Game for some seduction?

Dating doctor introduces secretive men's self-help movement to baffled Ottawa bachelors

Sounds like any self-help book on the market. But this message is actually the crux of an elusive men's movement -- the seduction movement -- making its first overt appearance in Ottawa this Saturday.

That's when Vancouver-based "Docandwriter" (DW for short) will travel to the capital to offer his Seduction Level 1 bootcamp. Like his contemporary "pick up coaches," enigmatic personas with handles like Mystery and Badboy that are immediately recognizable to those who participate in North America's growing seduction community, DW hides his real identitiy to protect his ridiclue-fearing clients.

DW says he is a real-life date doctor, just like the one Will Smith portrayed last year in the movie Hitch. And those who seek out his services don't want anyone finding out about it.

"This is like alcoholics anonymous," he says, "but instead of alcohol we're dealing with dating."

'NOT MACHO'

DW's bread and butter is the critical mass of men who need help dealing with the opposite sex. The ones who go against almost everything men stand for by asking for that help.

"When guys start learning this material, usually they start from a disadvantage," he says. "Because it's not macho, it's not masculine to admit you need to learn this skill."

DW is rolling into town with a couple of coaches for his day-to-night workshop -- in an undisclosed location, of course -- offering advice on everything from grooming and dress to recognizing and building on attraction. On Saturday night, it's very likely he will accompany his students to a local bar to test his methods on some of Ottawa's unsuspecting females.

'ENRICH THEIR LIVES'

"The No. 1 thing I'm teaching, is to teach guys to become their better selves and have confidence," says DW. "Once they do that, they realize not only are they improving their relationships with women, they're just enriching their lives."

DW has already offered dozens of such workshops in Vancouver and Edmonton. Ottawa is a likely locale for expansion, he says, because there are no indigenous dating coaches to be found in the capital.

DW's foray into Ottawa represents the latest evolution of the men's movement chronicled in last year's book The Game:Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists, by former New York Times pop music writer Neil Strauss. Though his day job had him up-close-and-personal with rock stars and their groupies, Strauss had no luck with women. For two years he researched a community which has roots back to the early 1990s and a pickup coach named Ross Jeffries. It has been suggested Tom Cruise was channelling Jeffries when he portrayed a misogynist motivational speaker in the 1999 Paul Thomas Anderson film Magnolia.

The movement caught fire though online message boards and newsgroups like FastSeduction.com or alt.seduction.fast. Today members form groups, called Lairs, and connect in private homes, at bars and coffee shops and online.

Will, a mid-20's student, belongs to a Toronto Lair and says women represent a fraction of their conversations.

"A Lair is where a bunch of like-minded individuals get together and discuss ways and methods to improve yourself, not only in seduction, but life itself," he says.

Strauss emerged from writing the book not only a seduction success story, but a movement leader. A genuine, uber-confident-with-a-hot-girlfriend pickup artist dubbed "Style."

"I had to go through this because men never ask for help. And they never take a good, hard look at themselves to figure out what's broken, what's not effective, what's not working," Strauss told Macleans magazine.

Some criticized Strauss -- who is working on a female answer to The Game and will see the first book made into a Hollywood movie -- for exposing the secret club-like seduction world.

Others are grateful. "J," a 42-year-old Ottawa-area resident, read The Game a month ago. A friend in Vancouver put him in touch with DW, who has been coaching him ever since.

"If I needed a plumber I'd call a good plumber .... It's not like women have been manipulated or anything. I don't think that's what he teaches," says J. "It's sort of a tool men need in today's society. And desperately too, I think."

J. explains DW simply imparts the kind of confidence that give men the chops to keep trying with women, rather than licking their rejection wounds at home. From scoring a phone number to retreating after a nasty comment, the goal is to adopt tried-and-true techniques so "that you'd walk away from it going 'hey I feel good about that,' " he says.

Getting laid may be a byproduct of that confidence, of course. And there's no arguing some of the techniques, like offering women negative comments or even complete disinterest, smack of game-playing and manipulation.

DW favours a more honest approach. And he argues seduction's apparently nefarious foundation has morphed into something to be used towards a kinder, gentler end: The awesome girlfriend.

"I'd say 90% of the guys that come into this are looking for a life mate. Most guys, if they're young, they're not thinking long-term," he said. "Once they get to 25, 26, 27, then they realize, okay, no I really do have to find a wife or a girlfriend or someone to spend my time with."

DW normally charges more than $1,000 for his workshops, but is charging just $600 to get Ottawa's inaugural event off the ground.

For more information visit www.seductionboard.com.