Much of the recent news has been centred around the issues of feminism and misogyny. Most recently, Rosetta scientist Matt Taylor’s latest choice of attire has received thousands of complaints worldwide due to images of scantily clad women on his shirt, ‘pick up’ artist Julien Blanc has been banned by the Home Office from entering the UK due to a high level of criticism surrounding his pick up techniques (which have been labelled as “sexually abusive”)and ITV’s Daniel O’Reilly, better known as Dapper Laughs who is blamed for giving a platform to “everyday sexism”. 

These ‘lads’ of today’s society are being individually scrutinised, some due to their profession and others due to their absurd choice of clothing. The media is spending a lot of time and energy into publicising these individuals, and focussing on them as entities and personalities, rather than burrowing down into the root of the problem. The root of the problem is caused greatly by the toxic changes of social norms over the years, and the lack of political action to moderate feminism and misogyny in modern society, rather than targeting individuals in the public eye.

There is a lack of progressive political reform in such matters, which has been replaced with pin-pointing and targeting those who have a more casual view on the topic. This new wave of censorship and questionable protests raises concerns over the underlying reasons for these allegations.

Controversial US ‘pick up artist’ Julien Blanc is under vast scrutiny for the material he was teaching in his seminars, and his abusive and dominating techniques of ‘picking up women’. There is little said however on the research in which he bases his techniques of ‘Real Social Dynamics’. Blanc bases his ‘pulling’ moves from the book The Game by Neil Strauss, where investigative reporter Strauss talks about the different stages involved in the seduction community. There are several steps in this which he categorises into ‘steps’, such as; selecting a target, approach and open, demonstrate value, disarm the obstacles, isolate the target, create an emotional connection, extract to a seduction location, pump buying temperature, make a physical connection, blast last-minute resistance and manage expectations.

Blanc has utilised and mastered the techniques set out by Strauss, which proved successful in ‘pulling women’. Like many other ‘lads’ out there, Blanc was once a shy guy with horrible skills with women. The Game allowed for men to build on their confidence and break down any barriers between them and their female counterparts. In actual fact, most men use some of these techniques without realising, so does that make every single lad a sexual predator?

Another male counterpart, Matthew Hussey who uses similar human dynamics coaching techniques is known for teaching women how to ‘get the guy’. Hussey uses the same basics as Blanc, and yet has received no negative press about his dynamics coaching and seminars. Arguably, Hussey’s techniques have not been dubbed as ‘sexually abusive’, but because in society when a woman tries to lure a man, it’s apparently different to when a man tries to lure a woman. This is the real problem with society, not necessarily these prime individuals who have been targeted by the media for their profession, but for the lack of interest in the real issues surrounding these men in power. Feminism should be tackled in the long-term and institutions such as the Crown Prosecution Service and other governmental departments should be held accountable.

Matt Taylor’s shirt controversy was so outrageously blown out proportion. It’s sad to see that society decided to focus on this man’s attire, and overlook his scientific findings and professional work on air. The desensitisation of certain media content has blinded our thoughts. Instead of campaigning against individuals, we should campaign against institutions and the greater change in social norms, which has made these men’s actions acceptable. We live in a culture where there is no longer a strong focus on political activism. Instead of nit-picking at individuals, we should focus on fixing the root of the problem, and change state institutions and corporations’ sickening movements.

Pictures: Huffington Post UK, ABC.net