news in Melbourne:
http://www.smh.com.au/victoria/antisexual-harassment-taskforce-to-stop-shameless-conduct-by-victoria-police-officers-20141113-11liyg.html
Good for Jenn Li. That dude needs to be in jail for assault.
Just signed the petition to keep him outta the UK. It was at >90k when I did so.
To Trolly McTroll: He committed at least one verified crime in Japan: kyōsei waisetsu (forcible indecency) , a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison. So you know, Japanese prisons make American prisons look like day spas.
Oh, and he also may have violated the terms of his visa by working.
If you think for a freaking moment that the giggles and smiles of the Japanese girls are because they are enjoying themselves you are a wishful thinking idiot. The Japanese people smile and giggle when they are distressed.
A lone foreigner is unlikely to face prosecution, because Japanese people don’t like to be bothers to their governments. But with the Japanese, when the tide turns, it will turn fast. (Hey, look how fast they went from being a backward feudal society to invading Mongolia). They will also do it en masse.
And since large numbers of them can speak/read English, they’re sure to be watching this one from now on. I can hardly wait to watch RSD implode.
“And since large numbers of them can speak/read English, they’re sure to be watching this one from now on.”
It’s already been translated into Japanese for them and is on YouTube. Foreigners in Japan are being put in the awkward position of having to answer for the man. There is anti-foreigner sentiment in Japan, and the foreigners who actually live there are pissed. Some of the *American* guys over there are ready to bring his presence to the attention of the Japanese police if they see him. There are home grown Japanese activists too who are trying to keep him out, too. My guess is he won’t be granted another visa. And if the off chance he is, he won’t be allowed to “teach”.
Fuck, so many people who talk just for talk, who are they to judge?… yeah I now is a good distractor to see a man that can be judge and condemn, it helps to forget the misery in the lives of the hatters, is just bullshit…
This man Julien Blanc, i’ve been follow him for the last two years, I can say that you the feminist and white knifes are wrong. Is all about point of view.
We are in the 21 century and keep thinking like a square. Is obvious that the mainstream media distorts the info so we can see a more shoking and seeling think that is so far away from the truth.
The truth in part or half the truth is not the truht.
Wake up People!! Stop the hate, there´s no need and least towards this young boy.
(I apologize for my english)