I thought this article about coaching in pickup techniques kind of misses the point:

I Took A Class on How to Pick Up Women—But I Learned More About Male Anxiety

http://www.alternet.org/culture/i-took-class-how-pick-women-i-learned-more-about-male-anxiety

I posted in response:

For some reason we have this notion that the young man's "sexual debut," as the scientific literature about human sexuality calls it, happens as an organic developmental stage in the late teens, with a median age of around 17. If a 17 year old boy picked at random can probably figure out how to close the deal with a girl for the first time, this accomplishment certainly can't depend on coaching or life experience, because what the hell does a 17 year old boy know? But apparently a nontrivial number of boys in every generation miss this developmental window, and then they wind up in their 20's without an adult man's skill set for dealing with women, like the adult virgins who pay to receive instruction by alleged PUA's. If you have a teenage son, and you can see that girls don't find this boy sexually attractive, that has to affect how you view your son, and in a bad way. Perhaps we should consider earlier and more radical interventions into these boys' lives to help them to develop the adult man's skill set for relationships with women, instead of leaving this to the haphazard because of romantic nonsense that "the right girl will come along some day."

BTW, in case someone brings up the P-word, I'd like to know how seeing a prostitute will help a young man develop the skills he needs to get into sexual relationships through dating - because I just don't see the connection.