Chapter 3, Women, Chapter 4, Religion Summary and Analysis

In Chapter 3, Mencken discusses his notoriously misogynistic thoughts on women. He thinks that most women pretend to respect their husbands but secretly think of them as asses and pity them. She may envy some of her husbands' traits, but she does not envy him as a whole. The male characters in female novels are always "boobs" deep down. Women do not really lack intelligence, just the ability to master the little mechanical tricks that men ably pick up. These are child's play according to women's social abilities, and women score these male abilities anyway.

But Mencken also views women as relatively uncivilized, as drawn into puerile repressions and inhibitions. They submit and prosper under the civilization of men but they do civilize the great men, who would otherwise have been barbarians. They control their emotions...