[GoneGirl]

IDK, Eva, I never got the game playing in relationships as a guy and doubt that will change as my gender does. I never found common ground with women who play games. And I always found plenty that did not with whom to relate. I doubt a switch in gender will alter that essential truth, despite playing for the other team. What I have found to change is that I am far slower to anger, far less arrogant, and far more empathetic. I listen better. These are all positives in my book. And when I run into guys who act the way in which I once behaved (egotistically arrogant, obnoxiously self opinionated etc) I find myself with a mixture of shame and revulsion. Anyone else experience that?

I haven't experienced it personally, yet, but I do see a lot of what I now judge to be boorish behavior that is not very flattering. I do find myself viewing men from the other side more these days. It's very strange to find myself in that position, you know? Taking a woman's perspective? I can't help feeling a bit sorry for men, though. They may have certain privileges that women don't, but there's a lot that they are excluded from through self-imposed constraints as well as those demanded by society. Men have a very narrow path within which they are expected to walk. What's so strange is that men are the most ardent enforcers of those constraints.

Clara