The Art of Seduction (3 page)

A moment has arrived: Your victim clearly desires you, but is not ready to admit it openly, let
alone act on it. This is the time to throw aside chivalry, kindness, and coquetry and to over-
whelm with a bold move. Don't give the victim time to consider the consequences. Showing
hesitation or awkwardness means you are thinking of yourself as opposed to being over-
whelmed by the victim's charms. One person must go on the offensive, and it is you.
24 Beware the Aftereffects
page 415

Danger follows in the aftermath of a successful seduction. After emotions have reached a pitch,
they often swing in the opposite direction
—
toward lassitude, distrust, disappointment. If you
are to part, make the sacrifice swift and sudden. If you are to stay in a relationship, beware a
flagging of energy, a creeping familiarity that will spoil the fantasy. A second seduction is re-
quired. Never let the other person take you for granted
—
use absence, create pain and conflict,
to keep the seduced on tenterhooks.

Appendix A: Seductive Environment/Seductive Time
page 431

Appendix B: Soft Seduction: How to Sell Anything to the Masses
page 441

Selected Bibliography • 455

Index
•
457

Preface

Thousands of years ago, power was mostly gained through physical violence and maintained with brute strength. There was little need for subtlety—a king or emperor had to be merciless. Only a select few had power, but no one suffered under this scheme of things more than women. They had no way to compete, no weapon at their disposal that could make a man do what they wanted—politically, socially, or even in the home.
Oppression and scorn,

Of course men had one weakness: their insatiable desire for sex. A
thus, were and must have
woman could always toy with this desire, but once she gave in to sex the
been generally the share of
women in emerging

man was back in control; and if she withheld sex, he could simply look
societies; this state lasted in
elsewhere—or exert force. What good was a power that was so temporary
all its force until centuries
and frail? Yet women had no choice but to submit to this condition. There
of experience taught them
to substitute skill for force.

were some, though, whose hunger for power was too great, and who, over
Women at last sensed that,
the years, through much cleverness and creativity, invented a way of turn-
since they were weaker,
ing the dynamic around, creating a more lasting and effective form of
their only resource was to
seduce; they understood

power.

that if they were dependent

These women—among them Bathsheba, from the Old Testament;
on men through force, men
Helen of Troy; the Chinese siren Hsi Shi; and the greatest of them all,
could become dependent on
them through pleasure.

Cleopatra—invented seduction. First they would draw a man in with an al-
More unhappy than men,
luring appearance, designing their makeup and adornment to fashion the
they must have thought
image of a goddess come to life. By showing only glimpses of flesh, they
and reflected earlier than
would tease a man's imagination, stimulating the desire not just for sex but
did men; they were the first
to know that pleasure was

for something greater: the chance to possess a fantasy figure. Once they had
always beneath the idea
their victims' interest, these women would lure them away from the mascu-
that one formed of it, and
line world of war and politics and get them to spend time in the feminine
that the imagination went
farther than nature. Once

world—a world of luxury, spectacle, and pleasure. They might also lead
these basic truths were
them astray literally, taking them on a journey, as Cleopatra lured Julius
known, they learned first
Caesar on a trip down the Nile. Men would grow hooked on these refined,
to veil their charms in order
to awaken curiosity; they

sensual pleasures—they would fall in love. But then, invariably, the women
practiced the difficult art of
would turn cold and indifferent, confusing their victims. Just when the
refusing even as they
men wanted more, they found their pleasures withdrawn. They would be
wished to consent; from
forced into pursuit, trying anything to win back the favors they once had
that moment on, they
knew how to set men's

tasted and growing weak and emotional in the process. Men who had
imagination afire, they
physical force and all the social power—men like King David, the Trojan
knew how to arouse and
Paris, Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, King Fu Chai—would find themselves
direct desires as they
pleased: thus did beauty

becoming the slave of a woman.

and love come into being;

In the face of violence and brutality, these women made seduction a
now the lot of women
xx
•
Preface

became less harsh, not that

sophisticated art, the ultimate form of power and persuasion. They learned
they had managed to

to work on the mind first, stimulating fantasies, keeping a man wanting
liberate themselves entirely

more, creating patterns of hope and despair—the essence of seduction.
from the state of oppression

to which their weakness

Their power was not physical but psychological, not forceful but indirect
condemned them; but, in

and cunning. These first great seductresses were like military generals plan
the state of perpetual war
ning the destruction of an enemy, and indeed early accounts of seduction
that continues to exist

between women and men,

often compare it to battle, the feminine version of warfare. For Cleopatra,
one has seen them, with

it was a means of consolidating an empire. In seduction, the woman was no
the help of the caresses they

longer a passive sex object; she had become an active agent, a figure of
have been able to invent,

power.

combat ceaselessly,

sometimes vanquish, and

With a few exceptions—the Latin poet Ovid, the medieval

often more skillfully take

troubadours—men did not much concern themselves with such a frivolous
advantage of the forces

art as seduction. Then, in the seventeenth century came a great change:
directed against them;

sometimes, too, men have

men grew interested in seduction as a way to overcome a young woman's
turned against women

resistance to sex. History's first great male seducers—the Duke de Lauzun,
these weapons the women

the different Spaniards who inspired the Don Juan legend—began to adopt
had forged to combat them,

and their slavery has

the methods traditionally employed by women. They learned to dazzle
become all the harsher

with their appearance (often androgynous in nature), to stimulate the
for it.

imagination, to play the coquette. They also added a new, masculine ele— C H O D E R L O S DE LACLOS, ON

ment to the game: seductive language, for they had discovered a woman's
THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN,

weakness for soft words. These two forms of seduction—the feminine use TRANSLATED BY LYDIA DAVIS, IN

THE LIBERTINE READER,

of appearances and the masculine use of language—would often cross

gender lines: Casanova would dazzle a woman with his clothes; Ninon de l'Enclos would charm a man with her words.

At the same time that men were developing their version of seduction,
Much more genius is

others began to adapt the art for social purposes. As Europe's feudal system
needed to make love than

of government faded into the past, courtiers needed to get their way in
to command armies.

court without the use of force. They learned the power to be gained by se— N I N O N D E L ' E N C L O S

ducing their superiors and competitors through psychological games, soft words, a little coquetry. As culture became democratized, actors, dandies, and artists came to use the tactics of seduction as a way to charm and win
Menelaus, if you are really

going to kill her, \ Then

over their audience and social milieu. In the nineteenth century another
my blessing go with you,

great change occurred: politicians like Napoleon consciously saw them
but you must do it now, \

selves as seducers, on a grand scale. These men depended on the art of se
Before her looks so twist
the strings of your heart \

ductive oratory, but they also mastered what had once been feminine
That they turn your mind;

strategies: staging vast spectacles, using theatrical devices, creating a charged
for her eyes are like armies,

physical presence. All this, they learned, was the essence of charisma—and

\And where her glances

fall, there cities burn, \

remains so today. By seducing the masses they could accumulate immense
Until the dust of their

power without the use of force.

ashes is blown \ By her

Today we have reached the ultimate point in the evolution of seduc
sighs. I know her,
tion. Now more than ever, force or brutality of any kind is discouraged. All
Men elans, \ And so do

you. And all those who

areas of social life require the ability to persuade people in a way that does
know her suffer.

not offend or impose itself. Forms of seduction can be found everywhere,

— H E C U B A SPEAKING ABOUT

blending male and female strategies. Advertisements insinuate, the soft sell HELEN OF TROY IN EURIPIDES,

dominates. If we are to change people's opinions—and affecting opinion is
THE TROJAN WOMEN,

basic to seduction—we must act in subtle, subliminal ways. Today no politi-
Preface
•
xxi
cal campaign can work without seduction. Since the era of John F.
No man hath it in his
Kennedy, political figures are required to have a degree of charisma, a fasci-
power to over-rule the
deceitfulness of a woman.

nating presence to keep their audience's attention, which is half the battle.

— M A R G U E R I T E OF NAVARRE

The film world and media create a galaxy of seductive stars and images. We are saturated in the seductive. But even if much has changed in degree and scope, the essence of seduction is constant: never be forceful or direct; instead, use pleasure as bait, playing on people's emotions, stirring desire and
This important side-track,
by which woman succeeded

confusion, inducing psychological surrender. In seduction as it is practiced
in evading man's strength
today, the methods of Cleopatra still hold.

and establishing herself in

power, has not been given

due consideration by

People are constantly trying to influence us, to tell us what to do, and just
historians. From the
as often we tune them out, resisting their attempts at persuasion. There is a
moment when the woman
moment in our lives, however, when we all act differently—when we are in
detached herself from the
crowd, an individual

love. We fall under a kind of spell. Our minds are usually preoccupied with
finished product, offering
our own concerns; now they become filled with thoughts of the loved one.
delights which could not be
We grow emotional, lose the ability to think straight, act in foolish ways
obtained by force, but only
that we would never do otherwise. If this goes on long enough something
by flattery
. . . .
the reign
of love's priestesses was

inside us gives way: we surrender to the will of the loved one, and to our
inaugurated. It was a
desire to possess them.

development of far-reaching

Seducers are people who understand the tremendous power contained
importance in the history of
civilization. . . . Only by

in such moments of surrender. They analyze what happens when people
the circuitous route of the
are in love, study the psychological components of the process—what spurs
art of love could woman
the imagination, what casts a spell. By instinct and through practice they
again assert authority, and
this she did by asserting

master the art of making people fall in love. As the first seductresses knew,
herself at the very point at
it is much more effective to create love than lust. A person in love is emo-
which she would normally
tional, pliable, and easily misled. (The origin of the word "seduction" is the
be a slave at the man's
mercy. She had discovered

Latin for "to lead astray") A person in lust is harder to control and, once
the might of lust, the secret
satisfied, may easily leave you. Seducers take their time, create enchantment
of the art of love, the
and the bonds of love, so that when sex ensues it only further enslaves
daemonic power of a
the victim. Creating love and enchantment becomes the model for all
passion artificially aroused
and never satiated. The

seductions—sexual, social, political. A person in love will surrender.
force tints unchained was

It is pointless to try to argue against such power, to imagine that you are
thenceforth to count among
not interested in it, or that it is evil and ugly. The harder you try to resist
the most tremendous of the
world's forces and at

the lure of seduction—as an idea, as a form of power—the more you will
moments to have power
find yourself fascinated. The reason is simple: most of us have known the
even over life and death. . . .
power of having someone fall in love with us. Our actions, gestures, the •
The deliberate spell-
binding of man's senses

things we say, all have positive effects on this person; we may not com-
was to have a magical effect
pletely understand what we have done right, but this feeling of power is in-
upon him, opening up an
toxicating. It gives us confidence, which makes us more seductive. We may
infinitely wider range of
also experience this in a social or work setting—one day we are in an ele-
sensation and spurring him
on as if impelled by an

vated mood and people seem more responsive, more charmed by us. These
inspired dream.
moments of power are fleeting, but they resonate in the memory with —ALEXANDER VON GLEICHENgreat intensity. We want them back. Nobody likes to feel awkward or timid RUSSWURM,
THE WORLD'S

or unable to reach people. The siren call of seduction is irresistible because
LURE,
TRANSLATED BY HANNAH