Pickup artists (PUA), self-identified as dating coaches, the seduction community or the pickup community, is a movement of men (or women) whose goal is seduction and sexual success. The community exists through Internet newsletters and blogs, marketing (e.g. banner ads, seminars, one-on-one coaching), forums and groups, as well as local clubs, known as "lairs". The rise of "seduction science", "game", "rizz", or "studied charisma" has been attributed to modern forms of dating and social norms between sexes which have developed from a perceived increase in the equality of women in western society and changes to traditional gender roles. Commentators in the media have described "game" as sexist or misogynistic. History Modern pickup artist practice dates at least to 1970, with the publication of How to Pick Up Girls! by Eric Weber. However, one self-described "picker-upper of women" preceding Weber was rational emotive psychotherapist Albert Ellis, who wrote The Art of Erotic Seduction in 1967 with Roger Conway. It is a how-to guide for men that encourages them to meet women through the "pickup". In 1991, Ross Jeffries taught workshops, promoted a collection of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) techniques called "speed seduction" (SS), and published a short book of his techniques, How to Get the Women You Desire into Bed. Other exponents established themselves in roughly the same era, but lacked contacts with each other. In 1994, Lewis De Payne, then a student of Jeffries, founded the newsgroup alt.seduction.fast (ASF). This then spawned a network of other Internet discussion forums, email lists, blogs, and sites where seduction techniques could be exchanged. In the late 1990s, Clifford Lee began his Cliff's List Seduction Letter as a central independent voice of the community. Other pickup teachers emerged with competing methods, and became known within this community as "seduction gurus" or "gurus". The community was brought to greater mainstream awareness with the 1999 drama film Magnolia, in which Tom Cruise portrayed a charismatic yet embittered and emotionally-troubled pickup guru who was loosely modeled on Ross Jeffries. In 2005, journalist Neil Strauss published The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists, an exposé of the PUA community. The Game reached the New York Times Bestseller List, and made pickup techniques known to a wider audience. The community was further publicized with the television show The Pick Up Artist (2007–2008) on VH1. Within the community, seduction lairs are underground meeting groups for men devoted to the