Meaning of “chap” in that sentence

Question

I came across the word "chap" while reading the book The Rules of Life by Richard Templar. It occurs in the sentence

But then all my problems are object related and needs practical solutions - a chap's sort of thing.

It is in the chapter "Rule 58: Know when to listen and when to act". From the sentence, it seems that it is a name of a profession, but cannot get which one.

According to the Cambridge dictionary or the Urban dictionary, the word "chap" has several meanings: a synonyme of guy, or a gentlemen, or a homosexual (acknowledging it or not). None seems to feel in this context. The closest is "guy", following the cliche that men need action and women need talking about problems, but it doesn't fit with the chapter (as well as the whole book) that doesn't have any gender-related content.

What is the meaning of chap in this context ?

Answer 1

The meaning here is male person; guy or fellow. There is no connotation of homosexuality. You've correctly identified that it references the trope of men's being oriented more towards solving problems or taking action.

I have not read this book, but a reminder of the differences of how men and women tend to think is definitely within the realm of common sense reminders about how the world works, which is the book's self-described topic. There also appears to be a section specifically about partnership, which is absolutely gender specific (assuming it refers to romantic partners, rather than business ones).

Answer 2

The word chap just means guy, man, fellow, et cetera. It is an older word (not commonly used in the US today).

It also generally has a positive connotation: A chap is a regular, likable, relatable guy. In the context, the author may have used the word to mean normal person, not specifically focusing on gender in this case. Chap is an old word, so I assume the text may sometimes say "men" when talking about what we would modernly just say people, and this may be a similar case.