At its core, The Red Pill is essentially the pursuit of male power, typically at the expense of female power. The main thrust is “learn to do stuff that makes me more physically and socially attractive so women are the ones making compromises and sacrifices to avoid losing me instead of the other way around, and any woman who won’t do that can be replaced by a woman who will.”
In modern times, any set of ideas focused on increasing the power of men is regarded as an “extremist” concept, because the modern social consensus is that men have historically been, and continue to be, the unfairly-empowered sex that has oppressed and exploited women on all fronts — physical, financial, social, etc. And while the world has seen a lot of social progress over the years that has equalized things between the sexes a little bit, we’re told that a lot of work still remains to be done, and that men are still the unfairly-empowered sex.
So the suggestion that men are disadvantaged in any way? That men should learn ways to increase their power, both in general and in their relationships and interactions with women? That’s an “extremist” idea that clearly encourages the continued oppression and manipulation of women. Probably rape and violence too.
I know. It’s silly. But extremist or not, that’s what we’re after. Male power, usually at the expense of female power.
For example, why eat right and work out, and dress well and groom well? Because if you’re better-looking, you have more opportunities for sex and relationships with more and better women. Power.
Why excel professionally and make bank? Why learn useful skills and interesting hobbies? Why improve your social skills and learn “game”, which is really just a dirty word for “how to flirt effectively”?
Why become more attractive at all?
Power.
It’s worth noting that having greater physical capabilities, knowing useful and interesting stuff, having good social skills, and having lots of money and professional success are all independently useful and enjoyable things to have in your life even if you never get the girl. Even if you never talk to a woman ever again. But all of these beneficial traits also give you more power in your relationships and interactions with women.
When you are an attractive man, you have opportunities to date and have sex and relationships with a larger number of women, and with better women. This is not a smart or ground-breaking bit of information. It’s just a wordy way of saying “women like men who are attractive”. So obviously, if you’re more attractive, a larger number of women will like you.
Which means you don’t have to put up with women who are ugly, difficult, unpleasant, won’t have sex, or any number of other shortcomings. Because thanks to being attractive, you’ve made any individual woman replaceable. Even interchangeable to some extent. No one woman has power over you. No one woman gets to decide whether you’re having sex or companionship tonight. If a woman is being difficult, you can meet more. Maybe you already know more and can just contact someone you already know.
Ultimately, this gives a man more power not only over women, but over himself and his own needs. If you want to have sex tonight and are readily able to attract women, or better yet, already know a few women you can text, you have more power to meet your needs than you would if you had less of an ability to attract willing participants.
In fact, taking a step back, The Red Pill is a microcosm of what we all want for the bigger picture of life: the power to do what we want and not be dependent upon or overly-affected by other people or events.
The Red Pill likes to focus on women, sex, dating, and relationships. But in the larger world, we complain about politics, economics, social issues, international issues, and other stupid crap that typically affects us only very slightly and indirectly, if at all. We can’t actually do anything about this stuff (making our interest in discussing and debating these issues kind of pointless), but what is it that we really yearn for as we complain about these issues? Power.
What does “power” mean in this sense? I guess it’s being so rich and/or so well-liked that you aren’t reliant on other humans and aren’t negatively affected by things that happen in the larger world. We’d prefer that the larger world, much like a difficult woman, not have power over us, and that whatever circumstances we encounter are replaceable or interchangeable with other things on which we prefer to spend our time and energy.
True power can come in a variety of forms - attractiveness, wealth, influence - but the general theme underlying all of this is freedom. The ability to do what you want instead of having what you are able to do constrained to such an extent that you have to give up or compromise on what it is that you want.
Sadly, most of us are not powerful. We’re normal people. We look okay-ish. We have okay-ish money. We behave in an okay-ish way that people like an okay-ish amount. The circumstances in our lives that we can control, change, or replace are usually fairly limited.
In fact, life tends to have so many circumstances beyond our control that most humans spend the majority of their lives simply reacting to those circumstances, being swept about with very little power, freedom, or control. This leads most people to live their lives doing what they believe they have to do in response to their circumstances. Essentially, people do what they are “supposed” to do, as though their lives are subject to the examination and judgment of others and they may have to explain and justify their life choices.
Rather than doing what it is that we want, as a species, most of us do what we think we are supposed to do, or alternatively, what it feels like we have to do based on circumstances beyond our control. This is such a pervasive sentiment that most humans have no idea what they actually want from this universe. Hardly anybody bothers even pondering the question because they are so consumed with what they feel they are supposed to do, or forced into doing by life’s circumstances, that they simply don’t have the time or energy to have goals beyond pipe dreams they might pursue if they win the lottery.
This is especially true of men (who as noted above are considered the unfairly-empowered of the sexes for some reason), because men spend most of their lives being taught that their purpose, their duty — the things they are “supposed” to do — are to serve, sacrifice, and labor for the benefit of others. Usually women and children. A man is taught from a young age that doing something that only pleases or benefits himself is immature, selfish, and deviant behavior. Deciding that he wants something from this universe (other than to serve, labor, and sacrifice for others), then acting to achieve what he wants is immature, pie-in-the-sky, peter-pan, social-deviant stuff.
So the idea that it’s actually okay to want something other than the things we’re told we’re supposed to do with our lives? Scandalous. Maybe even dangerous. An internet movement that teaches men that it’s okay to want to meet their sexual needs with minimal investment, and ways to become attractive (and therefore powerful enough to do so) — typically at the expense of the power of women who have different goals that have to be compromised on or even sacrificed each time a mere man gets what he wants? Horrifying.
A man, interacting with a woman, when that man actually wants things that please and benefit himself, who does not act as though his choices are something he is accountable for and needs to explain or justify? A man who thinks “I want it” is reason enough to do something? Not only is this behavior extremist. It’s actually… attractive.
“Resolutions” are stupid, but since this rock we’re sitting on has reached some arbitrary point in space relative to the star it orbits and as a species we like to assign arbitrary significance to arbitrary things, spend some time in 2025 figuring out something in life that you want. Even something random and arbitrary. If you’re not sure what you want, pick something anyway. You can always change your mind later.
Then, actually try to make it happen. You don’t need to explain or justify what you’re doing. You want it. That’s reason enough. The only reason you need. Even if what you want is stupid, or even if you never accomplish anything you want, learning to accept that you are a worthy human being who deserves to want things, and “I want this” is reason enough for you to act in your own interests is what differentiates normal duty-bound “supposed to” people from extremist social deviants like us. Embrace the extremism and have a great 2025.
