Late last week, controversial American "dating coach" / "pickup artist“ Julien Blanc was forced to cut his Australian speaking tour short after the country's government revoked his visa.
While immigration minister Scott Morrison confirmed that Blanc was removed from Australia for "putting forward abuse that was derogatory to women," many are crediting a massive online campaign for alerting the government to Blanc's "pickup methods" in the first place.
Said methods, which Blanc teaches to men who seek advice on attracting women, include choking strangers out of the blue, "emotionally abusing" love interests, and simply forcing a woman's head toward one's crotch.
”[I was] romping through the streets just grabbing girls. Head, on d**k. Head, on d**k,“ he told a room full of men in a video that went viral last week.
"If you're a white male? You can do what you want. Just grab her,” he said during the recorded seminar on how to pick up women in Tokyo. “I pull her in, and she just kind of laughs and giggles. And all you have to say to like, take the pressure off is just yell 'Pikachu' or 'Pokemon' or 'Tamagotchi' or something.”Following the video's spread last week, the hashtag#takedownjulienblanc was used nearly 50,000 times as outraged Twitter users beckoned Australian businesses and government officials to help put and end to Blanc's ongoing Australian tour.
Thousands more signed an online petition addressing Morrison directly, while others protested his seminars by holding demonstrations in Melbourne. Hotels booked by Blanc's company, Real Social Dynamics, began cancelling his events one by one.
While many around the web cried victory when Victoria police confirmed (via Twitter) that Blanc had left Australia, others are nowcalling for an end to pickup artist culture in general and to "rape culture seminars" like his worldwide.
Real Social Dynamics' website currently shows hundreds of upcoming pick-up artist seminars and 'bootcamps' (costing up to $2500 a pop) scheduled around the world -- many of them already sold out.
And much to the chagrin of many Canadians who've been following Blanc's story, a series of free seminars hosted by the companyincludes stops in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary.
While it is not yet known if Blanc will be attending these events, Canadians have already started petitioning Canada's immigration minister Chris Alexander to bar him from entering the country.