Anatomy of Female Power

Anatomy of Female Power is a book by the Nigerian essayist Chinweizu Ibekwe portraying the precise role of covert female power in gender dynamics of Psyche.

AI summary

The book’s entire premise is that women already rule men and that “matriarchy” is the true, hidden power structure in human society. The “favors” men provide are not just incidental but are the entire basis of the social order, which Chinweizu argues is designed to turn men into “nest-slaves”.

A copy of the book can be found here.

Three types of men

Quote from the book

[..] in their attitudes to women, there are three basic types of men: the macho, the musho, and the masculinist.

  • A macho is a brawny, and sometimes brainy, factotum who has been bred for nest slavery, and who is indoctrinated to believe that he is the lord and master of the woman who rules him.
  • A musho is a henpecked version of the macho who hangs like a bleeding worm between the beaks of his nest queen.
  • A masculinist is a man who is devoted to male liberty, and who would avoid nest slavery.

Related books

  • The Manipulated Man by Esther Vilar
    • Written in 1971, Vilar’s work makes the identical case: that women are not oppressed but are, in fact, the oppressing class. She argues that women condition men from boyhood (using praise, emotional blackmail, and the strategic use of sex) to become “slaves” who work to provide for them. This aligns perfectly with Chinweizu’s concepts of “motherpower,” “bridepower,” and “wifepower.”
  • The Myth of Male Power by Warren Farrell
    • While Chinweizu argues women have hidden power, Farrell argues that what we call male power (patriarchy) is actually a form of male disposability. He reframes “power” as “control over one’s own life.” By this metric, he argues that men, who are traditionally obligated to be protectors (the draft, dangerous jobs) and providers (working longer hours), are the powerless sex, leading to shorter lifespans and higher suicide rates. It directly attacks the same feminist premises as Chinweizu but with a different set of evidence.
  • Is There Anything Good About Men? by Roy F. Baumeister
    • This book by a prominent social psychologist examines history and culture to argue that societies (both men and women) have always exploited men for the good of the group. Baumeister’s thesis is that culture “uses” men by promising them status and “the girl” in exchange for them creating, achieving, and dying in war or high-risk endeavors. It supports the “male disposability” thesis and argues that men’s lives are treated as more expendable than women’s.
Links to this page
  • musho

    [!QUOTE] Anatomy of Female Power The modern musho (the new or feminal man) is one of that breed of diffident men who have been bullied, guilt-tripped, ego-bashed and penis-twisted into pram pushing, diaper changing and breast envy. He is the befuddled, henpecked male who lacks the wit to recognize his male interest. He is one of those male wives of female husbands who have been described, in Julie Burchill’s apt phrases, ’as the “bleeding hearts” and “crying males” who make up “the walking wounded” of the modern sex war. The more articulate musho even becomes a missionary for his hen’s anti-male views. This pathetic wimp is, quite naturally, hailed by feminists as the “new man”. He is the termagant feminist’s ideal man.

  • macho
  • Sex Identity
  • Is There Anything Good About Men?