An American pick-up artist and pro-rape advocate, Roosh V, has organized meetings in Edinburgh and Glasgow for next Saturday, outwardly stipulating that only heterosexual men will be allowed to be in attendance, and that any women showing up in protest will be filmed with footage sent to his worldwide “anti-feminist” network who will in turn “exact furious retribution.”
The meetings are ostensibly part of a coordinated meet-up among anti-feminists and rape defenders taking place in more than 40 countries.
On his website advertising the event, Roosh V writes that it is time for supporters to “come out of the shadows.”
Roosh V, whose real name is Daryush Valizadeh, has self-published 15 books he claims advise men on how to “pick up women”, but which feature racial stereotypes and disturbing tales of how he has bullied and groomed drunk and young women into sleeping with him.
His belief that feminism has made men weak, has found a global audience, with a recent BBC report suggesting he had a million people using his website. Forums on the website also include user submitted guides on where best to sexually assault women in Glasgow and Edinburgh.
In an article from last February, Valizadeh, advocated making rape legal on private property. His rationale was that a women who consented to go into a man’s house, had consented to sex. The article meant that ahead of a speaking tour in Montreal and Toronto, more than 42,000 Canadians signed a petition calling for him to be banned under the country’s hate speech laws.