Journal Entry # 2--Self Made Man: One Woman's Year Disguised As A Man, March 5, 2009

Norah Vincent is the ethnographer and author of the book Self Made Man and Voluntary Madness. Besides writing two very controversial books she is a freelance journalist. Her works have been published in Los Angeles Times, the national gay and lesbian magazine The Advocate, The New York Times, The New York Post, The Washington Post, and other regional newspapers. Vincent has also written the “Higher Ed” column for The Village Voice from 1999-2001. Vincent attended Williams College and received a Bachelor Degree in Philosophy. Using her higher education, Vincent has created two stellar books that give readers a in depth look into different subcultures.
By writing her book Self Made Man Vincent wanted to achieve a learning experience about the human race. "This wasn't just a stunt. This was about learning. This is a human project. It was about finding something out about the human creature. ... And I learned it the best possible way because I went through it," Vincent said. Her main goal was to put herself into a man’s shoes to better understand their culture as well as their actions.
In order to retrieve her information about the male culture, Vincent completely transforms herself into her male alter ego Ned. She behaves, dates, interacts and makes friends as a guy. Our group feels this is the best way that she could possibly receive accurate information. If the men were to talk to Norah as a woman, their answers to her questions and their behaviors would have been totally different. We don’t see any flaws in this method because it truly is the only way she could receive the information she wants. Truly, there is no way for a woman to truly understand what it is like to be in a “man’s world,” but Vincent has come very close to this by conducting her research in this manner.
There are many positive reviews for Self Made Man, one of these is written by David Kamp from the The New York Times Book Review. Vincent “treats her self-imposed assignment seriously, not as a stunt, (Kamp 1)She wants to genuinely learn about male culture and although she is dressing in drag, her purpose is not a joke. Our group believes that Vincent is taking her work as “Ned” seriously, but she still has a little bit of fun with it. The reader can interpret Vincent’s words and emotions through her writing, and this is what makes us believe that she is giving one hundred percent at all times. For example, she enrolls Ned into a male bowling league and this is where her friendships with men begin to develop. Vincent is not a very good bowler as a woman, but she is putting Ned into this situation so she can get a feel for a man’s culture. She sacrifices a lot of her pride in order to gain accurate and vivid information. Vincent also incorporates humor into her writing which tends to lighten the mood of her studies.
Another review of Self Made Man was completed by Deborah Straw. She said “After two chapters, I slid right into my favorite part of reading – I became totally involved in someone else’s world. Norah Vincent (aka Ned) pulled off something quite remarkable,” (Straw 1). Vincent uses her studies to portray a compelling book that keeps readers interested from the very beginning. Her raw language makes it clear to the reader that this experience was in fact real.
Our group agrees that it is easy to relate to the struggles that she goes through on a daily basis. For example, when Ned finds himself at a strip club Vincent cannot help but feel sympathetic towards the female strippers because she cannot view them as men do. She has a constant struggle of being a female trapped in a man’s body, but she deals with it in order to write her stellar work of Self Made Man. Her word choices are meaningful to the reader and they definitely paint a vivid picture of her feelings and experiences as Ned.