Sleaze Alert: Why This Guide To Seduction Makes Us Mad

UPDATE: Kickstarter has released an apology on their blog, saying that while they cannot take back money from a project after the fact, "content promoting or glorifying violence against women or anyone else has always been prohibited from Kickstarter. If a project page contains hateful or abusive material we don’t approve it in the first place. If we had seen this material when the project was submitted to Kickstarter (we didn’t), it never would have been approved. Kickstarter is committed to a culture of respect."

In theory, Kickstarter is a great medium — we love that struggling companies or lesser-known charities can get the attention and funding they deserve, and don't even get us started on the wonders it's done for the Veronica Mars movie. But, like many things in life, all it takes is one bad seed to ruin the whole thing for everybody. And today, we found that seed on Kickstarter.

Enter Above The Game, a project by a CT-based Redditor based off of his "popular step-by-step guide for getting good with women." The fund, which has sadly received overwhelming monetary support and has even exceeded all of its goals, sought to raise dough for the publication of a book that will help men, well, get laid. The author claims to have spent decades perfecting his "dating" methods, and is now looking to impart this wisdom on all the unlucky-in-love men out there. He even promised extra bonus chapters for higher and higher funding levels, including topics like "Rules of the Wingman" and "Juggling Multiple Relationships." Seriously.

Now, to be fair, the man behind this cause claims not to be just another sleazeball trying to seduce women — rather, he portrays Above The Game as a dating guide (think a real-life Hitch), and warns that reading the book will not act as a magic pill guaranteed to get any girl to sleep with you. But, just a little bit of investigation into his Reddit thread (which served as the inspiration for the book project) turns up some extremely alarming advice. Jezebel uncovered nuggets like "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 women." Even worse: "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."

And the worst part? From what we can gather (and, of course, we haven't met the man in question nor spoken to him about his motives) the men who perpetuate these atrocities truly don't believe they're doing anything wrong. They don't find themselves sleazy or disrespectful towards women, but rather giving a leg up to men who need a little help bedding women. We can only hope that we womenkind are far too smart to fall for their "tactics." Or, if you're just as fired up as we are, head over to Do Something and sign the petition to keep this book off the presses. (Kickstarter)