A journalist attends SlutCon, a three-day seduction retreat in Berkeley hosted at Lighthaven, a venue associated with the rationalist subculture. The event recruits "flirt girls" to help male attendees practice seduction techniques through structured exercises like "circling," where participants narrate their inner states to the group.
"The Spider and the Fly" is an 1828 poem by Mary Howitt that tells of a cunning spider entrapping a fly through seduction and manipulation. The cautionary tale's opening line has become one of English literature's most recognized and quoted first lines, often used as an aphorism for false offers of help that conceal traps.