Who is Norah Vincent? Did she actually kill herself after she disguised herself as a man? Many sources on the internet, across all social media platforms have spread the story of Norah Vincent. 'The Woman who killed herself after living the life of a man for 18 months'. This story was very enticing, however, upon researching the life of Norah Vincent it was made very evident that the News articles and the stories spread about Norah were actually a lot further from the truth than we thought.
Who is Norah Vincent? Why did she decide to become a man?
Norah Vincent was an American Writer who lived between Detroit, Michigan and London, England in her lifetime. She was a feminist writer that delved into her work, consuming herself into her writing to become one of the greatest and most authentic writers of the early 2000's. Norah wanted to be able to put herself into the shoes of a man's life so she decided to involve herself in a short transition from female to male of 18 months. Norah Vincent did this in the beginning of 2003, working with voice coaches, makeup artists whilst starting to weight train to become more like a man. Within the time of becoming a man, she enveloped herself into the world. She went to strip clubs, dated women as a straight man, as well as, becoming a salesman, working door to door with other men.
What did Norah find out through her experiment?
After Norah wrote her first book "Self-made man" released in 2006, based off her experience disguising herself as a male. Norah's perception towards men really shifted. Norah stated in an NBC interview how "things weren't as she expected". Men were very welcoming, more than that between women, stating that women are in a lot more competition with each other. She also found how competitiveness with men and women differed. She found that men wanted to help each other improve, something she was not used to experiencing as a woman involved in competitive sports with other women, seeming to be a better type of unity between men. Norah also shared the saddening quality of a lack of emotion found in males. Now seeing it through a different lens, Norah stated "I think anger is one of the very few things emotionally that men are still allowed to show... It's as if their emotional vocabulary has been denied them for so long, that then they don't have it anymore". Where she explained seeing the emotion either being beaten, laughed or teased out of young men. Evoking more sympathy towards what men had to experience, on the behalf of Norah not having lived a similar experience as a woman.
Norah also enlightened people about the dating scene between men and women. She expressed how she had believed women to be more evolved but during this investigation, she found it to be further from the truth. Stating "We have different problems, but we have problems on both sides." Norah found the uglier side to women and the control that women have over dating. Women have the say so, they are the ones to be approached, the ones who have the definitive yes or no. Within this, Norah experienced the true life of a man where her empathy exceeded what we could ever achieve as she really did put herself in someone else's shoes.
What happened after the book?
Sources claim that Norah fell into a depression after the writing of "Self-Made man", in spite of that Norah was very open about her mental health struggles and outwardly admitted her diagnosis of depression started in her early 20's. However the life of "Ned", the man she portrayed in 'Self-made man', did lead her to become mentally exhausted and deeply depressed. She decided to check herself into a mental health institute as a result of this, and found that she could use this opportunity to write her second book "Voluntary madness". Once Norah had became mentally well again after this admission, she decided to voluntarily admit herself into institutions across the country. Using these experiences to dissect the truth behind mental health care and treatment. Within this book, she questioned the DSM (Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental health disorders in America) and how diagnosis' work. Whether she truly belonged to those categories. This book involved her falsely putting herself into distressing situations such as, admitting herself into a mental health institution, whilst surrounded by very unwell people. For Norah this could have been a trigger, something that could have worsened her well-being, all for her writing. Norah had been struggling with her mental health for years after and it was mainly profound in her next book "Adeline". Adeline is a biographical novel about a woman called Virginia Woolf, writing about Virginia from the time she created her Novel 'In the Lighthouse' to the morning of 1941 where she killed herself through drowning. Norah described this book "not just a work of fiction, or an act of literary ventriloquism. It was my suicide note." Conveying the mental health struggles Norah faced, with this book being published in 2015. It seemed as though Norah faced mental health struggles all through her life. Using such struggles to envelop herself into the books she is now known for, Norah had a talent and was willing to do more than most when it came to her writing. However, all of this collectively has shown to have great impact on her already existing depression.
What is Norah's Truth?
Norah was a writer, who threw herself into her work physically, becoming one with it. With her already existing mental health issues, Norah found times of struggle and hardship. Ultimately leading to the assisted suicide that took place in 2022, at 53 years old. But Norah shouldn't be named as the woman who killed herself because she became a man for 18 months, because that isn't her truth and that isn't her story. Her experience of being a man, did impact her well-being, but her journey in the writing world after the release of the book, also contributed. The narrative of this woman has been used and manipulated to make a point. Get across the truth of the life of a man, but this is taking away from Norah's truth. What really happened and how her life was is so much more complex than "she became a man for 18 months, so she killed herself". Norah is known for publishing such a profound and insightful book, but her struggle in 2006, is only merely a part of her struggle in 2022. Her death should not have been used to promote insight into a mans world as it was misconstrued and false information. Norah deserves to rest in peace with her truth and she shouldn't be remembered for something that was not her truth either.
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