I've spent more time than I'd like to admit consuming pickup artist content across every medium. I've watched TV shows, lurked in online forums, and read books - the legitimate ones from major publishers and some shady ones sold as e-books on dubious websites. I can partly chalk that up to the fact that, in the mid-2010s, pickup artist forums became politically relevant due to GamerGate, an online harassment campaign targeting women in the gaming industry.
In the mid-2010s, loosely organized online movements began spilling into the real world, catching popular culture off guard and leaving many journalists flat-footed in unfamiliar internet territory. You know their names. Pizzagate. QAnon. And the most consequential of all, MAGA: a mainstream political movement fueled in part by a fervent online contingent. But before all that came Gamergate, the proving ground where the tactics were tested.