Prior to reading the book, we weren’t really sure as to how Vincent would approach the sex and love chapters. These were probably the two most difficult topics to cover because she had to decide how to establish an intimate relationship with people without revealing her true identity. In these chapters Vincent purposely goes to extreme lengths by frequenting provocative strip clubs and experimenting with same-sex relations. In a way she plants the reader in neutral ground between two opposing spectrums and leaves her to make inferences and assume perspective on each situation. As a group we established the fact that the large majority of men aren’t regular customers at strip clubs like Ned became, but becoming “a regular” was almost necessary for Vincent to totally immerse herself in a male-dominated environment on a daily basis.
Despite suggestive subject matter and graphic details, Vincent does a good job writing for a broad gender audience. In each chapter she gives examples of her experiences and breaks down each example from both a female and male’s perspective. This style of writing allows each gender to relate to Norah’s experiences while simultaneously teaching the reader about the experiences from another perspective. The tone throughout these first four chapters has stayed consistent. Vincent has used a professional tone when she analyzes her findings. In writing about her experiences, Norah tries to include specific names from key events. These names aren’t necessarily used as main characters of the book, but more as a way for readers to relate rather than just from a concept. We believe Norah reveals her true identity to the main characters as a way to enliven her experiment and also because said characters typically made a strong connection with her. These people trust Norah, and in return she trusts them to accept her hidden truth. Once learning this truth, the characters learn that gender doesn’t change a person’s character. The people who learn Norah’s secret learn that gender isn’t a rigid divider but rather a blend of both sexes.
Vincent’s ability to develop a strong rapport with each individual character is manifested through her descriptive writing. We were all a little shocked by the nature of the content in chapter three; quite frankly we were not expecting Vincent to go into such detail about her visits to the strip clubs. However, after discussing it, we discovered that this was really the only way which Vincent would be able to portray her true experience and it was very effective in deconstructing homosexual stigmas and misconceptions. We were also surprised by the fact that she kept returning to the sex clubs after detailing her disgust towards them. Again, we concluded that this was the closest thing she had to “sex” as a male; therefore she had to return in order to get the full experience and to be able to understand it well.
In contrast to the “Sex” chapter, the following chapter, "Love", was just as surprising. ” Vincent proposes the question “Is an attraction real if it is attached to something illusory or something that doesn’t exist?” This is a very powerful quote that is thoroughly supported throughout the chapter. She proclaims that [most] women are attracted to men because they are a man. However, she discovers that multiple women were able to break through this illusion and follow their true emotions. It was also interesting to find that Vincent felt sorry for men at times because she felt that women held too much power and control.
By exploring sex and love in both an emotional and biological manner, Vincent presents her readers with the fresh outlook on gender construction in our society. Both her intimacies with men and women and the second-guessing of her partners’ sexual orientations is a step in the direction towards eradicating gender inequality and discrimination. Today issues of sex, sexuality and gender being socially constructed to cultural and societal standards are alive and more relevant than ever. Rather than preaching, Vincent shows how complex gender really is, and in the end her message tells us that love, sex and gender can be uncomfortable and confusing topics, but they are extremely important and cannot be ignored.
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