Vincent's book Self-Made Man retells an eighteen-month experiment in which she disguised herself as a man. This follows in the tradition of undercover journalism such as Black Like Me. Vincent was interviewed by Ju Ju Chang on the ABC News program 20/20 and talked about the experience in HARDtalk extra on BBC on April 21, 2006, where she described her experiences in male-male and male-female relationships. She joined an all-male bowling club, joined a men's therapy group, went to a strip club, dated women, and used her knowledge as a lapsed Catholic to visit monks in a cloister. Vincent writes about how the only time she has ever been considered excessively feminine was during her stint as a man: her alter ego, Ned, was assumed to be gay on several occasions, and features which in her as a woman had been seen as "butch" became oddly effeminate when seen in a man. Vincent asserts that, since the experiment, she has more fully realized the benefits of being female and the disadvantages of being male, stating, "I really like being a woman.... I like it more now because I think it's more of a privilege." She's also stated that she has gained more sympathy for and understanding of men and the male condition.
''Voluntary Madness''
Vincent's book Voluntary Madness is about her experiences as an inpatient in a mental hospital. Suffering from depression after her eighteen months living disguised as a man, she felt she was a danger to herself. On the advice of her psychologist she committed herself to a mental institution. Vincent spent time in three institutions – one urban, public and ill-funded; one small-town; and one private and expensive. She found some parts of the mental health care system beset by arrogant doctors and over-reliance on drugs as therapy, while others addressed merely the symptoms instead of their underlying causes. Nevertheless, she also felt, after her experiences, that despite the multiple failures of the institutions she visited, a lack of willpower on the part of certain patients also played a part in delaying or preventing their recovery. Although Vincent did not gain access to the hospital by means of deception, her exposé can be compared to Ten Days in a Mad-House by undercover reporter Nellie Bly, written more than a century previously. The Rosenhan experiment in the 1970s also provides a comparison of life inside several mental hospitals. However, Norah's own experiences with minor mental health issues and more serious traumatic life incidences have distinguished her own, personal experiences in mental hospitals from those of mentally healthy people who have visited similar institutions. Likewise, both her experiences and that of Nellie Bly differ from the Rosenhan experiment in their preference for personal experience over formal experiments with sample groups.
