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Women: Theory and Practice

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"Women: Theory and Practice" is Bernard Chapin's third work [see our review of his excellent second work, "Escape From Gangsta Island - A School's Progressive Decline" - http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=gangsta41006.htm]. The book has been long-awaited by the many fans of Chapin's numerous previous columns detailing his views on sexual politics.

Among other things, Chapin is a culture warrior whose observations carry a sense of precision often lacking in other authors who write within that genre. That is perhaps because of his training as a psychologist, but it might just be that he is extraordinarily acute and perceptive.

His current work, as the title suggests is about how the women's revolution especially the radical feminist movement, which has and continues to poison the relationship between men and women. He does this on two levels, one theoretical, in which the intellectual underpinnings of what feminism has come to represent are dissected and then skewered, and the second experiential, illustrating how women constructed along these lines function within a culture that has become outwardly at least, female-centric.

The author carefully demonstrates that the changes that women have undergone, mirror similar changes in society in general, tracing both back to the generational tumult of the 1960s.

Starting with the chapter, "The Fairer Sex" Chapin describes the process whereby women have been transformed into a mythical construct not supportable by either reason or biology, calling it "genitalia mongering," a marketing program which has resulted in non-authentic gender roles and consequently a prodigious amount of misery for both men and women.

Chapin treads on some of the same ground that Roger Kimball has explored, and here I am thinking of his, "Rape of the Masters," however what Mr. Chapin brings to the mix is his ability to merge the real world with the theoretical in a way that aids understanding in a very clear manner.

The author is a realist, to him what is...is, so he is comfortable explaining such things as the biological reason why men are hard-wired to prefer younger women, the reason being that the urge corresponds with the seeking of "fertility and reproductive potential."

Insights such as this are refreshing and replete in "Women," especially useful given our mad rush towards permanent feminization and role confusion rather than reality-based gender identifications which accept that men and women are vastly different, but complementary nonetheless.

Of particular significance Chapin writes in the chapter, "Let's not make a deal," part of which provides a symbolic representation of feminist dynamics, that "Women today have far greater expectations than their predecessors had. When this is juxtaposed with the essential an unchanged nature of man it result in frustration because the romantic desires of individual women cannot, by definition, be met."

It is clear from such perceptive analysis that ideologically based conceptions of gender are fraudulent and lead to unhappiness. Not only that, but it can be extrapolated from that logic that similar types of regimentation imposed and not organically derived - encompassing many of the 19th and 20th century "isms" - results in similar wreckage.

If there is anything non-rigorous in Chapin's thesis at all it concerns his possibly underestimating the power whereby male biology becomes manifest marital destiny regardless of the carnage feminism has created, hence the suggestion that logic be employed in determining whether or not to marry might therefore suggest an alternative more imagined than attainable.

What recommends "Women: Theory and Practice" is the authors relentlessly applied analytical skill and his considerable ability to extrapolate real world examples as illustration. As a result it is both a speedy and thought provoking read.

According to Kant, writing over 200 years ago, to marry was to halve one's rights and to double one's duties. For Kant's great successor, Arthur Schopenhauer, marriage was only possible as the outcome of a conjuring trick played by nature upon men. The short lived beauty and charm of female youthfulness acting to lure lovestruck men into irrationally signing away their independence for a lifelong contract of devotion and commitment. The result of nature's sorcery perhaps, yet Schopenhauer had no doubt that marriage was essential to civilisation, even if he, like Kant, was always too wise to fall through its heavily scented trap door. For (writing three decades before Darwin spelled it out scientifically) sexual attraction and the bonds that result from it, are nothing less than vital to the reproduction of the species itself, even if in the light of the 21stcentury this essential truth has incredibly been lost behind the deceitful fog of feminist mythmaking.

Such is the setting for Bernard Chapin's quite brilliant treatise on what it means for society, as well as for the personal dignity of men and women, to lose sight of this politically incorrect truth and for nature's fundamental balance between male desire and female desirability to be disturbed and broken. In a world in which feminists have achieved their oft-quoted aim of making the `personal political', the book is an earnest plea for a rational reappraisal of the relationship between the sexes. The author shows how making the personal political has been achieved by a manipulation and perversion of the hardwired male chivalric disposition to express devotion to the female into a sad male acquiescence to the emergence of a political gynocracy . A New Womb Order in which decisions are made almost wholly for the apparent benefit of women, yet which not only leads to yet more suffering for the disposable male, actually fails to give a sense of personal happiness to the majority of women and that furthermore will be disastrous in the long term for both men and women and the civilisation to which they both belong. Feminism is reducing politics to the level of an ancient pagan mother goddess cult but men have forgotten that the reason our ancestors worshiped these fertility idols in the first place, was because they intuitively felt that the future of what they and their own forefathers had built depended upon it. The ultimate irony of feminism as womb deification is that, as Mark Steyn said to Chapin in an interview, `the future belongs to those who will be around to see it'. Feminism is leading to such a disastrous drop in Western birth rates that the likelihood is that `we' won't be around to see the results of our misguided devotion to the mother goddess who chooses to abort rather than concieve, and seeks re-election rather than reproduction.

I came to this book after becoming a devotee of the author's brilliant and entertaining video blogs on youtube (`Chapin's Inferno`). There, Chapin demonstrates a wonderfully educated and devastatingly rapier intellect which, every week, is unleashed upon some madness of the political left. I therefore had high expectations and I can honestly say that they have been quite exceeded. Not only is the argument of the book presented logically and clearly, it is also expressed at times quite beautifully. The guy is simply a very talented writer with a brilliant turn of phrase. This is demonstrated nowhere better than in his ruthless critique of the feminist position on porn and sexual objectification. He demolishes various arguments such as the idea that porn leads to sexual attacks on women ( `it simply enables men to get to sleep a little earlier') and debunks the notion of the sexually objectifying `male gaze' altogether - `(if the female sex are treated as objects then..) the female sex are treated with an awe generally reserved for religious relics'.

I couldn't find many faults with the book. Chapin's humanity and general `niceness' are transparent throughout. If I was to make a criticism, it would be that the author is rather more charitable to the distinction between radical feminism and mainstream feminism than I and many others would be, and a lot more optimistic as to the ability of women to share legislative power with men in a just and equitable way. But perhaps it is better that Chapin doesn`t quite share our pessimistic outlook, as it means that `Women : Theory and Practice' can't be pidgeon-holed by its opponents as simply an `anti-feminist' work. Destined to become a classic of the Men's Movement that it entirely deserves to be, this is also a book that every man should read simply as a guidebook to life in a brave new world.

With a mix of candor, wit, meticulous research and a refreshing amount of honesty and introspection, Bernard Chapin thoroughly exposes "feminism" in its modern, radical form. Unlike your local professor or TV news anchor, Chapin did his homework and learned from his experiences---both professional and personal---as well as extensive readings from those on the other side. His agenda is not to castigate nor demean women, but to present them, rightfully, as EQUALS. This is something not often done in today's politically correct world, where women are usually seen as superior and "fairer" beings by the mainstream intelligentsia, among many others. Bernard Chapin's book is a joy to devour, and it should be the hope of all of us that it is read by many scholars as its appeal stretches from sociology, electoral politics and history to psychology and your current work environment.

Bernard Chapins latest book isn't for those who have moved beyond racism, but are still hung up on "gender profiling" where if the same crime is committed by a male or female, it's the male that pays the heavier price. For those who are careful about: racial bigotry, sexism towards women, or Gay or Jew bashing, but still think it's cute to trash men, you may want to start with a different book "Big Sister: How Extreme Feminism Has Betrayed the Fight for Sexual Equality" by Neil Boyd, a feminist man who once headed a sexual harassment tribunal. It took Boyd a long time, evidently, to recognize what Chapin knew intuitively years earlier: we were warned about "Big Brother" when is was "Big Sister" who would end up planting a knife in our backs. "Big Sister" would be a bridge from what you should have known all along, to the more aggessive book "Women: Theory and Practice" a book all young men should read before before dating and marriage.

For those of us who sensed the hatred of men from behind the icy snear of feminist women, despite their assertions that they only wanted laws for themselves that applied to men (without the responsibilities of men of course) or even if you are positive that women are angels and men are pigs, but you are open to balancing out your feminist reading list, then go straight to Chapin's book and buy a copy for a friend for Christmas. (I bought six) Chapin beams us right up to the year 2007 where for the crime of being born with a penis men are bashed weekly by academics, journalists and the courts. Bernard knows that bashing either gender harms both. Until feminist women "get it" about that truth, equality will just be a slogan and the gender war will continue.

I read this book in the same week as Esther Vilar's "The manipulated man", written in the 1970s, and they form an interesting contrast. Both are compulsive reading - brilliantly written with wit, style, and real insight into the true balance of power between the sexes, which is very different from that depicted by the media and academia. However, the similarities between the two authors end there. Vilar argues persuasively that the stereoyped gender roles of both men and women need to change if genuine equality is to be achieved. What made her book so original and powerful was her insight that the real enemies of gender equality are not men, but middle class women who demand equality and empowerment but think somehow that this is compatible with the retention of traditional female privileges, such as being able to opt out of paid work, and having a man 'provide' for you financially and pay for dates. Real equality will be achieved, she argued, when it is as common for a woman to provide financial support to a man as vice versa.

It is far from clear whether Chapin would support such a reformist agenda, and for that reason his book probably has a narrower appeal. His opposition to radical feminism seems to be rooted in traditional small-c conservatism, and his book is a plea for gender equality based on a recognition that biological evolution has shaped men and women to have very different roles. Whilst there is some merit in these arguments - as a corrective to the myths propagated by radical feminism - it is less appealing as a vision of change than the agenda set out in Vilar's book. For example, at one point he states that few men would be willing to give up the "privilege" of going out to work and being the family breadwinner. To which I would respond "Why not?" Ironically, Chapin's attitude is a mirror image of the traditional feminist argument that women are oppressed because they occupy fewer middle and senior management positions in business. In fact it is simply perverse to regard paid employment as some kind of 'privilege'. Working for other people is first and foremost a burden - a big fat toad squatting on your life, as Philip Larkin once described it - which is precisely why we have to be paid to do it. Truly satisfying paid employment is the exception rather than the norm and always has been. To say that society is patriarchal because it pays men to work full time is - as Vilar points out - rather like saying a chauffeur is privileged because he gets to drive his employer's car. The vast majority of working men are cogs in this system, not its masters.

If you start from the faulty premise that work is a privilege, it is very easy to conclude - as feminists do - that men are the privileged sex, as they still dominate the management hierarchy in the world of work. But once you question the underlying premise, and acknowledge that working for an employer means for most people a life of drudgery, it becomes harder to see the majority of men as privileged and women as oppressed. What emerges is a more nuanced picture in which many people, of both sexes, are unhappy with their lot and the opportunities society affords them.

Vilar wanted to challenge the whole framework of gender-based assumptions which condemns men and women to narrowly defined social roles. But she rightly understood that many women have an (unacknowledged) vested interest in maintaining the existing system. Chapin's rallying cry seems to be a very different one, namely that men and women would find life a lot easier if they simply reverted to the traditional roles biology has assigned to them. The problem with this argument is that biology is not nearly so determinate - if it were, fewer men and women would be dissatisfied with their roles.

Both books are worth reading if you are looking for a powerful antidote to extreme, knee jerk feminism and political correctness, but IMHO Vilar's book offers a more liberating perspective.

Mr. Chapin opens the doors to enlightenment. With great detail and wit the book spells out the current battlefield of todays society. This book truly is a good read and by the end, your eyes will be wide open.

I can honestly say, Mr. Chapin is a very strong, noble and intelligent man. He is bold and has taken the initiative to inform women and men about how things are in our "modern" western society.

I first came across Bernard Chapin from his youtube videos. That is when I found out about this book. I won't get into the particulars of this great piece of writing because other reviewers have already done so.
I highly recommended this great piece of book knowledge to all who want to learn something NEW from a critical-thinking perspective.

I have been eagerly devouring this book and as a 26 year old male in our modern world I have seen the tentacles of the illegitimate feminine "oppression" movement everywhere. Mr. Chapin takes the critical lead on exposing the agenda of those who have a vested interest in maintaining that women are oppressed though the reality and all real evidence points to a contrary conclusion which Mr. Chapin repeatedly points out. His writing and his wits are obviously sharp. He is not hateful or mean spirited, he is intelligent and well reasoned with a sharp mind and fluid pen. A combination that is very threatening to the big lie promoters. His book is an oasis for those of us looking for the truth but cannot seem to find it, and a great read for everyone in general.

This book is well written, well researched, and above all Mr. Chapin's rationales stand up to the onslaught by those employed in the oppression industry, particularly women. Make no mistake, Mr. Chapin likes women, as do most all of us men, but his arguments are logical and founded on reason not emotion. An exciting book and I highly recommend it to anyone who would like to swallow and digest some chunks of truth.

Chapin's offers keen insight into the eerily Orwellian modern culture where bashing of men is not only condoned but encouraged, and women are viewed as superior beings. He dismantles the absurd arguments and outright lies of the feminist movement and breaks through the fog and often ridiculous beleifs that have taken hold in the western world. Chapins book is neither conservative nor liberal. Nor does it have a political agenda. It is simply a plea to return to sane debate based on reason rather than emotion and one where the facts matter and the rules of evidence apply.

I found the book very insightful and direct to the point. His facts are clearly stated and bring to light topics that many are afraid to discuss or blind to. I highly recommend this book for an eye opening experience.