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Esther Vilar – The Manipulated Man
This book is dedicated to all those whom it does not mention: to the few men who refuse to be manipulated, to the few women who are not venal and all those fortunate enough to have lost their market value because they are either too old, too ugly, or too ill.ESTHER VILAR was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She studiedmedicine and sociology before becoming a writer. She followed the world-wide success of The Manipulated Man with two more books about the relationship between the sexes, the novels The Mosquito,The Mathematics of Nina Gluckstein and The Seven Fires of Mademoiselle and numerous plays, including The American Popess,Speer, and Jealousy. Also by Esther Vilar from Pinter & Martin:The Polygamous SexSpeer www.pinterandmartin.com author's introduction
THE MANIPULATED MANthe slave's happiness what is man? what is woman? a woman's horizon the fair sex the universe is male her stupidity makes woman divine breaking them in manipulation by means of self-abasement a dictionary women have no feelings sex as reward the female libido
 
manipulation through bluff commercialized prayers self-conditioning children as hostages women's vices the mask of femininity the business world as a hunting ground the `emancipated' female women's liberation what is love?
 AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTIONOver thirty-five years have passed since the first publication of my book The Manipulated Man - a pamphlet written in great anger against the women's movement's worldwide monopoly of opinion. The determination with which those women portrayed us as victims of men not only seemed humiliating but also unrealistic. If someone should want to change the destiny of our sex - a wish I had then as I have today - then that someone should attempt to do so with more honesty.  And possibly also with a little humor.I would like to take the opportunity presented by the reissue of my book to answer two questions which I am asked again and again in this context.People often ask me if I would write this book again. Well, I find it right and proper to have done so. But seen from today's perspective, my courage in those days may only be attributable to a lack of imagination. Despite all I wrote, I could not really imagine the power I was up against. It seemed that one is only allowed to criticize women on the quiet - especially as a woman - and could only expect agreement behind closed doors. As we women have, thanks to our relatively stress-free life, a higher life-expectancy than men and consequently make up the majority of voters in Western industrial nations, no politician could afford to offend us. And the media is not interested in discussing the issues involved either. Their products are financed through the advertising of consumer goods, and should we women decide to stop reading a certain newspaper or magazine as its editorial policy displeases us, then the advertisements targeted at us will also disappear. After all, it is well established that women make the majority of purchasing decisions.However, I had also underestimated men's fear of reevaluating their position. Yet the more sovereignty they are losing in their professional lives - the more automatic their work, the more controlled by computers they become, the more that increasing unemployment forces them to adopt obsequious behavior towards customers and superiors - then the more they have to be afraid of a recognition of their predicament.  And the more essential it becomes to maintain their illusion that it is not they who are the slaves, but those on whose behalf they subject themselves to such an existence. As absurd as it may sound: today's men need feminists much more than their wives do. Feminists are the last ones who still describe men the way they like to see themselves: as egocentric, power-obsessed, ruthless, and without inhibitions when it comes to satisfying their animalistic instincts. Therefore the most aggressive

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