When Kickstarter Funds A Rape Manual – Updates At The Bottom

This was brought to my attention earlier today by Kxhara & Casey Malone, and being a woman on the internet, I’ve decided it needs more attention. Now, I may summarize this into a very shortened version, but there will be links provided to the original content.  Apparently, Ken Hoinsky who is a frequenter of the seduction forums on Reddit started a kickstarter. What was this kickstarter you ask? It was to fund a book called “Above The Game: A Guide to Getting Awesome With Women” Now, the horrible name aside, what the title doesn’t say is that within it’s pages is not only a how-to-guide to pick up women, but a manual on how to sexually assault them. Below are some of the points made in the book:

• Desire: Now what does that mean? Yes, it means telling a girl she’s cute and that you want to get to know her better… But you know what is even more important? TOUCH. Yes, let your body do the talking! After many years of observation, I’ve realized one thing… All the best seducers can’t keep their hands off the women they find attractive. It’s as if something primal inside of them compels them to go after what they desire.
• Women want a man to dominate them in the bedroom. They want the hair at the base of their neck pulled. They want a man to groan in bed with them. They want to be ravished and told how fucking sexy they are. They want to be seduced and FUCKED by a real man.
• Excitement: Women want to be taken on magic carpet rides. Women want adventure in their lives. They want to wake up the morning after meeting a man thinking, “Wow, who WAS that guy?” Women want to feel beautiful. Women want amazing stories to tell their friends and make them jealous. Women want passion. Women want to be swept off their feet.
• 4) Go outside, find an attractive woman and say, “You know, you are absolutely beautiful. I just had to tell you that.” See? That wasn’t so bad, right? Now do it again. And again. After ten approaches, try and initiate a short conversation. Do not let a week go by without telling a beautiful woman that she is beautiful ever again. Don’t let your seduction muscles atrophy.
• Look DIRECTLY into her eye and DO NOT LOOK AWAY. I don’t give a shit if you’re a foot away or across the room from her, HOLD IT. You will feel a rush of energy, nerves, and POWER. Learn to love that feeling, it’s the feeling of you becoming a man who is successful with women, kiddo. Run with it.
• Get CLOSE to her, damn it! 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 of women. Well you’re not gonna be able to do that if you aren’t in close! Shake her hand, hold the handshake for just slightly longer than most guys would, and close the gap between you and the girl until you can feel the sexual tension thicken up. This is how you demonstrate intent in your approach.
• The trick here is getting out of your comfort zone. Push your limits, be high energy, be low energy, say something crazy, mess up a girl’s hair out of nowhere, pick her up in the air and spin her around, talk to her about sports, ask her about her family, ask her interview questions about her job and where she went to school. Get a drink thrown in your face. Try everything!
• Go to a high-energy nightclub or bar on a weekend with the sole intention of getting rejected in the most hilarious fashion possible. (This mindset is important. Bring friends if possible.) Think of crazy things to ask and do to women, then do it. Then do it to 10 more girls.Examples: Rub a girl’s head and mess up her hair a little. Ask a group of girls their thoughts on The Human Centipede series.
• 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.
• Pull out your cock and put her hand on it. Remember, she is letting you do this because you have established yourself as a LEADER. Don’t ask for permission, GRAB HER HAND, and put it right on your dick.

There’s even a chapter on how shoving a girl to get her attention is an awesome idea to make her like you, and how to juggle multiple relationships so no one’s the wiser. Some of these points have since been removed from the public from the kickstarter page, but I think you get the idea.

Hello women of the internet, how do you feel about a guy handing out advice that says it’s okay for men to sexually molest you and otherwise assault you? Not great right? That’s what hundreds of both men and women said when they contacted Kickstarter in an attempt to have the project de-funded. Unfortunately, Kickstarter didn’t agree. Despite their own policy to not allow hateful or offensive material, the team at Kickstarter came back with a statement:

This morning, material that a project creator posted on Reddit earlier this year was brought to our and the public’s attention just hours before the project’s deadline. Some of this material is abhorrent and inconsistent with our values as people and as an organization. Based on our current guidelines, however, the material on Reddit did not warrant the irreversible action of canceling the project.

As stewards of Kickstarter we sometimes have to make difficult decisions. We followed the discussion around the web today very closely. It led to a lot of internal discussion and will lead to a further review of our policies.

Thank you Kickstarter for being no help at all. For now, the internet community has cooked up a petition you can sign towards having the project cancelled. The community at large also suggests you report the kickstarter, talk about it on facebook, twitter, and blog about it to help spread the word that we will not allow this stupidity to make it to the shelves.

More information: Kxhara’s Post on DeviantART, Casey Malone’s Original Blog Post

UPDATE: Kickstarter has issued an apology towards the community for their actions (mentioned above) in not removing the kickstarter the first time around, and has since changed their mind. Though they can’t remove the funds already sent to the project, they have removed the project page from Kickstarter and have vowed never to allow another so called “seduction-guide” onto their site. They’ve also vowed to donate $25,000  to an anti-sexual-violence organization to show the community that they do not support violence or the actions of Ken Hoinsky. Personally, I think this was an admirable effort on their part to right a startling and miss-thought decision that was made in haste and without all the facts. Though there’s nothing we do to keep the funded project from moving forward, perhaps our actions, and the actions of the staff at Kickstarter will prompt Mr. Hoinsky to take a deeper look at what he’s publishing and the message it is sending.

UPDATE 2:
The people at DoSomething.org got together with Ken Hoinsky after all of this was over, and released this statement today:

Today, Hoinsky said in a statement that he “wholeheartedly apologizes to everyone I offended” and is committed to writing a book that promotes consent, respect, and healthy relationships.

“Ben Kassoy of DoSomething.Org, a non-profit that encourages social change, reached out to me,” he says, “…to provide alternate opinions and insights to help remove all of the potentially harmful advice.”

Hoinsky realizes he needed to “seriously evaluate every last word of my writing to make sure I wasn’t encouraging sexual assault in any way, shape, or form.”

“I am proud to say that his was the first of many meetings I will be having with anti-rape and anti-abuse organizations and experts to make sure that the advice I am offering is free of any tinge of sexual assault or rape vibes,” he added. “I will be rewriting Above The Game under their guidance and insight.”

We won! Not only has Kickstarter changed their policies, but Hoinsky is editing the book – everyone’s happy all around.