Norah vincents assisted self-deletion

[K0fcali]

When I first heard of Norah Vincent author of self made man I was moved to tears. Its so sad to think a woman would prefer to not exist than have to live as a man. Probably no one else will care about her story but I think its significant enough that everyone should be familiar with it. Maybe women will listen to the message if they hear it from a woman.

 

[K0fcali]

There is a time in a boy’s life when the sweetness is pounded out of him; and tenderness, and the ability to show what he feels, is gone.

Norah Vincent

One of many great things she said. R.I.P!

 

[stickygirl]

NV wrote her book Self Made Man in 2006, based on her experience of living full time as a man while being a cis-gender lesbian. She details in her book the emotional impact of living in the wrong gender, or having to mask 24/7 and sharing the world of men as a woman in disguise. It's to her credit that she throws a spotlight on the standards to which men are expected to conform - a framework created by men themselves, that she found full of all the rituals and stereotypes already well documented, albeit through her own first hand experience. Something she found exhausting.

She had suffered with mental health episodes prior to this and subsequently wrote another book, Voluntary Madness in which she laid bare her experiences of mental health care. Whether we regard her as brave or simply reckless, I don't think she had much choice, given her long term fight with over-medication and depression.

I see parallels with autism and being transgender, since both require masking to present a false narrative to the outside world in order to accepted. For autism there is no escape from those pressures, but the intention of transitioning is to escape them. There's an irony that she was critical of transgender people despite her experiences.

 

[Zrosey]

After reading about NV, I am curious to read her book Self Made Man.
Gonna add it to my ever growing list!