A controversial 'pick up artist' group who promote violent tactics to engage women says it has cancelled a planned Australian speaking tour after a petition garnered more than 60,000 signatures.
But advocates fear the announced cancellation is a decoy tactic to allow parts of the speaking tour to go ahead.
Real Social Dynamics announced it had cancelled its "Jeff Free Tour" events, after the petition calling for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Immigration Minister Peter Dutton to reject a visa for speaker Jeff Allen was launched over the weekend.
In 2014 the Australian government deported RSD speaker Julien Blanc on similar grounds.
The Change.org petition has attracted more than 60,000 supporters, and accuses the group of promoting the abuse of women.
"The 'tactics' Julien and his team teach include 'choking' women and calling them 'deadbeat whores' in order to shock them into submitting to his dominance," the petition says.
"Now Julien Blanc's associate, (Real Social Dynamics) instructor Jeff (Jeffy) Allen has been granted a visa and is back in Australia to teach men this disgusting, vile violence against women."
"They call themselves 'pick up artists', but are nothing more than promoters of sexism and violence against women."
The petition claims Mr Allen impersonated an intellectually disabled man to trick women into engaging with him.
Comedian and anti RSD organiser Kirsty Mac told the Huffington Post she suspects the group is planning a function in Melbourne, despite announcing events had been cancelled.
"We have several moles," she told The Huffington Post Australia.
"The people who have signed up for the course have sent them emails and they have said they haven't cancelled.
"Last time they used a lot of decoy tactics -- they had this bus and put it on their website and then we found out the bus wasn't real."
Hotel chain Vibe Hotels on Monday afternoon announced RSD had booked events at its venues under a different name, and cancelled any further events at all hotels.
Mac said she believes the group has already held two shows in Sydney, and is planning a Melbourne show at a secret venue despite the cancellation announcement.
She said more than 100 protesters are ready to mobilise if the event goes ahead.
The Australian Greens are calling on the the government to stop sexist ‘dating’ seminars.
“It’s disgraceful that the government has reportedly already failed to stop one of these events, which promote domestic violence, from going ahead in Australia,” Senator Larissa Waters said.
“While Real Social Dynamics has claimed the events are cancelled, advocates of gender equality have reason to believe the company is using decoy tactics.
“The only way to make sure that these abhorrent events do not continue is to revoke Jeff Allen’s visa, just as the former Immigration Minister revoked Julien Blanc’s visa for promoting the same abhorrent views about women."
In 2014 then immigration minister Scott Morrison banned Blanc after a week long campaign against the seminar's that promise to teach men how to "attract and seduce women quickly, easily and consistently."
But the methods used -- choking women, grabbing their heads and pushing them toward his groin -- attracted online criticism and sparked a week-long online campaign to #takedownjulienblanc.