Men of the world: adopt Game or go the way of the horse buggy.
The classic example used in business school when talking about evolving markets is the horse buggy industry. Purveyors of horse buggies had perfected their craft by the time the automobile hit the streets, but the convenience provided by the new technology killed the buggy industry through the process of “creative destruction”.
Buggy company owners undoubtedly went through several phases of denial when confronted with the killer app to end all killer apps. First, they scoffed at carmakers. No way people will forsake their horses and carriage for noisy, pesky autos they said as they pointed to the expensive new technology. Second, was coalition-building and moral judgments. Carriage makers turned the market into an “us against them” situation. Die-hard carriage owners were touted as moral, reactionary, and steadfast compared to those seeking the easy way out by choosing automobiles. Auto owners were touted as footloose and fancy free. Third came desperation. As market share slipped away, horse buggy manufacturers developed hare-brained schemes and last-ditch efforts to save their businesses. No amount of pleading was lost to stem the tide. After the maelstrom subsided and autos ushered in a new era, the final stage was set. Those late to adapt to the marketplace started from a weak position and never regained their footing. Carriagemakers’ capital was depleted, and their businesses went bankrupt. They had all the skills to operate in the old marketplace but knew nothing of the new one.
Game is the killer app of the sexual marketplace. The dead industry, the horse and buggy of yesteryear, is accepting the role of beta provider. Just as horse carriages weren’t needed after the proliferation of autos, the need for a male provider is decreasing rapidly, as this article from “Women’s Health” points out:
“It’s often less about absolute earning power and more about personality variables such as reliability, generosity, social status, and kindness.” As women have greater access to resources, Pillsworth says, they have more freedom to choose what they want in a life mate. (This means that in the near future we may see fewer beautiful women partnered with short, tubby, bald men driving Porches.)”
Women desire men; it’s just that they desire us based upon their needs at the time. In days of old, women looked first and foremost for job status and income as it indicated ability to provide. Other factors included physical attractiveness, social dominance, intelligence, aggressiveness, kindness, generosity, and reliability. Since women seek the most alpha male available – the one able to provide the most of what she needs (and she needs less provision given her prevalence in the workplace, higher income, and general government support) – and since alpha males are rarely generous, kind, or reliable (at least towards their mates) women have turned to the other categories to do their selecting.
The market for “ability to provide” is Mike Tyson in the 8th round of the Buster Douglas fight. It’s about to go down, and it isn’t getting back up.
Men would be ill-served to hold onto this category as a last bastion of hope. The past few weeks I have spent rallying around this “Beta Revolution” as the only hope for our great Western Culture. I’m still for preserving the culture and the Male Provider role, but unfortunately I’m going to be the first blogger to give up on its restoration. The past isn’t coming back. No amount of social shaming of women, rallying of men, or even practicing Game will recrown Provider as most-desired mate characteristic.
The “Game” – the sexual one – has changed. The tide has turned; this is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius. The frame of reference of this country has shifted so far leftward that laws won’t be repealed redressing the imbalance of power that favors women. As Mencius Moldbug has described, the nature of power is that it moves towards chaos, towards classes of those perceived to be weak and down-trodden, namely – towards the left. Unless Men come to be that down-trodden minority, gaining power through demagogues and progressivism (both antithetical to the current movement) we’ll never regain our glory. The target will always be shifting, and men will have to adopt new strategies to compete. One day, the shoe will drop on Game as well, and the first-movers who devise ways to overcome will benefit the most.
To fill the void of diminished value in the provider category, men have to turn to other means to shore up their attractiveness to women. Since generous, kind, and reliable White Knights are miles behind even the “Beta Provider” crowd, their redeeming qualities won’t help them in the new marketplace.
Aggressiveness, physical attractiveness, and social dominance are the “3 Wise Men of the Rebirth” – to coin a sloppy title based on a much better one. Male gym memberships have been increasing dramatically for years. This 2000 article discusses the book “The Adonis Complex” whose authors spotted the trend early. Men were hitting the gym, trying to increase their market value in response to their decreased need in their classical roles. Interest in MMA and UFC is growing every year. Good marketing has to do with some of its support, but many men have taken to the full-contact sport as a substite for more “soft” sports like softball and basketball. Some unseen death bugle is inducing men to turn to the martial arts as a way to compete against other men. Weight lifting and cage-fighting handle the physical appearance and aggressiveness categories; Game hits on the social dominance aspect. But that’s Roissy 101.
Many of my fellow bloggers on the subject – men that I respect and have learned a lot from – desire a concerted effort by men against the wiles of power-wielding women. The thing they forget is that there was also a competition to be the best Beta Provider one could be, when that station was valued. Animal species compete; there is no tricking that. Men have and always will compete against each other in the sexual marketplace. Collusion will not happen. The first price-fixing scheme will be instantaneously met with a price war.
The only thing we can do now is encourage Beta Providers to fulfill those roles if they have them – hopefully stemming the tide against wholesale cultural decline - while seeking other means to induce women to find us attractive. If they don’t need us, as a whole, to provide for them, we won’t. Perhaps the shift towards Cads – away from Dads – is the key.
