Samantha Brick on the Autism Spectrum?

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Has anyone else been following the acrimonious online and on-TV debate which exploded this last weekend when a 41 year old blonde, 90% housewife-type and very part-time writer/journalist ( as she described herself in the TV interview ) woman living in France with her french husband wrote an article for the UK newspaper the Daily Mail in which she claimed that women disliked her for being beautiful.

90% of the reactions in the Daily Mail's comment threads on that first article, and the three or four follow-ups as the discussion went viral, ( even trending on Twitter for 24 hours or more ), consisted of exasperated and rude remarks that she wasn't beautiful, barely even pretty, actually very plain, perhaps even ugly, and that the reason why women didn't like her was because she was so arrogant, though some people changed their minds about that when they saw her on TV, because she has a little-girlish charm, sparkly eyes, and appealing smile and gestures, ... ... ... when she isn't earnestly expounding her theories, and grimacing with the effort to understand/follow the two TV presenters and guest expert's interjections/contributions and interactions.

I read the articles and thought it was weird and that she was a bit of a case, but when I watched the video, especially when I turned the sound off and simply watched her body language, I began to wonder if she might in fact be one of that large number of women on the autism spectrum undiagnosed because female presentation of autism can be/often is so very different to that of men. ie. many women on the spectrum are more interested in and sensitive to "the social" than autist males are, and attempt to learn, "by rote" or by mimicry, social interactions etc, some very successfully so that it appears totally "natural", *but* it involves an effort, and many NT women "see through it", or are disturbed/annoyed/put off by it.

What do others think? ... Do women in fact "hate" her because of her autism?

Here is the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0_CG3rmRYs

[YouTube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0_CG3rmRYs[/YouTube]
And here are two of the four or five Daily Mail articles about it: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/artic ... rning.html and http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/artic ... right.html

UPDATE:

12 hours later: I just read an article from today at Salon.com about Samantha Brick, in which the author, Mary E Williams, quotes, and agrees with, a comment in Jezebel magazine suggesting that the person who was really set-up here was Samantha, and that the Daily Mail knew what would happen, which sounds like more evidence for my theory that Samantha is on the autism spectrum; naivety!

Samantha Brick wrote and posted her article in good faith. It was the newspaper that knew it would attract the mobs; they wanted a victim for some spectacular savaging.

In fact both the article at Salon and the piece it refers to at Jezebel call it "bullying".

Here is the Salon article: http://www.salon.com/2012/04/06/samanth ... singleton/

Last edited by ouinon on 07 Apr 2012, 1:04 am, edited 1 time in total.

This is really strange - I had the same thought myself!

She definitely has an Aspie 'look' about her and she has the typical rigid mindset in terms of her theory about women disliking her always being about how she looks

She shows a definite lack of theory of mind in attributing her neighbour not waving back to her to being definitely about her being jealous of her looks. She could have just been in a bad mood about something or not feeling sociable that day or might not even have recognosed her! I do the same thing - I always want to attribute a reason connected directly to me for why a person acts in a particular way when in truth most people aren't in other peoples' minds as much as they like to think.

Also she wasnt making any effort to show she was listening to or taking on board what the presenters were saying; she was just waiting impatitntly to interrupt with what she had to say again - that's typical aspie - I do it all the time! Lol

She had the typical self-assuredness in her own argument that many aspies have that puts NTs backs right up! Lol

She doesn't get it that if you say something that pisses NT's off badly, they'll harp on about it forever after and will make no effort whatsoever to understand the finer points of your argument - that's not how NTs work! Once the tribe has identified you as 'the enemy' you're dead meat basically. I'm surprised a lynch mob hasn't headed over to France and burned her at the stake by now! I feel sorry for her really. She can't be as intelligent as she likes to think if she didn't expect such a backlash though! She's either incredibly stupid or just wants the publicity - a bit of both I think.

She's got a bit of a West Midlands/Brummie accent too which I find hilarious as I come from that area myself and in my opinion people round here aren't exactly known for being intellectually minded! (and that's putting it mildly in many cases)

It is kind of irrelevant if she is on the spectrum or not. People are amused that she has claimed to be beautiful when she is clearly just average. The tone of her first article and the follow-up didn't do her any favours either. The second problem people have with her is that she attributes every negative reaction she receives from other women to be jealousy which is absurd. She needs to start listening to people (ignoring all the nasty comments) because when people are virtually unanimous in telling you something then it is time to re-evaluate your position. Maybe she will do so when the storm's blown over and she no longer feels under attack.

No it isn't irrelevant - it's interesting to speculate as there are a lot of signs eg the rigidity of thought.

She never said she was beautiful; just that she attracts male attention and I've no reason to doubt it as she is attractive and when any woman gets male attentiion other women don't like it - it's not rocket science - women are generally in competition with each other for male attention and any woman who denies this lying! Same for men competing for womens' attention. She might be average in the estimation of yourself and 40000 rabid Daily Mail readers (who's photos we never get to see lol) but I think she's of above average looks and that people are demonstrating the very behaviour she complains of!

Many people are horrendously arrogant about their own level of atractiveness to others and love nothing more than to criticise anyone who dares estimate their own attractiveness in a positive manner - this is a far more unpleasant trait than anything she's exhibited

The comments have been vicious, mysogenistic in the extreme and say far more about the commenters than her! I saw a comment on Youtube saying she needed raping! FFS! I hate the human race sometimes!

Horses for courses; I find speculating about whether people have an ASD utterly pointless.



Yes she did! Her first article was titled:

"There are downsides to looking this pretty': Why women hate me for being beautiful"



Some do, dome don't. You are making the same broad assumptions as Samantha Brick and I believe you are mistaken.



Well I cannot lie. Maybe to you she is hot stuff, but to me and many others there is nothing special to look at here. I think the many nasty comments are simply down to a certain element of humanity who will always put the boot in.



That's an entirely different aspect to this story. There is absolutely no excuse for the vicious comments, but that has no bearing whatsoever on what she has said in her articles.

She looks like she is reading a teleprompter or cue cards. I think this is a publicity stunt the Daily Mail commissioned to get a firestorm brewing. People, mostly, do not hate beautiful people. It's the arrogance and other personality issues that cause attractive people to be disliked.

If she were ugly, however, she would be hated no matter what she does.

The whole thing displays the very worst aspects of humanity. I've noticed a tendency in society these days to not rate a person's looks at all unless they look like a supermodel or actress ie impossibly beautiful - it's pathetic and I feel sorry for the people who jump on this bandwaggon as they'll find it extremely hard to find partners matching their impossibly high requirements.

I didn't say I found her 'hot stuff' - in fact I'd never EVER use such a pathetic word as 'hot' to describe ANY person, as for me it's all about treating them as a human being with feelings, not a sexual object. I refuse to buy into society's manner of utterly debasing human beings in this manner - it's capitalist, consumer society that has caused all this and most people are too thick to even realise it's happened, they just suck up the prevailing attitudes and continue to perpetuate it.

I prefer to feel I wasn't manipulated into giving the woefully predicatable response that article was seeking, unlike 99.9% of the sheep who did! Society does not tell me how to think, unlike the majority, who I utterly despise for their brainlessness! I come on here to escape it - some hope!

She's tall, has a slender figure, an attractive face. She's what most would consider attractive, imo. She could pass for a fashion model.

Exactly

The level of spite in all those newspaper comments sickened me - most people are obnoxious t***s who thrive on insulting others

Thank God we no longer have public hangings or she'd be a gonner by now and wouldn't the crowd have loved it? Pathetic tribal hatred rituals that make me want to execute everyone who indulges in them!

People are not responding to her looks, though. If we saw a picture of her without any words, would people be that riled just looking at it? Hardly. It's what she's saying that has them doing tailspins. It proves people do not hate others just because they are attractive. It's personality that incites spiteful responses in others. Just the thought this woman is claiming she is so attractive, strangers do her favors is enough to aggravate some. It's because everyone wishes the same were done for them, they don't want to hear about it happening to someone else.

Yes well they're pathetic in my opinion. I knew exactly what their reactions would be before reading the comments. It's like hearing someone say Blah, blah, blah - meaningless, brainless noise! What is the point in a million people saying exactly the same thing?

She has every right to say what she thinks she looks like just as they have the right to disagree - it's the nature of their disagreeing that angers me - there's no need for it.
I can think my opinion, I don't need to express it in that manner. NTs are incapable of this - they have to join the hunting pack or it doesn't count.

It's the modern day equivalent of a witch hunt. "Kill the beast" indeed! (wrt 'Lord of the Flies')
Can't people see what they are like??

One doesn't need to be jumping on a bandwagon to give an honest view, which in this case is I don't consider her beautiful. I think you'll agree now that that was her initial claim.

Apparently many other people are of a similar opinion. It all depends where you set the bar I suppose. If she had never written the article I would never have given the matter any consideration if I had seen a picture of her, but she has which kind of forces the issue don't you think?



You do get "tongue-in-cheek", right?



You seem to be getting very angry about the whole affair, and indeed, all sorts of other things. No point in complaining about the failings of humanity around here as you are preaching to the converted.

I disagree, but this is all subjective. All sorts of people can become fashion models; it very much depends on the brand and market what type of person they are looking for, and hardly a yardstick by which to measure beauty.

Who made you judge on high of female beauty?? - you sound exceedingly arrogant to me!
I hate this 'Oh that person's nothing special' attitude - I bet you aren't either - it's a typcial way for a person to try and make themselves feel better when they feel insecure

Secure people don't feel threatened by people who are attractive and give credit where it's due. They prefer to help build a person's confidence rather than destroy it. People who jump to put others down really annoy me - it indicates meanness of spirit but don't worry you are in the majority as most people are like this.

The message I got from the beginning of the video is, "smile, be pleasant and people will be more willing to do nice things for you."

Yes, she is attractive, but it gets to the point where one wonders if she is really attractive as she thinks she is. I wonder how she feels about attractive women, or ugly ones, for that matter? Does she dislike other women just because they are ugly?

It is an opinion. Don't you respect any opinion that differs from your own?



Please calm down and remember to be civil.



Perhaps the wiser course is not to second guess other peoples motivation, which incidentally is an error that SB herself makes.



Now who is judging whom?