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Mercury reporter foxed by 'sex change'

‘Sometimes, it hard to be a woman’, sang Tammy Wynette in her classic hit Stand by Your Man.

But as Leicester Mercury reporter Rebecca Jenkins discovered, it’s trickier to be a man.

The writer donned a fake moustache and bulging beergut to hit the streets of Leicester to sample life on the other side of the gender divide.

And she’s happy to admit it wasn’t the most dignified task she’s ever been asked to do.

Her first challenge was to sup a pint at The Salmon, a male-dominated city centre hostelry.

Rebecca said: “I felt very self conscious as I pulled up a bar stool and tried to act manly.

“No-one was really going for my act – by the way I held my beer it was clear I was a woman.”

Worse was to come when she went to the toilet.

She explained: “One look at the urinals and I was scurrying for the ladies.”

Her next stop was the traditionally male preserve of the bookies.

She said: “No-one spoke or even looked up. It was like being in the gents. Silence is golden – and don’t look anyone in the eye.”

Having lost a few quid on the nags, Rebecca’s day of masculinity was coming to an end – and she couldn’t wait to get out of the male costume.

She said: “Doing up my shirt with the buttons on the left was a whole new experience but that was nothing compared to the tie – a piece of clothing I have not worn since primary school”

So clearly Rebecca prefers a skirt to a suit – and her friends and colleagues probably prefer her that way.

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