Reading Between the Pick-Up Lines

Sporting a faux-hawk with a red streak, Jerry Tran may not seem like a man people would flock to for serious advice. But the famed pickup artist, who goes by “JT” or “The Asian Playboy,” has revolutionized the “Seduction Community,” an underground network for males seeking to improve their dating capabilities. Last Saturday, the Harvard-Radcliffe Asian American Association invited JT to speak at an event “Between the (Pickup) Lines.”

The information session went to great lengths to dispel some commonly held beliefs. The Seduction Community, JT claimed, is about more than brutishly picking up a woman for a quickie. Through bootcamps and blogs, JT emphasizes self-improvement techniques and examines social psychology. “He provides the social lubricant for men,” said Wei “Rose” Wang ’13, who along with Ge “Andy” Zhang ’13 organized the event. Moreover, JT stressed, his teachings help Asian men—50 to 75 percent of his clientele—confront the racism they encounter in the dating world.

“Pickup lines do not work,” JT said as he began his presentation. In their place, JT broke down his “ABCs of Attraction” and provided various strategies for approaching women. He assured men, “If you have two balls, you can be good with women.”

In addition to drawing a nice smattering of the Harvard population—Asians, non-Asians, men, women—the event also attracted some from the local “Community.” Envy, as he is known in the seduction world, came to the event after hearing JT speak at the Pick Up Artists Summit this past September. “JT is the man,” he said. “I’m into guys with incredible skills.”

JT claims to have helped CEOs, lawyers, and doctors in addition to the everyday man. He does seem, however, to have a taste for grandeur. Adapting a Genghis Khan quote about the meaning of happiness, he hammers home the importance of physical and mental confidence: “To crush my enemies, to see them driven before me, and hear the lamentations of their women...in my bed!”