It’s a problem when a female journalist who is anything but a sociologist or social scientist pretends to be a man and then writes a book about it. People will likely take her misguided conclusions as fact. Norah Vincent in Self-Made Man (Viking Penguin/Putnam 2006)went into the trenches of a bowling alley as Ned for more than a year. The problem is that her conclusions (based only on anecdotal evidence) don't much factor in any research about gender constructs or human sexuality, but rather she validates her observations by using stock assumptions and her own sexuality. That she’s a lesbian is supposed to lend credibility to her experience. The assumption by some is that because she doesn’t have romantic relationships with men, she won’t go into the experience with the straight woman’s chip on her shoulder. Or at least that’s what Ann Marlowe of The New York Observer thinks.

In an interview with ABC News:, she said about her observation of the difference between the male and female sex drive, “ ‘At its core, it's a bodily function. It's a necessity. It's such a powerful drive and I think because we [women] don't have testosterone in our systems, we don't understand how hard it is.’” She plays into the familiar depiction of men as walking erections that need sex the same as all humans need water, and women as inherently emotional.

She went to a strip club with the guys. Vincent writes, “The oddest thing about all this dirty talk and hiding strip club visits from their wives was the absolute reverence with which they spoke about their wives and their marriages. To them it seemed it was necessary to lie about certain things, but in their minds this didn't threaten or damage the integrity of their partnerships.” Hello? Ever heard of the Madonna/Whore Complex? This is not just male sexuality as a social construct, this is the actual archetype that we use to make fun of men's supposed simplicity. The book is fraught with these kinds of clichés. She touches on the old trope of how women are competitive and mean to each other versus the male bond and camaraderie, women being too talkative versus men communicating in a more subtle and therefore meaningful way, women the more superficial, etceteras. She does all of this as she tries to equate passing as a man as entry into the male psyche.

Vincent then goes on dozens of dates with women, pretending to be a man, the ethics of which is a bit questionable. In an NPR interview, she comments that she had a three date rule. “Some people were annoyed with me,” she said. I’m sure that’s an understatement. When discussing her experiences "passing" in the NPR interview are actually more enlightening than the book. She addresses gender expression and social constructs, and recognizes that these behaviors are often learned, not natural. While the book ventures into some interesting milieus (she goes into a monastery), it’s not clear that she’s really doing anything but reiterating assumptions about the gender binary without incorporating any deeper analysis.

In his NY Times review, David Kamp says, “Indeed, one of the great attributes of "Self-Made Man" is its lack of agenda or presuppositions.” A book about gender without any historical and social context seems to rest on pretty hefty presuppositions to me, especially when the book is being marketing as a lesbian’s point of view.