Another post I made to this AlterNet piece:

I can see why progressives want to discredit PUA coaches and belittle the men who seek their help, setting aside the question of these coaches' competence at doing what they advertise about themselves.

One, the PUA subculture promotes a politically incorrect view of women which sounds like the world view of traditional, conservative patriarchy, only read in reverse, so to speak: PUA coaches endorse the patriarchal view of women's weaknesses and vulnerabilities, and they teach men how to exploit these for sex by adopting the strategies of old-school cads. And I feel some sympathy for this view of women because to me women seem to have defective agency relative to men. If PUA coaches and writers can make a living with this message, perhaps their advice to men based on this traditional understanding of women has some validity after all.

And two, these men seek to improve themselves in an era of "You didn't build that" and the denigration of the self-made man. They've sought help in civil society and in the market instead of turning to the collectivist institutions created, maintained and thought-policed by progressives. They've rejected the progressive ethic of helplessness, dependency and victimization, in other words, in favor of the conservative ethic of self-reliance.