Journal Prompt #1

While chapter one was mainly meant as an introduction to whom Norah Vincent is and why she decided to take on this project, chapter two was a great way to begin her experiment. Woman often wonder what men do when they're not there and how many really act around each other, and chapter two was a great inside view into male bonding.

Within the first two chapters of Self-Made Man, I was genuinely surprised at how serious Vincent was taking the entire experiment (buying a new wardrobe, fake penis, acting lessons, voice training, makeup tutorials, etc). It all seems like a practical joke or temporary attempt at deceit until it hits you that this is almost two whole years dressing and acting not only another identity, but another gender. There are certainly situations which she describes that I can relate to, but I can't imagine the stress and mental anxiety that would come with pretending to be another person for a prolonged period of time. I wonder: if I found success passing as another gender, would I feel trapped in the wrong body? Would I start to not only deceive others but myself, too? In the final paragraphs of chapter one, Vincent explores these possibilities and powerfully declares that the mental and emotional beatings she endured throughout the process were the real consequences and that her self-inflicted strain was enough of a punishment for breaching trust and playing with deception.

In Chapters one and two, the author makes some assumptions of the reader. In chapter one, Vincent assumes her audience would benefit greatly by giving a lot of background information of her study. She also breaks down her book and explains what she intends for her audience to get out of reading her book. In chapter two, Vincent believes that her audience may not have any experience in a male only social environment, that audience probably being all females. She also shares her reactions of being in this new environment in detail to help her male audience understand her experience. These assumptions are greatly important to the success of her book, and give Vincent a lot of credibility for her study. So far the most important message given by Vincent in her book is how gender affects people socially and emotionally. This message by Vincent is really her objective for her to understand through her study and for communicating to her audience through her book. To convey her massages to her audience, Vincent really breaks each important concept by chapter, for example how Chapter two represents the social aspect of gender, and further describes important details through the use of personal experiences, such as revealing her reactions and the reactions of her bowling team after revealing her true gender.

This book was intended to be a memoir of Vincent’s experience amongst the opposite sex. Sociologists and anyone in general, that are curious about the different interactions within men and women would find this book very interesting because you get an inside look at both sides. Vincent establishes her authority because she is extremely passionate and determined to find the answers she has been longing for. Also, she makes it known that this is not a strict research study, however she is also not doing it just for laughs. She also carries a sense of humor throughout the book which makes the reader comfortable and understanding in the fact that she is a normal person too. She uses this humor to draw in her audience to better depict her experiences. Vincent also focuses on minor details which a person in everyday life might overlook. By doing this, the reader can connect to the stories and relate them back to their own personal experiences.

While bowling is an incredibly social sport, I can't help but wonder if there was some other place Vincent could have bowled at or some other sport she could have participated in. Jim, Allen, and Bob didn't exactly seem like the typical guys you meet, they seemed to be in a bit of a lower class, so I'm wondering if their actions and how they acted around each other would have been different than if Vincent found some activity to participate in with people of even the middle class or upper middle class. Men may act the same in all groups but we have to take into consideration that they may not and that the results she got may have turned out differently if she were in a different group or doing a different sport. This book is definitely about gender and gender identity, so it fits in with our new topic of gender.