With all the focus lately on the Jian Ghomeshi sexual assault scandal, it isn’t a surprise that Canadians would want to prevent a guy like Julien Blanc from coming Canada to promote his brand of “pick-up artistry.” According to Blanc and his company, Real Social Dynamics, picking up women is as easy as going up to her, and taking what you want. Sound abusive? Sound like rape? Well, that’s because it is.
Blanc has a website called pimpingmygame.com where he tries to appeal to guys who are shy and have no luck when it comes to women. He tells the story of how he used to be that socially awkward guy who struck out every time, until he discovered Neil Strauss’ The Game, and went on to develop his own program. You can buy all his wisdom for the low price of $497.
Among Blanc’s questionable tactics are the use of physical force, including something he calls the “Choke Opener” where he actually chokes a woman to force her to pay attention to him. He also encourages rape, with frequent tweets such as “Don’t forget to treat women how you don’t want to be treated”, and “When does no mean no?”
His blog posts have titles like “Make Her Obey: How to Never Give Her a Chance to Say No.” There is also a video on Youtube of him telling a room full of men about how he went around Tokyo shoving women’s heads into his crotch, and that “if you are a white male, you can do anything.” Blanc isn’t interested in getting to know a girl, and taking her out on a date. He is interested in manipulating every woman he meets into sleeping with him. And he is teaching other guys to do the same.
This past weekend, Blanc and his company were in Australia, holding seminars on how to pick up women. But when the media caught wind of Blanc’s tactics, they started a campaign to get him kicked out of the country. And it worked. Blanc left Australia after his Visa was revoked, and all the venues for his seminars backed out. Since then, a petition called Keep Julien Blanc Out of Canada has gone viral, along with the hashtag #KeepJulienBlancOutOfCanada on Twitter. On Tuesday, RSD removed the list of Canadian “bootcamps” dates from its website without explanation. The company has not confirmed that the events are cancelled.
There were previously RSD events scheduled in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver, and although it was never confirmed whether Blanc was supposed to be a part of them. The petition, has been acknowledged by immigration minister, Christopher Alexander. He told Global News, “As a husband and father of two young girls, I find this person’s views, his actions, and the fact he profits from them, absolutely and utterly disgusting. We are looking at all options and will consider every tool at our disposal to protect the rule of law on Canadian soil.”
The topic of consent is everywhere right now, and by letting a guy who treats consent as an unnecessary burden, come and “teach” his techniques as if he is some kind of expert, we are sending the message that his ideas are worth learning.
Even if he does manage to get into the country, do everyone a favour and don’t buy a $2000 ticket to his seminar. Maybe showing up to a huge room full of empty chairs will tell Julian Blanc that in Canada, we don’t take advice from rapists.
