Books

[trav]

read an interesting book the other day "Self Made Man" by Norah Vincent. She decides to crossdress for 18 months and go to "men's places" like bowling alleys, strip clubs, monesteries, etc. "as a man" to see what it was like for (white) guys these days. I enjoyed it, esp since I know I'm very much not a "masculine" type guy the book actually gave me a lot of pointers (to take or not as I wish) on being a man. But the main conclusion she drew was that being a man is pretty damn hard, due to everyone's (men's, women's, their own) expectations of them. Crazily enough when she was dating women as a man, she developed a touch of misagyny  (and not in a "self-hate" way) over the way women would judge and objectify men, but developed it into more of an understanding that a lot of current gender roles are just dumb on all sides.
At any rate, I highly highly recommend the book.