Anatomy of Female Power

Anatomy of Female Power

A Masculinist Dissection of Matriarchy

Chinweizu

Pero Press P.O. Box 988 Festac Town Lagos, Nigeria.

© Chinweizu, 1990

First Published: October 1990 Second printing: November 1990

ISBN 978 2651 05 2

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior and written permission of the publisher.

Printed in Nigeria

Dedication

To the handful of women now in my life (platonic friends, lovers, ex-lovers, lovers-to-be);

To the countless others who have slipped in and out of my life; and especially

To those who have attempted to marry me: From them I have learnt most of what I know about women.

Epigraphs

The object of woman’s existence is not to war with man, or allow man to war with her, but simply to conquer him and hold him in subservience without so much as a threat or a blow. Clever women always do this; clever women have always done it.

Marie Corelli, British novelist.

What woman hasn’t been able to wrap a man around her fingers, if she puts her mind to it?

Regina Joseph, Nigerian columnist.

You think: We men are clever. If you see womankind and watch how four or five of them sit together and tell each other things, you think: Instead of chatting here, they ought to get up, go home and cut grass. As you talk like this to each other, you think in your own minds: They are stupid and ignorant. See, my grandchild, they are not stupid. Nothing in the whole world is cleverer than the female sex. Know this: If you are as other men, you are not as intelligent as a woman … I tell you: a woman is clever. And if you respect what is woman’s business your reputation will not suffer. And your wife will honour you, because she knows that you have learnt to keep quiet like other men.

Teachings of the Chagga Elders of Tanzania.

Contents

  • Epigraphs
  • Prologue: Who Rules Who — Man or Woman?

Part I: Features of Female Power

  1. The Five Pillars of Female Power
  2. Womb, Kitchen and Cradle: Control Centres of Female Power

Part II: Motherpower — In the Nest of His Father’s Matriarch

  1. The Commandant of the Cradle

Part III: Bridepower — In the Cockpit of Courtship

  1. The Powers of Her Body-beautiful
  2. Love: Male and Female
  3. Courtship: The Hunting of the Love-smitten Man
  4. Wedding: The Bride’s Triumph Ceremony

Part IV: Wifepower — In the Nest of His Own Matriarch

  1. The Husband Managers
  2. The Facade of Patriarchy
  3. The Double Standard
  4. The Silly Souls of Men
  5. Man’s Fear of Woman
  6. The Baby as Wife’s Weapon
  7. The Penalties of Divorce

Part V: Matriarchy and its Discontents

  1. The Matriarch: Sovereign of Her Nest
  2. Feminism: A Revolt in Paradise
  • Epilogue: On Masculinism
  • Notes