Self-Made Man - a woman 'checks her privilege' by living 18 months as a man

This is a 20/20 story from 2006, but it just got awakened elsewhere:

A tall, skinny bull-dyke in male drag walks into a bowling alley ... Well, that's the flippant, sarcastic version.



"Self-Made Man: One Woman's Journey Into Manhood And Back Again" recounts lesbian Norah Vincent's experiences during the 18 months she lived as a man.

 Originally Posted by New York Times Book Review, 1986
Vincent's status as a woman is what makes her observations of male behavior fresh - introducing herself to some guys in a bowling league, she's touched by the ritual howyadoin', man-to-man handshake, which, "from the outside . . . had always seemed overdone to me," but from the inside strikes her as remarkably warm and inclusive, worlds away from the "fake and cold" air kisses and limp handshakes exchanged by women. But in its best moments, "Self-Made Man" transcends its premise altogether, offering not an undercover woman's take on male experience, but simply a fascinating, fly-on-the-wall look at various unglamorous male milieus that are well off the radar of most journalists and book authors...
So, okay. She passed, with the help of men's clothing, buzz-cut hair, extensive coaching, and a glued-on five-o'-clock shadow. She learned to bowl, to go out to strip clubs, to hit on chicks while keeping her frame as a guy - which she describes as way harder than hitting up on fellow chicks as a lesbian. She spent a couple of weeks at a monastery, went on a Robert Bly style men's retreat, and finally lost her marbles and checked herself into a mental hospital with "deep depression."

Well, congratulations, sort of, Norah, or 'Ned.' You proved something, I guess; and you sure got your fifteen minutes of fame, and then some. But you always had the option of retreating into the World Of Feminine Privilege with your lesbian lover, between times. Imagine living the life we men live, 24/7. Imagine registering for the draft. Imagine getting shipped back from the Sandbox and learning how to walk with a mechanical leg. Imagine losing your children, your home, your freedom, because "Cupcake wasn't haaaaappy," and living in a refrigerator box under a bridge abutment.

Even in drag, Norah, you had it remarkably easy ... for a "self-made man."

(/rant)