To answer cfig's question:
When did old Butler say women could be pure devotees? That goes back to the beginning. As far back as 1970 Chris Butler declared Kathy Hoshijo a pure devotee. People served and bowed down to her. Does that mean he is a feminist? Does that mean he respects women? No, he is an equal opportunity misanthrope who will use anyone for his purposes.
From the beginning, Butler has favored women to be fronts for him and to carry out his demands (hide behind their skirts metaphorically speaking). He groomed Katyayani to be a preaching vehicle with her "Kathy Cooks Naturally" television show and run for congress under the "Independents for Godly Government" party. Recall that Hoshijo also denied any connection to Butler and the SIF or SOI during her campaign. She also had a fake marriage to Larry Olsen when she ran. [Larry Olsen is listed as a producer on Wai Lana's "Namaste" video]. Later on Hoshijo broke off from Butler and started her own mini cult in California. You can read about her cult in Shyam Dodge's book
Wet Hot and Wild American Yogi He also talks about Butler obliquely, only referring to him as "Sai".
Butler tried to groom Debbie Figueroa (Devavani devi dasi) to be his preaching vehicle by singing and recording songs. That ended badly when she showed an independent (intelligence) streak and revealed to him that she was a lesbian. This caused a great rift and Figueroa left the cult after losing many years of her life in service to Butler. Don't ever underestimate the damages to a person who lost their youth in this cult. If you don't understand how a person can end up in a stupid cult, read Rick Ross's book
Cults Inside Out: How People Get In and Can Get OutIt appears that Butler also employs useful idiots like Jeannie Conroy/Bishop and Prema dasi as his administrative heads and bulldogs in my opinion.
He has groomed Wai Lana (Vaishnava devi dasi) for preaching through yoga. Now he is using Tulsi Gabbard for his political aspirations.
Butler orchestrates every aspect of their lives from what they wear to whom they marry.
I am sure there are countless other women who have been put in positions of responsibility and power based on the
level of submissiveness to his directives.
After a certain point, he may insulate them from the plebian devotee crowd by declaring them "pure devotees" worthy of service. Okay, they never can be as high and advanced as Butler. When Katyayani started initiating her own disciples, there was an uneasy rift.
Is Butler as mysogynist as AC Bhaktivedanta Swami? A lot of ACB's teachings about women were/are taught in Butler's indoctrination schools.
Exer's have reported many mysogynist statements made by Butler on this forum. You mentioned that he said it would be better if they were born a man. He has told husbands that they should hit their wives when they are not submissive and piss them off. He calls women "cunts" or "dogs in heat". He tells women that they should never be alone in a room with a man - even their own brother (except her husband or father). I am sure others can give you more examples.
Here is another hilarious Radhika Bianchi video about Butler's own guru's attitudes about women. This is the man who launched Butler's career as a swami. And since Butler claims to be in the disciplic succession and it is taught that his word and his guru's word is as good as G0d......well how can Butler disavow what ACB Prabhupad #1 says? Wouldn't that be an offence?!
[sarcasm] Srila Prabhupada: Expert Historian and Big, Big Feminist