The Manipulated Man
What to say about this book that has not already been said? I do not know, but I will try to give an objective opinion and explain my observations. In that sense, I am going to have to separate my analysis into two segments: one to talk about the ideas and content of the book and other to talk about the narrative.
Esther Vilar's book was controversial at the time of publication, and reading it I can perfectly understand why.
The writer exposes her observations and thoughts directly, accusing the woman of being a parasite who, given the possibility of always living from man's work, renounces her own intellectual capacities in exchange for her material advantage.
According to the author, unlike men, women are merely an animal interested in raising their material status and in no way intends to be interested in abstractions and knowledge of something that is not useful to them in a practical way.
She describes the culture and habits that existed at the time the book was published, while at the same time blatantly attacking women and praising men. But is this really what it does?
It is true that Vilar expresses that the man is intelligent, hard-working, cunning, beautiful and that the woman is the opposite, however, each of these statements is accompanied by another in which she adds that despite their "superiority" the man voluntarily enslaves himself to the woman, who completely dominates him, and in exchange for his vagina she manages to exercise absolute tyranny over him.
“To put it another way: man is always searching for someone or something to enslave him, for only as a slave does he feel secure – and, as a rule, his choice falls on a woman.” ― Esther Vilar.
Society is a reflection of female dominance, men work and compete in a fight to the death only to satisfy women, and even the most capable man is not exempt from female dominance, in fact, he is only the greatest slave of the dynamics of female domination, since masculinity and all the values defended by men are, ultimately, an illusion created by women, according to Esther Vilar.
There are many controversial statements made by the author of the book, and she does so in each sentence. She explains that the feminist movement is the product not of the oppression of men but of women. She also says that inequality in the workplace is not only understandable, but is probably the only piece of justice in society.
The woman always wants more and wants it now, and is not willing to give anything in return. The man, for his part, only wants one thing: the woman, and he would be willing to give everything to be her slave.
“No matter what a particular man does or how he spends his day, he has one thing in common with all other men – he spends it in a degrading manner. And he himself does not gain by it. It is not his own livelihood that matters: he would have to struggle far less for that, since luxuries do not mean anything to him anyway. It is the fact that he does it for others that makes him so tremendously proud. He will undoubtedly have a photograph of his wife and children on his desk, and will miss no opportunity to hand it around.” ― Esther Vilar.
Vilar's position is, therefore, politically incorrect under current standards, and even under the standards of her time. A book like this would be very difficult to publish today, especially since the author is a woman. Is this fact a point in favor of what Esther stated in her book? I don't have the answer to that question.
Regarding the narration of the book, I must say that I started the reading with great interest and advanced very easily through the pages, the author's direct language cooks an easy reading to eat, although difficult to digest. Nonetheless, The Manipulated Man gets a bit repetitive in its second half, but this does not become a big problem since the book is not very long.
My conclusion is that Esther Vilar's book is highly controversial, and that although I sympathize with some of her claims, I cannot agree with most of her argumentation. Her position is quite extreme, and the book exposes a cultural dynamic that belongs to past years, and not to the most recent actuality, something that does not harm its argument but its examples.
The main public that I think may be interested in reading the book, comprises from the MGTOW (Men Going Their Own Way) community, the feminist community, and people interested in gender discussion.
Author
Esther Vilar, born in Argentina and of German origin and nationality, studied medicine, psychology and sociology and in 1971 wrote Der Dressierte Mann, translated into English as The Manipulated Man; book that automatically became a bestseller and for which she received death threats and was even attacked by four young women in the bathroom of the Munich public library. Eventually she left Germany and lived in Switzerland, Italy, France, Spain, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, where she dedicated her work to the theater.