In light of the recent tragedy that we have seen in Yankee Jim's life, it seems an appropriate occasion for discussing the state of male-female relations as they confront us today in their deteriorated condition.

As a point of reference for those discussions I recommend G.K. Chesterton's What's Wrong with the World PART THREE: FEMINISM, OR THE MISTAKE ABOUT WOMAN (the rest of that book is quite good also). Hopefully those who are not christians can look past Chesterton's religious position and see the applicability of his wisdom on the issue to a secular analysis. (I am neither a christian nor even a theist.)

The Feminist (which means, I think, one who dislikes the chief feminine characteristics: GKC being ironic here--Burrhus)) has heard my loose monologue, bursting all the time with one pent-up protest. At this point he will break out and say, "But what are we to do? There is modern commerce and its clerks; there is the modern family with its unmarried daughters; specialism is expected everywhere; female thrift and conscientiousness are demanded and supplied. What does it matter whether we should in the abstract prefer the old human and housekeeping woman; we might prefer the Garden of Eden.

But since women have trades they ought to have trades unions. Since women work in factories, they ought to vote on factory-acts. If they are unmarried they must be commercial; if they are commercial they must be political. [color="Red"]We must have new rules for a new world-- even if it be not a better one." I said to a Feminist once: "The question is not whether women are good enough for votes: it is whether votes are good enough for women." He only answered: "Ah, you go and say that to the women chain-makers on Cradley Heath."

Now this is the attitude which I attack. It is the huge heresy of Precedent. It is the view that because we have got into a mess we must grow messier to suit it; that because we have taken a wrong turn some time ago we must go forward and not backwards; that because we have lost our way we must lose our map also; and because we have missed our ideal, we must forget it

The hostility that we witness today between men and women is a major factor in the overall degradation of our society. Hopefully, we can in this discussion keep the irrationalities of both the feminists and the misogynists from contributing further to that unfortunate state of affairs.

I believe that we need to go back to a pre-1960s, pre-Betty-Friedan perspective and re-assess the entire issue of male-female relations with the realization that, while changes were needed, the liberal-jew-feminist prescription has been extremely disastrous to the gentile nations of the West.

The text linked to above (Part III) by Chesteron is not overly long and will, I believe, be very enlightening for those who take the half-hour or so to read it.