I had this exchange earlier tonight with a very attractive lady. I'm not going to fully explain the context, just because I think it's funnier that way, but I will say that it is entirely verbatim.
Me: [name], I want to reveal myself to you.
Her: OK, what do you want to show me?
Me: Ever since that second time I saw you at [community event], I've been extremely attracted to you as a person. I'm not entirely sure how much of this is due to the fact that you very closely resemble someone I know who is a close friend of mine and who I think of as a role model, but I hope that over time I'll be able to tease apart my attraction to you and find out what's really going on.
Her: Thank you.
(a couple minutes later)
Her: Joe, I want to reveal myself to you.
Me: OK, what do you want to show me?
Her: When you said earlier that one thing you wanted out of your next lover was Original Play, my pussy went thump-THUMP-thump-THUMP-THUMP.
Me: Thank you.
(a little while after)
Her: Joe, I want to reveal myself to you.
Me: OK, what do you want to show me?
Her: I'm getting feelings in my body that are telling me that I really want to fuck you, and I am trying to figure out if that is what I actually want to do.
Me: Thank you.
(The structured language was on purpose. We were doing a very deliberate we-are-here-to-tell-each-other-true-things-about-ourselves thing and using the structured dialogue to frame the things we said was very helpful when it came to being clear with each other.)
Moral of the story is that pickup lines are for losers and the best way to ensure plentiful and healthy sexual encounters is to be upfront and honest in as loving and compassionate a fashion as you can, right from the getgo, no games, no competitive posturing, no bullshit. I'm not sleeping with that woman tonight, of course ... what we were saying to each other is precisely that we are trying to give ourselves some time to clarify our intentions, so we're doing that. Would I have increased my chances of sleeping with her tonight if I'd said something untrue in order to push us in that direction? Probably not, and in any case I would've been lying to myself about how badly I wanted to have sex with her to begin with, which is a pretty shitty start.
Seriously, compassionate self-understanding and honest self-expression are not only the basis for the best sex you can have, but also a pretty good way to get there. Pickup lines are just bad jokes.
