This is a controversial and provocative work; it is also a
scholarly and intellectual contribution. The author apparently believes that
women run the gauntlet of controlling and manipulating men. A plethora of eclectic
references and allusions and comments are cleverly served up to convince us of
the overt and covert powers of the fairer sex. Reality, sleight of hand, or
'bunkum' so to speak? Perhaps it depends on the reader, the race, society,
class etc. As an African, I'd be reluctant to believe women are as powerful as
this - the facts show that even in modern times most women are not only
suppressed or oppressed in the continent but are actually cruelly treated,
viciously raped, kidnapped, abused, especially in war-torn areas and in many
rural communities. Polygamy is fairly common in Africa too, with many educated
women finding themselves part of the harem of rich, powerful, and or even
average men. Would one describe such women as having unbridled powers over
their men; or that they are enjoying the situation they find themselves in? Or
perhaps the author has western women and their ilk in mind; liberated women
wearing the trousers at home? If only it were that simple - we tend to forget
that even in the "civilized" world women were certainly at least
second class citizens until comparatively very recently in world history.
Africans perhaps who might doubt this can examine the themes of just two
classics of literature in the western world. In The Mayor of Casterbridge
(Thomas Hardy) a western man actually sells his own wife! Also consider The
Tenant of Wildfell Hall (Anne Bronte) where what seems simple now – a western
woman "closing the door" on, and leaving a most debased, shocking
husband was regarded as a revolutionary deed at the time! So yes, it has not
been all roses for women, even if one concedes in our modern world that ladies
are (in theory at least) every inch "equal" to men. The author here
takes intellectual pains in explaining, delineating types of men and women, and
how some women even gloat about their power over men! One suspects that all
this is exaggerated and despite the physical attractions and allure of women,
men cannot be such suckers...at least on a permanent level. But this is not to deny
that women can be very powerful in their own way too; many men have fallen by
the wayside because of the opposite sex, but it runs both ways. These days
brazen, shameless female prostitution is multiplying in our societies, and can
this by any stretch of the imagination be depicted as women manipulating or
using men? Or are women victims; to a large extent hapless? On the whole, this
work is intellectually intriguing and satisfying, a brilliant extended essay.
But one has doubts about the conclusions the author apparently draws…
- Malome
