Last month, on May 29th, a man named Ken Hoinsky posted a fundraiser on Kickstarter in which he was hoping to raise $2,000 to publish his "step-by-step guide for getting good with women." Above the Game: A Guide to Getting Awesome with Women, he wrote on the Kickstarter page, would be "an extension of articles I've posted online over the past three years."

Hoinsky has posted his pick-up advice on Reddit under the name TofuTofu, and his flirting advice includes (emphasis his):

Push/Pull (Giving a reward then taking away, repeat ad nauseum. Example: "You're really beautiful, Natalie. I think you're the third hottest Natalie I've ever met.")

Also:

Decide that you're going to sit in a position where you can rub her leg and back. Physically pick her up and sit her on your lap. Don't ask for permission. Be dominant. Force her to rebuff your advances.

Never, ever, ever, wait for a SIGN before you escalate! ... From now on you must ASSUME that she is attracted to you and wants to be ravished. It's a difference in mindset that makes champs champs and chumps chumps.

Then, after if you start making out:

Pull out your cock and put her hand on it. Remember, she is letting you do this because you have established yourself as a LEADER. Don't ask for permission, GRAB HER HAND, and put it right on your dick.

Consent, man. Don't even bother with that shit!

A lot of people found Hoinsky's advice and forwarded it to Kickstarter, pointing out that this is assault, not flirting, but Kickstarter didn't remove the fundraiser—it ended June 19th and raised over $16,000 from 732 backers. (Hoinsky did also respond to people's criticisms here, saying "I am devastated and troubled by the allegations that my book promotes rape.")

UGH.

Today, though, Kickstarter apologized for not removing Hoinsky's "seduction guide" (AKA the "how to assault women until they agree to have sex with you" guide). From their blog:

On Wednesday morning Kickstarter was sent a blog post quoting disturbing material found on Reddit. The offensive material was part of a draft for a “seduction guide” that someone was using Kickstarter to publish. The posts offended a lot of people — us included — and many asked us to cancel the creator’s project. We didn’t.

We were wrong.

Hoinsky still gets his money, but Kickstarter has donated $25,000 to RAINN, saying "It’s an excellent organization that combats exactly the sort of problems our inaction may have encouraged."

Read their full apology here.

Now if Hoinsky really wanted to "be awesome with women" he'd donate the $16K he raised, too, and not write his bullshit book.