Journalist Norah Vincent disguises herself as a man and as ‘Ned’ checks out the other side of the fence.

And that’s about it really. It’s quite impressive that she manages the deception so well and in such a variety of circumstances. As journalists tend to, those circumstances tend to be at the ‘edges’: I’d hardly consider a monastery typical male experience. As such the analysis is of men I don’t recognise. We are not *all* emotionally stunted Neanderthals ;).

Actually that’s a little unfair since the overriding conclusion is one of compassion and realisation that men have issues and pressures as do women and in just as great a measure. The grass really isn’t greener. There are some thoughtful insights, some of which could have had greater discourse such as how much identity is connected to gender. But the main interest is simply to see how she gets away with it. A fun read but nothing any sapiens won’t have twigged. Perhaps it was more relevant in its NY female-reader context?