Vilar states that women are generally "gold diggers" who attempt to extract money and other material resources from men.

Vilar writes that men gain nothing from marriage and that women coerce them into it under the pretense that it fulfills their romantic desires.

The Manipulated Man was quite popular at the time of its release, in part due to the considerable press coverage it received.

In 1975 she was invited to a televised debate[3] by WDR with Alice Schwarzer, who was considered as the leading representative of the women's movement in Germany at that time.

At one point, for example, Schwarzer claimed Vilar was[4] "not only sexist, but fascist", and compared her book with the Nazi newspaper Der Stürmer.