Research? Sure it is

If you're open and honest about the fact that you have a certain sexual peccadillo or fetish you may be surprised to learn that it's pretty common. In fact you're more likely to be ashamed at the tedious normality of it all.

Or you could build an intricate web of deception that only fools yourself.

If you ever wondered why American car firm GM is going down the toilet wonder no more. Apparently rather than employ some women, or even do the smallest amount of market research with females (a fairly large market I think you'll agree) they dress the engineers in womens clothing and see how they get on using the products.

GM vehicle line director Mary Sipes: "We took our group to the proving grounds and broke them into teams. One guy on each team had to be Mr. Mom. We dressed him in a garbage bag to simulate a tight skirt. We gave him rubber gloves with press on nails, a purse, a baby and a baby stroller and some chores like loading groceries."

"We had a lot of laughs," said Sipes, "but the men's awareness of how women function in the vehicle really changed."

Mark Cieslak, vehicle chief engineer for full-size trucks/hybrids: "You had to manipulate the key fob, open the car door and dial in a radio station wearing those fake fingernails. It was an experience,"

I bet it was Mark, I bet it was.