A creepy list used by pick-up artists giving tips on the best public places in Melbourne to “target” women has caused outrage.

The guide, which appears on a controversial pick-up artist’s website, is a “carefully curated list” of public places in the Melbourne CBD, with details of the types of women likely to be there, and tips on how to approach them.

The guide includes tips such as circling supermarkets, wandering shopping centres with bags to avoid detection, entering universities and libraries to meet young women, and approaching female tourists and offering them food, drink and a place to rest.

The men also discuss hiding their actions, calling crowded areas dangerous for picking up and calling Australia a “nanny state”.

The list includes popular Melbourne spaces such as the Woolworths on Swanston St, Bourke St Mall, the University of Melbourne, RMIT, bike racks around the city and a series of university libraries and cafes.

The forum also discusses the age and race of women at different locations around Melbourne and Sydney, and if an area is likely to be “blown out” by the presence of too many other men.

The men also warned each other of being too public with multiple public approaches of different women, saying “male feminists” are out to rumble their game.

“My opinion is that Woolworths Melbourne Central (Metro) and the Professors Walk Cafe at the University of Melbourne (during university semesters) are the best day game venues in the Melbourne CBD,” the guide reads.

“This is because of the consistent high turnover rate (and hence quantity) of solo girls 5/10 and above, and the logistical set-up making it very easy/natural to open/approach girls,” a post in the forum reads.

“We know game is a numbers game and hence these venues allow you to approach a large quantity of girls in a short amount of time. I have included other venues for the sake of variety and in the event that these venues become saturated with men (wink).”

The author of the list described women waiting in a university cafe as “open targets”, saying if you sit in a certain seat in the cafe the women are forced to stand next to you while waiting for their order.

On approaching women at the State Library in Melbourne, the man wrote: “On the weekends you get jailbait here and there diligently working on an assignment if that is your thing.”

“Women are women. They crave security and ease,” another man wrote. “Meet a lone backpacker, interstater in the city you can invite here straight over for a drink, coffee, rest etc.”

“But don’t be that weird c*** who cold approaches 10X in a row in the one area in the space of half an hour,” another commenter warned.

“Not only will you get blown out by the women, you’ll also get blown out by venue operators, the public and generally create a bad situation for future forum members who might be hitting up the same spots. Don’t ever forget that you are in nanny state city either.”

Others were more concerned about other men, “male feminists”, disrupting their game.

“The nanny state is less of a concern to me than having to avoid drawing attention from the odd male feminist here and there although we’re still a very masculine culture deep down,” another man wrote on the forum.

“I've noticed that its much better to incorporate ‘plausible deniability’ in your game,” another man wrote of avoiding detection.

“It can be your saving grace. ie. if you’re going to do some cold approaches (direct), in front of a shopping centre, make sure you’ve just done a shop yourself (and be holding some bags with you) and if playfully quizzed maybe say that you’re meeting a friend.

“This way, it looks more organic when you approach a girl because it appears that you’ve done it on the fly.”

A cold approach is a term used in the pick-up artist community to refer to meeting someone who is a stranger to you.

Online, people aware of the list were disgusted.

This is so f’d up!? Why are men SO obsessed with females. This is actually really disturbing and highlights exactly what we are up against as a society. No wonder we are all on high alert every minute of every freaking day 😡 — SarahValentina (@svm_sarah) May 29, 2019

How is the use of language. Cold approach, targets, targeting, untapped market, tactic, passive day game approach. This makes me sick. They can rot. — SarahValentina (@svm_sarah) May 29, 2019

This was not fun to read while at Melbourne central 😐 — Col. Tungsteena Zarpedon (@awyeahthtsmyjam) May 30, 2019

Sounds like typical Melbourne dudes being predators to me. Ugh. Gross thread wish I hadn't read the link — 🖤NAUGHTY±NERDY🖤 (@naughtynerdy) May 29, 2019

Just an update, this was reported to the police this morning and the forum is now being monitored closely. x — B A T T S (@BATTSMUSIC) May 30, 2019

Responding to tweets by from concerned women, Melbourne University said it had referred the list to police, and its security team was “paying particular attention to the locations named in the post.

We've written to the forum admins to request that the post is removed. If anyone feels unsafe while on campus, they are encouraged to contact the University’s security team at 8344 6666 for immediate response. (2/2) — University of Melbourne (@unimelb) May 30, 2019

Woolworths said their Metro team were “apalled” by the list.

“We work hard to provide a safe and welcoming environment for our customers and team members, and this type of behaviour is clearly at odds with that,” a spokesperson for Woolworths said.

“We’ve raised it with our store leaders, and our security providers will keep an eye out for any inappropriate behaviour.

“If customers have any concerns while shopping, we’d encourage them to raise it with a team member or security so we can take appropriate action in response.”

The forum is connected to a site run by Roosh V, a controversial US blogger and pick-up artist.

In 2015 Roosh V, whose real name is Daryush Valizadeh, wrote an article titled, “How to stop rape” in which he proposed legalising rape on private property. After causing public outrage, he later claimed the post was satirical.

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