Thousands of people have called on the Home Office to deny a visa to a controversial US “pick-up artist” who holds seminars that critics say teach men sexually abusive and racist tricks to attract women.

Julien Blanc was forced to cut short his Australian tour last week after his visa was cancelled in the wake of protests against his seminars. Police in Victoria confirmed that Blanc and his assistant, who had planned to stay in the country until December, had left.

Blanc – who tours the world carrying out seminars and $2,000 (£1,250) bootcamps – is due to arrive in the UK for a series of events, but a petition on campaigning website Change.org calling for a ban has gathered more than 5,500 signatures since it was launched on Saturday.

The City worker who started the petition said Blanc’s seminars promoted dangerous behaviour and attitudes towards women. Caroline Charles, a pseudonym she is using because of the abuse and vitriol experienced by other female campaigners against sexism, said: “Julien Blanc dresses up his seminars as dating advice, which at best is disingenuous – he focuses on tricking women into having sex, in order to make money.”

Julien Blanc seminar on YouTube

“It is wrong on every level – it is promoting violence against women and girls, it takes advantage of men and it sends a message to survivors of sexual assault that they will not be listened to. To allow someone into the UK who is explicitly promoting these things is abysmal.”

A social media campaign against Blanc has gathered pace in recent days, with Twitter users sharing pictures of him with his hand around the throats of women that he has shared using the hashtag #ChokingGirlsAroundTheWorld.

Videos and pictures suggest that Blanc encourages men to harass women and lower their self-esteem in order to have sex with them.

On a website linked to from a protected Twitter account run by @RSDJulien, “an executive coach for Real Social Dynamics, the international leader in dating advice”, Blanc promises men who take his courses – which cost from £123 ($197) for 23 instructional videos to £312 ($497) for the videos plus a ticket to a live event and access to Blanc’s Facebook page – to teach men how to “Make Girls BEG To Sleep With You After SHORT-CIRCUITING Their Emotional And Logical Mind” and develop “panty-dropping masculinity with this rock-solid structure to self-generate the powerful emotions girls crave”.

VAWG (violence against women and girls) campaigners warn that areas of Blanc’s sales pitch veer into rape promotion, as he promises to teach men how to have sex with women who have refused consent. His tips for overcoming “last minute resistance (LMR) – making her feel 100% comfortable for sex” will enable men, he promises, to do “crazy sexual things”, adding “you’ll love this if you have any fetishes”, while also promising techniques on “how to pull a camera on her if you’re into that kind of thing”.

Video clips of Blanc on YouTube show him shoving women’s faces into his crotch and on one occasion assaulting a Japanese checkout worker – who appears to be deeply uncomfortable – by kissing her neck and ear. He is shown speaking to a room full of men who laugh at his anecdotes, at one point commenting about women in Japan: “If you’re a white male, you can do what you want. I’m just romping through the streets, just grabbing girls’ heads, just like, head, pfft on the dick.”

Blanc’s promotion of racist behaviour was “supremely arrogant”, said Fiona Elvines, from Rape Crisis South London. “Blanc is training white men to abuse their privilege to coerce women into sex; he is not unique but he is being so explicit about it. London has one of the best violence against women and girls strategies in the world, which is focused on prevention – the fact that he thinks he can come to this city and promote these sexist and racist attitudes is unbelievable,” she said.

The fact that thousands of men and women around the world were calling for Blanc to stop doling out harmful advice was heartening, she added. “This is not just a few feminists; it feels like society as a whole is saying this is not something we want, this is not something we believe in – and we are shutting him down.”

Sarah Green from the End Violence Against Women coalition said that there was a strong legal case for denying Blanc a temporary work visa for the UK. “Some of the behaviour Blanc demonstrates in his videos amounts to sexual harassment and sexual assault,” she said. “More broadly this is part of a culture that makes light of assault, that tells victims they will not be taken seriously. We need a social conversation about why this type of ‘advice’ is commercially viable.”

The letter to the Home Office on Change.org states: “Please help British women stand with the women of Australia, the women of America, and women everywhere, and do not let the UK play host to events where men are being taught how to violate and harass women under the guise of ‘dating advice’.

“To allow this man into the UK legitimises sexual assault and predation, and sends a message that women are playthings or objects without agency. Australia has already taken a stand by revoking his visa, let us demonstrate that we feel the same way about his message.”

In Australia, the immigration minister, Scott Morrison, said the government had reacted to justified public outrage. “This guy wasn’t putting forward political ideas, he was putting forward abuse that was derogatory to women and that’s just something, those are values abhorred in this country,” he told Sky News.

Venues in Melbourne in turn refused to host Blanc’s events after protesters highlighted the dangerous nature of his material, and when Blanc’s assistant attempted to hold a seminar on a boat on Melbourne’s Yarra river on Thursday night – attended by a handful of paying men – protesters rallied along the river and trailed the pair by boat. Melbourne River Cruises cancelled the event and police escorted the men off the vessel.

A similar social media campaign to limit Blanc’s ability to spread his message is also gathering force in Canada, where RSD events are scheduled in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver next year.

“Paid classes on how to assault women? NO,” reads a message on the Facebook page for the SiriusXM Canada radio show What She Said.

“We women are formidable together … ban this man from Canada.” Kate Wheeler, who posted a petition on Sunday urging the government to ban Blanc, told Global News via email.

“I think most people in Canada believe … these values are abhorrent,” she said.