I know I promised a chapter-by-chapter account of this, but this book makes my head explode (and not in a good way, either). I get really worked up about something but by the time I'm calm enough to write, I realize my energy was spent being wound up. I can't tell if the book is or is not a guide on how to sink your claws into a man, is or is not feminist (I'm sure it depends on the definition), is or is not in favor of the status quo. It seems to purr cozily in the lap of these things one minute and then throw a martini in their faces the next.
Plus it's really hard to be objetive. It takes a lot of energy for me to accept that HGB might be right about something regarding women, men, and society. But I just now read a bit that I really agree with. She's talking about where you can meet men if you so desire, and she points out that the society that will raise its eyebrow at you, if not flat out shun you, for putting yourself in the parth of and otherwise flirting with men of varying eligibility is the very same one that will raise its eyebrow at you, if not flat out shun you, for being single. Amen sister. Forty-odd years later and it seems this is still very true for many women. (Not, thankfully, for me - no one gives me any crap about being single. At least not that I know of. And if they do, I would challenge them to find me a man I would go out with who is, to quote HGB, "apt to appreciate the charms of a plain but sensible girl like me.")
