Strauss himself observes the truth of this, but only in the context of trying to deny that sargers actually hate women. "A side effect of sarging is that it can lower one's opinion of the opposite sex," he confesses. And yet, as he has described it, the inverse is true: a low opinion of the opposite sex is a prerequisite for sarging. The very term "pickup" pictures women as inanimate objects lying on the ground (at least the British equivalent, "pulling", implies two people on the same horizontal plane). The first thing you do to your target is to "neg" her, to deliberately (but as if accidentally) insult her, as Strauss explains, "to lower her self-esteem". (The Layguide terms this, with more explicit violence, a "neg hit".) You will then have to negotiate your way round her "bitch shield" (reflexive rudeness to come-ons), and at some point to "isolate" her, as though she were a Guantánamo Bay prisoner ripe for torture. You will also learn how to symbolically kill your male enemy, the Amog, or Alpha Male of the Group. (Interestingly, Tom Cruise - he of the subliminally orgiastic Top Gun locker-room - pops up to be interviewed by Strauss and worshipped as the ultimate alpha male, though Strauss doesn't dwell on whether Cruise would be a particularly effective role model for the aspiring seducer of women.)
