By Stellack January 23, 2026 - 2:03am

“There’s a scene in Legally Blonde where Elle Woods returns home to campus and notices her awkward friend David trying to pick up a pretty girl. “You’re a dork”, replies the girl. “Girls like me don’t go out with guys like you.” Elle hurries over to David and slaps him. “Why didn’t you call me? Why spent a beautiful night together and I haven’t heard from you since.” David plays along as the pretty girl watches attentively. After Elle stalks off, the pretty girl returns to David. “So when did you wanna go out?”-A Billion Wicked Thoughts, pp. 117

Thanks to last week’s letter from Will, the Question of Preselection came up in the ensuing comments and was discussed at some length; today, we go one step further, focusing precisely on what Preselection is, how and why it works, and how YOU can see it in action for yourself – for we here at J4G don’t truck in make believe or airy-fairy theories that sound great on blogs and chats, but don’t do Jack out in the real. Of all the tools in the Gamesman’s box, Preselection ranks as one of, if not the strongest.

Why? Well, the leadoff quotation above, taken from the excellent book “A Billion Wicked Thoughts” which in turn recounts a scene from the film “Legally Blonde” points to it: because Men who are able to garner the attention of (attractive) Women, is taken as a powerful sign by other Women that he is indeed a Man of High Value - and as such, they too will want a piece of the action.

We’ve all seen (or experienced) this ourselves; for example, and contrary to what you may have heard, married Men who go cruising for extra action on the side don’t take their wedding rings off – leaving them on gives them extra cache’ in the mating market, not less. In fact, we’ve all seen married guys get hit on by Women – I know I have – well, now you know why. Preselection.

Here’s another way of looking at it, and this is something that the ladies out there reading along will especially be able to relate to: “all the best Men are either taken or Gay” – right?

Right! Let’s check in again with “A Billion Wicked Thoughts” for more on this point:

“The maxim “All the best men are taken” is doubly true. If a man is already taken by a woman, then by definition, he’s the best man – or certainly a more desirable man. If the exact same man is not taken, then his value is questionable – he’s certainly not as desirable as a man who has already received the stamp of approval from another woman’s Detective Agency.” (pp. 118)

By “a woman’s Detective Agency” Ogas and Gaddam, the authors of “A Billion Wicked Thoughts” means the suite of mating software that has been honed and shaped by evolution over many millennia that every Woman carries inside her brain; the way Women go about mating has now been proven beyond all reasonable doubt to be markedly and profoundly different than the way Men get ‘er done. For Women, they need to be able to cull as much information about a Man on as many dimensions as possible (per Prof. David M. Buss’ “The Evolution of Desire”, there are some 10 specific areas of evaluation; pp. 22-45. More discussion on these 10 specific areas of evaluation to come in a future post – stay tuned) BEFORE making the decision to drop her panties and assume the position; NOT being thorough in her “detective work” can prove to be highly costly to her in a number of ways that simply isn’t the case for Men (pregnancy, rape, abandonment, abuse, getting no resources, et al.). However, Preselection presents a “shortcut” to all that time-consuming work – a Man’s already been “pre-approved” by another Woman (or group of Women, heh heh) who’ve already done all the legwork. All she needs do now is present herself.

If all of this sounds a bit odd, especially about how a Woman’s “Detective Agency” works, don’t worry – I’ll be explaining that more in detail in an upcoming post, so stay tuned. In the meantime, just work with me here, on how and why Preselection works like a MoFo.

Back to “A Billion Wicked Thoughts”:

“Popularity cues are one reason many women find married men (Editor’s Note: see above) so attractive. The fact that another woman’s Detective Agency has already completed her assiduous detective work and endorsed a man is valuable information. If the man had something to hide, surely the wife’s Miss Marple would have ferreted it out. But for the men who are the subject of the popularity cue, it’s a case of the rich getting richer.” (pp. 118)

Got that? Men who already have (attractive) Women, will stand a huge chance toward getting MORE Women. Again, does anyone reading this right now, dispute that fact? Have we not all seen this very phenomenon in action for ourselves? Well, now you know why.

Which brings us to something those of us who are learned in the Ways of Pickup understand very well – the use of what are known as Hired Guns.

A “Hired Gun” is a Woman who is brought into service in large part BECAUSE she is very attractive. This could be as a stripper, a barmaid, working the sales floor at a Men’s shop, a Playboy Bunny…you get the idea. Well, PUAs will often counsel a guy first starting out to employ a Hired Gun to help him generate attraction in other Women – and folks, I am here to testify that it works.

It’s really easy – simply offer an attractive gal a night out where she doesn’t have to do anything other than act like she’s interested in you, ESPECIALLY AROUND OTHER WOMEN. Get her dinner/drinks, heck, even pay her a small “research fee” (I think the going rate these days is like, what, $20-$25 bucks?), for an hour or two of her time. Hit up any social gathering you like – arts crawl, niteclub, cafe’, whatever – and carefully register the responses on the part of the Women around you. Remember to pay very close attention to involuntary “tells” - and report back the results. In fact, if you’re really down to run wild with it, do this full-on social experiment:

Mark out a social venue you want to hit up. Now, go there alone, go back to that same venue on another night with a Wingman, and then go back to that very same venue on another night with a smokin’ hawt Hired Gun, and report back the results; which night saw you getting the most attention from the ladies? If I were a betting Man, my odds would be on the latter, and Preselection would be why.

I’ve done exactly what I just wrote above, and can attest to its efficacy.

But wait, there’s more!

Several years back, Ms. Brown Sugah and I attended one of the many free concerts known as Summer Stage that are held in New York City every Summer season. This time we went to checkout Raphael Siddiq in Central Park. It was HOT, and the show itself was being held on the tennis courts, so the sun was relentlessly beating down on the crowd. The line for admittance into the concert began forming fairly early in the morning which was already warm, about 10am or so, and while standing/sitting there, I casually struck up a conversation with a gaggle of young ladies directly in front of me. Now, mind you, these gals were already being hit on by fellas who were ahead of them in the line, but the ladies rebuffed them, and said ladies instead chatted with me like we were old friends…in fact, it might have been a bit too much like old friends, because when I went to introduce them to Ms. Brown Sugah, who stood behind me, she didn’t react very well to them, LOL.

Anyway, that’s Part One of how my Preselection Day in Central Park went.

Part Two came when we were on the tennis court and watching the show. Again, I struck up a convo, this time with some fellas sitting behind me; they were native New Yorkers and had again, come “alone” (i.e., without Women). A LOT of Women were out there, most of them in groups, but were NOT interested in the single guys, or guys in groups, like my NYC buds behind me.

But they were VERY INTERESTED in the Boo’d Up Guys like yours truly. One of them, a very attractive Sista in a sheer white summer dress that did not hide the fact that she was wearing thong delicates, asked me to please get her some water from the refreshment stand, and that she would spring for drinks for me and Ms. Brown Sugah; being the gent that I am, I thought nothing of it and took her up on the offer. It was Africa Hot out there, after all. Ms. See-Through Thong seductively reached through her purse, got the money, handed it to me, and off I went.

After I come back with the drinks, Ms. See-Through Thong has turned completely around to face me, her back to the stage, and thanks me over and over again, sitting in such a way that her naughty bits, barely covered by the aforementioned thong, are on display.

It was then that I caught on to what was happening - and I could feel the white-hot beams of deathrays coming from Ms. Brown Sugah, too. I coolly nodded, “you’re welcome” and kept eyes straight-ahead on the stage for the rest of the time. And I must say, that Mr. Siddiq put on a heck of show! I had a very good time.

Now, Ms. See-Through Thong HAD to have seen the gents behind me, because they were there prior to me and Ms. Brown Sugah getting our “seats” on on the tennis green; yet, she wasn’t interested in them, or any of the other single dudes out there (I’d say the guys who were boo’d up in attendance made up maybe, 25% of the total dude population?); she had eyes only for me, which made things a bit tense insofar as Ms. Brown Sugah was concerned, you can well imagine. In my focus on working out the logistics of getting in the place, finding a good spot on the floor to sit on (Ms. Brown Sugah wanted to snap pics of Siddiq in action, which she succeeded in doing, by the way; excellent shots!), etc, I wasn’t even thinking in “PUA Social Experiment Mode” – but there it was – Preselection, slapping me all about the face. Even MORE than my “structured social experiments”, that one day up in NYC’s Central Park, is the most powerful endorsement for the principle of Preselection that I have ever known or seen, to date.

Before that episode and many, many times since, I have been directly hit on by Women while out and about with Ms. Brown Sugah – I mean, just flagrantly hit on, too. It’s bananas, fellas – which gives me leave to close out with the following maxim:

The Thirst Is Real For The Ladies, Too – But They Only Thirst For The “Best Men”.

And no Woman wants a Man whom no other Woman doesn’t want.

You want to get Women? Get a Woman.

And let the Game, begin.

References:

Men Behaving Badly, and the Women who Love/Hate Them

Is The Ratcheted Life Worth Living? Living Contradictions And Their Consequences

What the Greeks and Plato Thought About ALPHA

Why The Other Guys Always Get The Girls

The Dating Game Vs Girl Game

I Don’t Kiss On The First Date

How To Handle A Nuclear Rejection In The Age Of Social Media

The Complex Nature of Sexiness and Its Impact On The Dating Game

How Women Can Stay Visible And Attractive As They Age

What Radical Honesty In Modern Dating Would Really Look Like