The Art of Seduction (82 page)

robe of fine linen, through

which Satni could see all

Interpretation.
The women who became involved with Errol Flynn (and
her limbs. His passion

increased, but she said, "If
by the end of his life they numbered in the thousands) had every reason in
it is true that you desire to
the world to feel suspicious of him: he was real life's closest thing to a Don
have your pleasure of me,
Juan. (In fact he had played the legendary seducer in a film.) He was con
you will make your
stantly surrounded by women, who knew that no involvement with him
children subscribe to my

deed, that they may not

could last. And then there were the rumors of his temper, and his love of
seek a quarrel with my

danger and adventure. No woman had greater reason to resist him than
children." Satni sent for
Nora Eddington: when she met him he stood accused of rape; she was in
his children. "If it is true
that you desire to have
volved with another man; she was a God-fearing Catholic. Yet she fell un
your pleasure of me, you
der his spell, just like all the rest. Some seducers—D. H. Lawrence for
will cause your children to
instance—operate mostly on the mind, creating fascination, stirring up the
be killed, that they may

not seek a quarrel with my

need to possess them. Flynn operated on the body. His cool, nonchalant
children." Satni consented

manner infected women, lowering their resistance. This happened almost
again: "Let any crime be
the minute they met him, like a drug: he was at ease around women, grace
done to them which your
ful and confident. They fell into this spirit, drifting along on a current he
heart desires." "Go into

that room," said Thubuit;

created, leaving the world and its heaviness behind—it was only you and
and while the little corpses
him. Then—perhaps that same day, perhaps a few weeks later—there would
were thrown out to the
come a touch of his hand, a certain look, that would make them feel a tin
stray dogs and cats, Satni
at last lay on a bed of ivory
gling, a vibration, a dangerously physical excitement. They would betray
and ebony, that his love
that moment in their eyes, a blush, a nervous laugh, and he would swoop in
might be rewarded, and

for the kill. No one moved faster than Errol Flynn.

Thubuit lay down at his

side. "Then," the texts

The greatest obstacle to the physical part of the seduction is the target's
modestly say, "magic and

education, the degree to which he or she has been civilized and socialized.
the god Amen did much."

Such education conspires to constrain the body, dull the senses, fill the

•
The charms of the

Divine Women must have
mind with doubts and worries. Flynn had the ability to return a woman to
been irresistible, if even

a more natural state, in which desire, pleasure, and sex had nothing negative

"the wisest men" were
attached to them. He lured women into adventure not with arguments but
Use Physical Lures • 401

with an open, unrestrained attitude that infected their minds. Understand:
ready to do anything in
it all starts from you. When the time comes to make the seduction physical,
their desire to abandon
themselves, even for a few

train yourself to let go of your own inhibitions, your doubts, your linger-
moments, to their trained
ing feelings of guilt and anxiety. Your confidence and ease will have more
embraces.
power to intoxicate the victim than all the alcohol you could apply. Exhibit —G. R.TABOUIS,
THE PRIVATE

a lightness of spirit—nothing bothers you, nothing daunts you, you take
LIFE OF TUTANKHAMEN,
nothing personally. You are inviting your targets to shed the burdens of T R A N S L A T E D B Y M . R . D O B I E

civilization, to follow your lead and drift. Do not talk of work, duty, marriage, the past or future. Plenty of other people will do that. Instead, offer the rare thrill of losing oneself in the moment, where the senses come dive
CÉLIE: What is the

and the mind is left behind.

moment, and how do you

define it? Because I must

say in all good honesty that

When he kissed me, it evoked a response I had never

I do not understand you.
•

known or imagined before, a giddying of all my senses. It

THE DUKE: A certain

was instinctive joy, against which no warning, reasoning

disposition of the senses, as

unexpected as it is

monitor within me availed. It was new and irresistible and

involuntary, which a

finally overpowering. Seduction
—
the word implies being

woman can conceal, but

led
—
and so gently, so tenderly.

which, should it be

perceived or sensed by

— L I N D A CHRISTIAN

someone who might profit

from it, puts her in the

greatest danger of being a

Keys to Seduction

little more willing than she

thought she ever should or

could be.

Now more than ever, our minds are in a state of constant distraction, —CRÉBILLON FILS,
LE HASARD

barraged with endless information, pulled in every direction. Many
AU COIN DU FEU
, QUOTED IN

M I C H E L FEHER, ED.,
THE

of us recognize the problem: articles are written, studies are completed, but
LIBERTINE READER

they simply become more information to digest. It is almost impossible to turn off an overactive mind; the attempt simply triggers more thoughts—

an inescapable hall of mirrors. Perhaps we turn to alcohol, to drugs, to physical activity—anything to help us slow the mind, be more present in
When, on an autumn

evening, with closed eyes, \

the moment. Our discontent presents the crafty seducer with infinite op-
I breathe the warm dark
portunity. The waters around you are teeming with people seeking some
fragrance of your breast, \

kind of release from mental overstimulation. The lure of unencumbered
Before me blissful shores
unfold, caressed \ By

physical pleasure will make them take your bait, but as you prowl the wa-
dazzling fires from blue
ters, understand: the only way to relax a distracted mind is to make it focus
unchanging skies. \ And
on one thing. A hypnotist asks the patient to focus on a watch swinging
there, upon that calm and
back and forth. Once the patient focuses, the mind relaxes, the senses
drowsing isle, \ Grow
luscious fruits amid

awaken, the body becomes prone to all kinds of novel sensations and sug-
fantastic trees: \ There,
gestions. As a seducer, you are a hypnotist, and what you are making the
men are lithe: the women
target focus on is you.

of those seas \ Amaze one

with their gaze that knows

Throughout the seductive process you have been filling the target's
no guile. \ Your perfume
mind. Letters, mementos, shared experiences keep you constantly present,
wafts me thither like a
even when you are not there. Now, as you shift to the physical part of
wind: \ I see a harbor
thronged with masts and

the seduction, you must see your targets more often. Your attention must
sails \ Still weary from the
become more intense. Errol Flynn was a master at this game. When he
tumult of the gales; \ And
402
•
The Art of Seduction

with the sailors' song that

honied in on a victim, he dropped everything else. The woman was made
drifts to me \ Are mingled

to feel that everything came second to her—his career, his friends, every
odors of the tamarind, \
thing. Then he would take her on a little trip, preferably with water

—
A n d all my soul is scent

and melody.

around. Slowly the rest of the world would fade into the background, and

— C H A R L E S BAUDELAIRE,

Flynn would take center stage. The more your targets think of you, the less

" E X O T I C PERFUME,"

they are distracted by thoughts of work and duty. When the mind focuses
THE FLOWERS OF EVIL,

on one thing it relaxes, and when the mind relaxes, all the little paranoid

thoughts that we are prone to—do you really like me, am I intelligent or beautiful enough, what does the future hold—vanish from the surface. Remember: it all starts with you. Be undistracted, present in the moment, and the target will follow suit. The intense gaze of the hypnotist creates a similar reaction in the patient. Once the target's overactive mind starts to slow down, their senses will come to life, and your physical lures will have double their power. Now a heated glance will give them flush. You will have a tendency to employ physical lures that work primarily on the eyes, the sense we most rely on in our culture. Physical appearances are critical, but you are after a general agitation of the senses. La Belle Otero made sure men noticed her breasts, her figure, her perfume, her walk; no part was allowed to predominate. The senses are interconnected—an appeal to smell will trigger touch, an appeal to touch will trigger vision: casual or "accidental" contact—better a brushing of the skin than something more forceful right now—will create a jolt and activate the eyes. Subtly modulate the voice, make it slower and deeper. Living senses will crowd out rational thought.

In the eighteenth-century libertine novel
The Wayward Head and Heart,
by Crébillon fils, Madame de Lursay is trying to seduce a younger man, Meilcour. Her weapons are several. One night at a party she is hosting, she wears a revealing gown; her hair is slightly tousled; she throws him heated glances; her voice trembles a bit. When they are alone, she innocently gets him to sit close to her, and talks more slowly; at one point she starts to cry. Meilcour has many reasons to resist her; he has fallen in love with a girl his own age, and he has heard rumors about Madame de Lursay that should make him distrust her. But the clothes, the looks, the perfume, the voice, the closeness of her body, the tears—it all begins to overwhelm him. "An indescribable agitation stirred my senses." Meilcour succumbs. The French libertines of the eighteenth century called this "the moment." The seducer leads the victim to a point where he or she reveals involuntary signs of physical excitation that can be read in various symptoms. Once those signs are detected, the seducer must work quickly, applying pressure on the target to get lost in the moment—the past, the future, all moral scruples vanishing in air. Once your victims lose themselves in the moment, it is all over—their mind, their conscience, no longer holds them back. The body gives in to pleasure. Madame de Lursay lures Meilcour into the moment by creating a generalized disorder of the senses, rendering him incapable of thinking straight.

In leading your victims into the moment, remember a few things. First,
Use Physical Lures • 403

a disordered look (Madame de Lursay's tousled hair, her ruffled dress) has more effect on the senses than a neat appearance. It suggests the bedroom. Second, be alert to the signs of physical excitation. Blushing, trembling of the voice, tears, unusually forceful laughter, relaxing movements of the body (any kind of involuntary mirroring, their gestures imitating yours), a revealing slip of the tongue—these are signs that the victim is slipping into the moment and pressure is to be applied.

In 1934, a Chinese football player named Li met a young actress named Lan Ping in Shanghai. He began to see her often at his matches, cheering him on. They would meet at public affairs, and he would notice her glancing at him with her "strange, yearning eyes," then looking away. One evening he found her seated next to him at a reception. Her leg brushed up against his. They chatted, and she asked him to see a movie with her at a nearby cinema. Once they were there, her head found its way onto his shoulder; she whispered into his ear, something about the film. Later they strolled the streets, and she put her arm around his waist. She brought him to a restaurant where they drank some wine. Li took her to his hotel room, and there he found himself overwhelmed by caresses and sweet words. She gave him no room to retreat, no time to cool down. Three years later Lan Ping—soon to be renamed Jiang Qing—played a similar game on Mao Zedong. She was to become Mao's wife—the infamous Madame Mao, leader of the Gang of Four.

Seduction, like warfare, is often a game of distance and closeness. At first you track your enemy from a distance. Your main weapons are your eyes, and a mysterious manner. Byron had his famous underlook, Madame Mao her yearning eyes. The key is to make the look short and to the point, then look away, like a rapier glancing the flesh. Make your eyes reveal desire, and keep the rest of the face still. (A smile will spoil the effect.) Once the victim is heated up, you quickly bridge the distance, turning to handto-hand combat in which you give the enemy no room to withdraw, no time to think or to consider the position in which you have placed him or her. To take the element of fear out of this, use flattery, make the target feel more masculine or feminine, praise their charms. It is
their
fault that you have become so physical and aggressive. There is no greater physical lure than to make the target feel alluring. Remember: the girdle of Aphrodite, which gave her untold seductive powers, included that of sweet flattery. Shared physical activity is always an excellent lure. The Russian mystic Rasputin would begin his seductions with a spiritual lure—the promise of a shared religious experience. But then his eyes would bore into his target at a party, and inevitably he would lead her in a dance, which would become more and more suggestive as he moved closer to her. Hundreds of women succumbed to this technique. For Flynn it was swimming or sailing. In such physical activity, the mind turns off and the body operates according to its own laws. The target's body will follow your lead, will mirror your moves, as far as you want it to go.

In the moment, all moral considerations fade away, and the body re-
404 • The Art of Seduction
turns to a state of innocence. You can partly create that feeling through a devil-may-care attitude. You do not worry about the world, or what people think of you; you do not judge your target in any way. Part of Flynn's appeal was his total acceptance of a woman. He was not interested in a particular body type, a woman's race, her level of education, her political beliefs. He was in love with her feminine presence. He was luring her into an adventure, free of society's strictures and moral judgments. With him she could act out a fantasy—which, for many, was the chance to be aggressive or transgressive, to experience danger. So empty yourself of your tendency to moralize and judge. You have lured your targets into a momentary world of pleasure—soft and accommodating, all rules and taboos thrown out the window.

Symbol:
The Raft. Floating out to sea, drifting with the current. Soon the shore-
line disappears from sight, and the two of you are alone. The water invites you to
forget all cares and worries, to submerge yourself. Without anchor or direction, cut
off from the past, you give in to the drifting sensation and slowly lose all restraint.
Reversal

Some people panic when they sense they are falling into the moment. Often, using spiritual lures will help disguise the increasingly physical nature of the seduction. That is how the lesbian seductress Natalie Barney operated. In her heyday, at the turn of the twentieth century, lesbian sex was immensely transgressive, and women new to it often felt a sense of shame or dirtiness. Barney led them into the physical, but so enveloped it in poetry and mysticism that they relaxed and felt purified by the experience. Today, few people feel repulsed by their sexual nature, but many are uncomfortable with their bodies. A purely physical approach will frighten and disturb them. Instead, make it seem a spiritual, mystical union, and they will take less notice of your physical manipulations.

Master the Art of the Bold Move

A moment has

arrived: your victim clearly desires you,

but is not ready to admit it openly, let alone act on it.

This is the time to throw aside chivalry, kindness, and coquetry
and to overwhelm with a bold move. Don't give the victim time to consider
the consequences; create conflict, stir up tension, so that the bold move comes as
a great release. Showing hesitation or awkwardness means you are thinking of
yourself, as opposed to being overwhelmed by the victim's charms. Never hold
back or meet the target halfway, under the belief that you are being
correct and considerate; you must be seductive now, not

political. One person must go on the of-

fensive, and it is you.

The Perfect Climax

Through a campaign of deception—the misleading appearance of a

transformation into goodness—the rake Valmont laid siege to the virtuous young Présidente de Tourvel until the day came when, disturbed by his confession of love for her, she insisted he leave the château where both of them were staying as guests. He complied. From Paris, however, he flooded her with letters, describing his love for her in the most intense terms; she begged him to stop, and once again he complied. Then, several
It afforded, moreover,
another advantage: that of

weeks later, he paid a surprise visit to the château. In his company Tourvel
observing at my leisure her
was flushed and jumpy, and kept her eyes averted—all signs of his effect on
charming face, more
her. Again she asked him to leave. What have you to fear? he replied, I have
beautiful than ever, as it
proffered the powerful

always done what you have asked, I have never forced myself on you. He
enticement of tears. My
kept his distance and she slowly relaxed. She no longer left the room when
blood was on fire, and I
he entered, and she could look at him directly. When he offered to accom-
was so little in control of
myself that I was tempted

pany her on a walk, she did not refuse. They were friends, she said. She
to make the most of the
even put her arm in his as they strolled, a friendly gesture.

occasion.
•
How weak we

One rainy day they could not take their usual walk. He met her in the
must be, how strong the
dominion of circumstance,

hallway as she was entering her room; for the first time, she invited him in.
if even I, without a
She seemed relaxed, and Valmont sat near her on a sofa. He talked of his
thought for my plans, could
love for her. She gave the faintest protest. He took her hand; she left it
risk losing all the charm of
there and leaned against his arm. Her voice trembled. She looked at him,
a prolonged struggle, all the
fascination of a laboriously

and he felt his heart flutter—it was a tender, loving look. She started to
administered defeat, by
speak—"Well! yes, I . . ."—then suddenly collapsed into his arms, crying. It
concluding a premature
was a moment of weakness, yet Valmont held himself back. Her crying be-
victory; if distracted by the
most puerile of desires, I

came convulsive; she begged him to help her, to leave the room before
could be willing that the
something terrible happened. He did so. The following morning he awoke
conqueror of Madame de
to some surprising news: in the middle of the night, claiming she was feel-
Tourvel should take
nothing for the fruit of his

ing ill, Tourvel had suddenly left the château and returned home.

labors but the tasteless

Valmont did not follow her to Paris. Instead he began staying up late,
distinction of having added
and using no powder to hide the peaked looks that soon ensued. He went
one more name to the roll.
Ah, let her surrender, but

to the chapel every day, and dragged himself despondently around the
let her fight! Let her be too
château. He knew that his hostess would be writing to the Présidente, who
weak to prevail but strong
would hear of his sad state. Next he wrote to a church father in Paris, and
enough to resist; let her
asked him to pass along a message to Tourvel: he was ready to change his
savor the knowledge of her
weakness at her leisure, but

life for good. He wanted one last meeting, to say goodbye and to return the
let her be unwilling to
letters she had written him over the last few months. The father arranged a
admit defeat. Leave the
407

408
•
The Art of Seduction

humble poacher to kill the
meeting, and so, one late afternoon in Paris, Valmont found himself once
stag where he has surprised

again alone with Tourvel, in a room in her house.

it in its hiding place;

the true hunter will

The Présidente was clearly on edge; she could not look him in the eye.
bring it to bay.

They exchanged pleasantries, but then Valmont turned harsh: she had

—VICOMTE DE VALMONT,