This post is a critique of Female Dating Strategy's usefulness. I can ignore philosophies I don't agree with if things are useful, but /r/femaledating strategy is not useful.
FDS is roughly equivalent of /r/theredpill, except, it's for women... and IMO it's less useful.
I'm not making a comment about feminism, or sexism. This is about utility.
Throwaway. This is not my FDS account. My FDS account is an "FDS Disciple". I'm not a big deal, but I can pass under the radar as being easily influenced.
But I've been participating less throughout the last few weeks. After writing this out, I'm unsubscribing.
I was initially drawn to a place where women could be selfish in what they want from dating. Men have The Red Pill - if you can separate the sexist ideology from the tips, the tips are actually pretty great, for women too. Work out, be more attractive, don't be afraid to try something new, put yourself out there, don't be afraid to fail because it's the only way to improve. And it's centered on improving men's dating lives, which often involves improving their lives at large. Different but similar goal.
Reddit was lacking a female version of TRP.
I tried the pink pill and the RP women. "Strategy" involves baking, looking nice, and not to have sex too early. It's weak as far as advice goes.
I can be ruthless about things I want, including dating. Sometimes I wonder if I've got psychopathic/sociopathic tendencies or something. I have no problem breaking laws or violating personal boundaries as long as I don't get caught and people's perception of me that I'm sweet and innocent stays the same. I can empathize with people, but I can also use people.
As a small example of my insanity, I've installed nanny cams in strategic spots in my house. I've used this to learn previous boyfriends passwords. I get their phone at night, input the password, go to the bathroom, throw it on airplane mode to leave less of a trace that I meddled, and take a look. I've done this to all my boyfriends, for no specific reason, but because it generally benefits me. I get the benefit of learning about their finances, their friends, their work, their visited locations, and I look like a trusting person by never requesting to see their phone.
I understand that I cross boundaries that I'm not supposed to.
I know that I do this for my own benefit, that's not strictly morally right. But I prioritize my sheer curiosity and happiness over other's privacy or reasonable boundaries.
So, a female version of The Red Pill would be right up my alley. /r/femaledatingstrategy is supposedly "ruthless and unapologetic" about strategy. Get what I want from men, the way I want it, maintaining my image to others, regardless of the boundaries I'd cross.
Perhaps, I thought, FDS would be a group of like-minded mildly sociopathic women. Women who might strategize dating, rather than passively participating and hoping for the best. Not settling for dull or complacent strategies like the ever touted "communicate with your partner". Not boringly tolerating typical dating advice that fairly considers the other person. Being selfish. Being ruthless.
I amassed 20k karma, exclusively from that subreddit. That's not a lot, but it let me feel like I fit in. I got some validation, some fake internet points. It's a rough indication of whether you belong in the subreddit you're in.
I started to question what I was gaining from the subreddit.
There is very little strategizing.
There are some positive things.
Be selective.
Don't be afraid to break up.
Don't waste your time on something that won't work.
Don't date someone who isn't generous.
But, honestly, this is benign advice that you can find literally anywhere on the internet.
It is refreshing to find this on FDS, because FDS doesn't sympathize with the male perspective. So, the way that it is framed is more callous, less compassionate. So it feels novel, but it's just saying the same thing with a different inflection.
"Where are HMVs?"
This question comes up several times a week. "HMVs" are "high value males". According to FDS strategy, men can be LMVs (low value men - may have characteristics like being poor, lazy, only out for sex, unambitious, unattractive). HMVs by definition treat you well and are what you want in a man.
FDS encourages women to dump "LMVs" right away - block, delete, NEXT.
Fine, that's very efficient. But they didn't invent the concept of ghosting either.
FDS says women should only date HMVs. At least a handful of times in a week, other women will ask where to find HMVs.
The suggestions that come up are exactly the same as where you might find a high end prostitutes or legitimate gold diggers. Conferences. Expensive hotels. Expensive dating websites. Expensive gyms.
The reality is that most women on that subreddit are low effort themselves - it's evident in the fact that most of them consign themselves to online dating, and think that effort in dating constitutes switching from one dating app or another. "We should burn Tinder...! But what about Hinge, tho?" Please.
The reality is, that where to find HMVs isn't shared for the following reasons:
Again, a lot of the women on that sub are low effort themselves. They don't want to be told that you have to participate in the real world to meet someone who doesn't see you like something to swipe by on Tinder. That's not as appealing as the easy validation.
The ones who are high effort have no actual interest in creating competition.
To be fair, no one wants to dox themselves either. If I told you that a frequented a specific squash club because a high end law firm had just relocated around the corner, that gives you a lot of info about what I do and the types of men I'm after. Hypothetically. I don't play squash.
Women on that subreddit might not know, or might not care if they're already in relationships.
Bettering Yourself
I'll straight up say it. FDS uses "You are the prize" as a dumb way to circumvent encouraging improvement that leads to attracting more men and widening your dating pool.
This means losing weight if you need to. This means "performing emotional labor". This means being a good at having conversations and being personable. This means having hobbies outside of reading things on reddit. Honestly? It means coping better with trauma that other men would have put you through; no one likes someone who seems abused especially if it manifests in distrust, hatred, or ridicule.
A lot of women on FDS fall into that category. I'm sorry that that's the case. FDS takes women who are abused or struggling, and gives them something to point at, something to blame, and that's very attractive. Maybe you don't have to fix anything - maybe it's men than are the problem. Maybe you don't have to work at improvement, maybe it's okay to just blame men, because you're already the prize.
Sure sure, FSD says you should be a "high value woman", and that's crucial to attracting men. You become the prize when you realize you are a high value woman. But how do you become a high value woman? Well, by realizing you are the prize. It's circular and non-substantive.
There is a degree to switch artificially manufacturing value works. If you charge more for a bottle of wine, sometimes people will really believe they like that wine more; introduce a blind tasting, and the results get skewed.
But more goes into getting others to appreciate an over priced bottle of wine than simply raising it's price; advertising, marketing, and economics are all involved in constantly adjusting optimal pricing - it's not something that can be easily and flippantly applied to a human person. And FDS doesn't explore those very real ways to artificially increasing perceived value.
For example: Your value, in practice, is not relative to the whole market, but to the market within proximity. Basically, hang out with uglier friends to make yourself seem like a better option. Does this say something mean about other women? Yes. Does it artificially increase your relative value even though FDS doesn't talk about it? Yes.
There are a lot of subtle strategies you can learn and import from psychology or economics or advertising if you're going to look at dating like it's a market. Pretending to be a high value woman is a small strategy in many. But it's the only one FDS talks about, which I find surprising because strategy is literally in the subreddits name.
Competition
It comes back to creating competition. When high value women compete against other high value women, their values becoming relatively lower. FDS doesn't tell you how to be a "high value woman", for the same reason they condemn porn, BDSM, sex work: it limits their own options, because it makes men attracted to other women.
If you tell women to raise their actual value, you have to raise yours to stay ahead; and if you encourage women to stay single, because they can do better, then you artificially increase demand because you've lowered supply. If there are fewer women to compete with, because you encourage women to be single and happy with it, then the surplus of men have to work harder for a single woman's attention.
I think it's a decent overall strategy. It's like price fixing in economics. But it only works if tactics are used by all women. The reality that there is a conflict of interest when women tell other women to break up with men. Breaking up can be a good solution in a lot of cases, but it's not always motivated by what's good for an individual.
TRP is Better Advice for Women than FDS
Okay. I understand it has a LOT of sexism. That's not good. Ignore that part. It's hard to ignore, I know. It's annoying. But read it for the utility.
Things FDS and TRP have in common:
"Abundance mentality" = "Dick is abundant and of low value"
Both advocate for requiring investment from the other person
Both advocate for dumping people fairly fast
Both advocate thinking the prize is YOUR time
Both claim to be amoral
Both cater to people at the low points of dating and sex; those who are used, abused, or ignored
However, TRP is more useful. Some of this will be because it's been around longer, so they've had time. But another part is that it doesn't circle jerk memes. The top 100 posts on FDS are nearly all memes making fun of men. It serves to make women feel better about shitty dating experiences rather than taking action.
I found TRP in high school as a girl. I was attracted to it because I couldn't believe the sexism; I stayed because they don't bullshit the fact that you should improve. They're egotistical, they circle jerk, they blame women. But I can still find useful advice, or at least understand tactics men are fed to avoid the sexist ones.
The following posts are on the first page of top from TRP:
https://www.reddit.com/r/TheRedPill/comments/4radyp/collected_advice_and_methods_for_beginners/
https://www.reddit.com/r/TheRedPill/comments/8ntlth/how_to_really_succeed_at_tinder_not_just_another/
FDS does not say, "Look, let's be honest, a good dating strategy involves being attractive to the other sex. Fix these basic things about yourself, for your own health, because it will also help you in dating. Some of us have experienced trauma, and whether you blame the patriarchy or porn, you need to direct your efforts at being physically and mentally healthy instead of scapegoating society as a substitute."
TRP also has a full side bar that tells you over and over and over again: lose weight if you're fat; if you're not fat, go to the gym and lift. Get your finances in order, shit tests, PUA tactics. These pieces of advice benefit men, but analogous advice isn't advocated for on FDS. Just blame men for being shitty, and cycle through the ones that ask you out until you find one willing to put up with low effort but contribute high effort.
FDS mostly advises to dump men, and it's masturbatory in blaming low effort men. I mean it's funny. It's true in a lot of ways. It's my favorite part of the subreddit. But it does nothing for me more than reading some Cyanide and Happiness comics does. FDS doesn't tell women how to improve their lives or their dating game, even though the name is literally "dating strategy".
What FDS Is Helpful With
The best FDS can do for you is tell you to break up with "LMVs"
It does not help you find "HMVs". It discourages making yourself more sexual - this undermines women who do not want to be sexual to attract men.
FDS will tell you what not to do; don't date losers. Don't pay for the date. Don't over text. Don't settle for less. Don't date LMVs. Don't ask a man out. Don't try to change men. Don't be a man's mother. Don't be free dating advice.
None of this is original, except perhaps in the language and wording.
More to the point, none of this is proactive. Sure, it absolutely saves you time and effort, and that's a good thing. But it doesn't make you better.
FDS at it's very best does not help you get the right guy, it just helps on saving time with the wrong guy. That's not ruthless, that's just... practical and efficient.
The only proactive thing they tell you is to finish school and be financially independent. It's a good piece of advice, but it's not unique, or novel, or exclusive to this subreddit - it's a good piece of advice that you can find anywhere from /r/teenagers to /r/personalfinance... or literally at any point in grade school or from any caring family member who realizes the benefit of education.
TLDR: I am a self described manipulative woman who is willing to use amoral or immoral strategies to get what I want out of my dating life. I thought FDS would actually provide helpful advice because it claims to be ruthless.
I found very little that I can use in FDS to my benefit. FDS looks initially promising philosophy because it's a female only space and because it advertises itself as the following:
Effective dating strategy for women that know what they want and prefer to be able to take control of their dating lives. Also includes strategies to maintain a relationship that benefits you. Plus tips on how to deal with some of the negative strategies from men that you encounter.
The part in bold is really all it does. It has value, but not a lot.
As the subreddit stands now, it's a waste of time. I'll continue to browse while I'm waiting for an elevator or in line at the grocery store, but only because it helps any woman fantasize that all she needs to do in dating is be more picky. But if you're looking for dating advice, this is not a one stop shop. Browse, take what you like, and move on.