A Remembrance of Seduction
A Ninon de l'Enclos guide to the art of conquest.
Everything wrong with men’s dating is traceable to two anathematised forces. I categorise them as follows: The Desperate and The Despicable. Dating apps such as Tinder can and often are blamed for the deterioration of romanticism, but are they? While facilitators of this decline, the fault ultimately lies at our feet; we have but to look down and retrace our steps. Ninon de l’Enclos leads the way with her timeless recipe for male success.
The Desperate
The desperate man. Sometimes referred to as the simp1. We are familiar with the archetype; women more than men. For the opposite sex, they can either be useful or annoying. They hide among us, only not very well. A quick visit to Twitch streams, such as JenFoxxx, allows us to observe them undetected. Half meth half viagra, these individuals inundate the comments with both obscene and idolising remarks. They also lurk in clubs, distinctive by their omnipresence and willingness to approach anything that moves–even if that means dipping into their savings for drinks money. For them, a woman is not an individual but an interchangeable vessel for their loneliness. No time or money is too much for that one acknowledgment. We all have that friend who swipes right on anyone–anything, at all, will do. Anything.
Social media platforms provide the right stimuli for their protective side to emerge. Adorning white armour they willingly make a goddess of their favourite/s. Secretly jacking off ogling at their pictures. Their unequivocal idolatry is backed by the hope that they will be one day noticed. A dire mistake to be made by the débutante. The more experienced feminine collective has learnt to take advantage of this weakness. Capitalise on it. Their semen can only fly as far as their screen.
OnlyFans is one of the many websites these individuals line up to pour their money into. The platform made $5.55 billion in revenue from customers in 2022 alone. Sam Bankman-Fried (obviously) chose the wrong line of work. Despite also being a pump-and-dump2, foot porn rarely gets you convicted on seven criminal counts.3
"I want my money to go to hot women, not sleazy porn producers"
"Free range, farm to table organic fair trade porn"
“Yeah porn may be easy to find for free but those pornstars didn't sit beside me in math class”
– Anon Redditors
“It was love at first sight, at last sight, at ever and ever sight.”
― Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita
The Despicable
The opposite side of the coin carries its own toxicity. Unlike the Addicted man, they do not hide but rather brazenly expose their misogyny. Women are subhuman, useful for sex and bearing children. The ugly truth is that this strategy is more effective than its fawning counterpart. While this stance horrifies the majority of women, it nonetheless exploits a loophole that makes some of them susceptible to strong, selfish, or seemingly wealthier men. Its most infamous member being the former kickboxer Andrew Tate, who is allegedly guilty of rape, human trafficking, and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women4 (who also denies crying but instead has “tears rolling down his face”5).
If you are Twitter/X power user you have certainly observed the rise of pro-Rome accounts. The favourite mantra of these self-identified historians is “Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times”. They are the strong men, doing their best to protect Western civilisation against immigration and the decadence of women. Sound familiar? It should. With their chivalry, honour, and dominant force they hope to save the Western world. Like Tate implies, emotions are for the weak therefore men should be strong. By strong he means dominant.
The opposite sex is a foe unless subdued. Friendships are inconceivable due to inherent sexualisation. Any relationship would be implicitly wrong as platonic co-existence is unachievable. This is a reflection of their inner self and dormant impulses. Mike Pence in a room alone with a woman? Forget it, he’d rather sell drones to North Korea.
Straight of itself, not made straight.
– Marcus Aurelius
The Ninon way
How to positively and effectively court your love interest.
Ninon de l’Enclos, a somewhat controversial figure at the time, was a French courtesan and author during the 17th century. She was known for her wit and beauty, and her successive, illustrious lovers. A master in all matters concerning love. The men wanted to be with her and the women secretly wanted to be her.
Around 1670 Ninon started mentoring the Marquis de Sévigné, the latter was at an impasse in his pursuit of a young countess. She made him understand that this was a war in which he had to strategically advance. Every detail mattered. As he started over, she instructed him to adopt an air of nonchalance when with her. To treat her as he would a friend and not a romantic interest.
To idolise a person is to let them know that they’re above us. It is human nature to compare ourselves with those that are better, in artistry, acting, mathematics and so on. No one compares himself with those he deems to be inferior. Equally, no one wishes to be treated as less. Therefore, view the other person as your equal, and as your equal they have to present their case on why they deserve you. To give yourself immediately is to discount your value.
Once the countess became unsure of the previously cemented hierarchy, it was time to make her jealous. At the next big party in Paris, the marquis was instructed to arrive with a beautiful entourage. Wherever the countess would look the marquis would always be in the presence of beautiful women. Not only would this plant a seed of jealousy, but it would make him come across to her as someone desirable, thus not only increasing his value as a partner but making it a challenge.
One should have a life and interests outside their partner. This shows that with or without someone, your life will advance. A social net is primordial to this effect, and those friends of the opposite sex are a constant reminder. The insecure are often happy to snatch a partner who is lonesome. This decreases the fear of future rejection and increases dependency.
With interest, the marquis would fail to appear where the countess expected him to be. This caused her to wonder about him. Simultaneously, he would show up where he was unexpected. The marquis became a hard person to predict. Suddenly the countess would laugh harder at his jokes, follow him around, and query about him in his absence.
Once you’re taken for granted, e.g. an invitation extended to you never goes declined, your aura of excitement will fade. Do not justify yourself and most importantly do not revolve around one person.
However, a few days later when the marquis was at the countess’s home, he disregarded all advice. Acting on his impulse he declared his love for her. The countess, confused at first, became distant. The spell was broken. He chose a shortcut that would instantly bypass all the required games of desire and make her his. This brought him back to where he started.
What appears to be in opposition to the despicable and desperate is none other than normalcy. Treat the object of your desire as an equal. Do not denigrate yourself, but equally, do not take them for less. With this in mind, people like to be seduced. Show your love by taking them to dance. Do not announce your intentions or reveal them directly in words. It is the difference between cheating on an exam and earning your mark through study.
Simp (shortening of “simpleton”) is a slang insult for men who are seen as too attentive and submissive to women, especially out of a failed hope of winning some entitled sexual attention or activity from them.
Pump-and-dump is a manipulative scheme that attempts to boost the price of a stock or security through fake recommendations.
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/foot-fetish-jailed-touching-womens-feet-trains-123315121.html
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/influencer-andrew-tate-released-house-arrest-awaits-human-trafficking-rcna98118#
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/self-proclaimed-misogynist-andrew-tate-181825987.html