The New Girl

You can’t understand me!” It was a remark that had echoed in the back of his mind for years, one that seemed to have come from every woman he’d ever known. It was a push-off: both a shield and a challenge. It was a remark that would drive Mike Reynolds to begin a very strange adventure indeed. “It made me want to find some answers to some serious social questions... What is gender? How is our sense of our gender built? Why does our sense of gender separate us from each other so completely? Can someone’s sense of self change over time simply by changing the group of gender symbols he or she presents to others? What new social expectations would be placed on that person? How would that person deal with them? Above all...how would it feel? There was really only one way to find out.” In the fall of 2001 Mike became Lisa Anne Weber—35, female, and overweight. He lived as this woman for six weeks. In the end, he was to discover something that transcends all our differences.