As I have said before, feminism isn’t just about women; it is about all genders moving towards equality. Before I heard about this immersive research, I believed that men have it much better and women don’t get the same opportunities as men, which is true in some cases but the sexes have let down each other, and instead of pushing everyone up to the best they can be, we are pushing each other down so we feel better and meaningful in a soulless society. However, when I heard about Norah Vincent’s social experiment my mind quickly changed.
“Just as men have failed us, we have failed them”
Norah Vincent, a journalist and author disguised herself as a man for a social experiment which lasted 18 months, to discover if men have it more difficult than women, as she felt that men can’t have it easier if two-thirds of suicide victims were male.
Before Norah Vincent became Ned Vincent, she completely changed her diet and workout regime so she ‘bulked up’ to look more manly. Vincent also had months of professional vocal training to lower her voice. She also got a makeup artist to glue shredded wool to her face so she appeared to have stubble.
This preparation was a success, as when the experiment started she entered traditionally male-only venues such as the Bowling League, and was immediately accepted with no questions asked. Ned, along with his new male friends would try to “pick up” women at bars and clubs, however, Vincent felt that the process of meeting a woman at these places was horrendous and terrifying, from the moment of seeing a woman and building the confidence up to walk across the room to talk to them to the cruelty that they faced by the women.
“Men are suffering, they have different problems, but they don’t have it better.”
Norah Vincent’s immersive research was meant to last 2 years but she had to stop after 18 months because she felt that the lifestyle that men are put through was emotionally and physically draining, Vincent also started to have misogynistic thoughts about women. To her surprise, she found that women are more privileged because they aren’t isolated with their emotions. She also expressed in her book “Self-Made Man” that men were treated so horribly she couldn’t believe this is how men lived. This experiment even triggered her to have a breakdown and, in 2004, she checked herself into a psychiatric hospital before she could even finish the book.
It is believed that even after she was released from the hospital she still suffered from depression and anxiety, in many interviews she said she is constantly considering how actions impact others. Sadly, at the age of 53, on the 6th of July in 2022, she went to Switzerland to die via assisted suicide.
Her work has changed the way many think because it is no longer equality for women. It is equality for all.