Is Susan Boyle an Abuse Victim?

Please read my opinion at my blog:

http://lavidacountry.wordpress.com


THANKS!!

What does "Catholic" have to do with it?
What speculations.
Manifestor_of_what?

Wow. Just wow. How incredibly judgemental and...sad...that you think that playfulness and joking around is somehow wrong or indicative of abuse. She was star for a day and enjoying her moment in the spotlight...envious some?

based on more than a tug of a skirt and a wink of the eye.

Sorry, Manifestor, just not feeling it, and I am deeply saddened by her recent hospitalization.

But I'd have to disagree as well. It's just too much of a leap to presume that because she was flirty in an awkward kind of way, and Catholic, that she was sexually abused. Her awkwardness could just as easily have been caused by not being used to the spotlight and a severe case of nerves. Gods only know what we would do onstage if we were in her shoes.

I smell an association with recovered memory folks/professional victims.

She reminds me of other Scottish ladies I have known in the past. She was comfortable in her skin. Her sense of humor shows it. Maybe all the makeovers started to make her self conscious.

As a young woman spending a lot of time in France, one of the things I admired most was that confident mature women were just as desirable as younger women. And I was around a lot of women 20 to 30 years older than me, thought that was so old at the time, but they really taught me how to age gracefully, that age is just a number (still learning to accept that), and above all to be myself. So I don't think it's unusual for Boyle to behave sexily.

Funny, in my culture, older women can be pretty flamboyant and also teach younger ones how to do the rear end dance. My husband and I were looking at several YouTube clips of Miriam Makeba, South African singer and civil rights activist, after she died. The clips spanned years of concerts. In the mid 60s, she danced demurely, it got sexier in her 50s and the concert before she died at 76, her dancing were downright sexy and the audience would go wild, and I'm talking European audiences. Older women are expected to let loose, not allowed to be shy and it's great fun.

We're just not use to it here from the not so beautiful or young, which is too bad. So, Manifestor_of_Light, it's just a cultural thing.

They probably wouldn't have this opinion of her "behavior" if she was a tall, skinny, perfect blond.

This seems like someone who is searching for what must be terribly wrong with a woman that doesn't live up to the idiotic beauty standard of the media, yet feels comfortable with herself as a woman. Their conclusion might be based on the idea that an imperfect looking woman should dwell in the shadows rather than any kind of opinion with psychological legitimacy.

that this op seemed to me a pretty transparent attempt to lure people into her blog, perhaps to gain traction and get...paid?

If so, I would have preferred honesty right up front about the intent, and subject matter that actually pertains to this forum.

Instead, I'm annoyed with myself for taking what I believed when I first read it (and continue to believe especially after seeing the same thread in the editorials forum this morning) was bait. And I feel dirty, somehow. :(

this OP reminds me of Why Syzygy's Psycho Cybernetics thread http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=245x93643 and this quote,

"self image sets the boundaries of individual accomplishment. It defines what you can and cannot do. Expand the self image and you expand the 'area of the possible.' The development of an adequate, realistic self image will seem to imbue the individual with new capabilities, new talents and literally turn failure into success."

I definitely did get the same sense as you after reading the blog. Since the blog raised my passions, the nagging feeling for me was that something else is happening here. It no longer became about the OP but about me, how Boyle clearly transcends what others see on the surface, and how in my life I've let that hold me back. I hope Boyle continues to be herself. She's such an inspiration.

I simply believe she is kind of innocent, was scared to death, was excited and used the skirt-flipping as a defense mechanism till she could get started singing - where she knew she was confident.

I'm very impressed with her and what she has done. Period.

I agree. She does seem very innocent. This came at her so fast that it's only natural that her head would be swirling. I think she took time to ground herself in why she actually did this to begin with: her promise to her mother.

I think she's an awesome singer and I wish her the best!

anybody who has performed as a soloist can tell you about performance anxiety -- everybody feels it, no matter how experienced. Because you know that you are human and that your instrument can slip up. I write this as somebody who has performed as a soloist on a number of occasions, in a number of settings.

It's hard enough, even with a receptive or neutral audience, even for seasoned performers, to get out there and lay it on the line. To sing freely, to free you vocal apparatus, you have to be totally open and free emotionally. You have to sing like a warrior, without self-consciousness.

Now add to that what she faces her first time out there. Not a receptive audience. Not even a neutral audience. Not even a silently hostile audience.

She faced down an openly jeering, mocking and taunting audience.

You're right that it was defensive, in the sense that "the best defense is a good offense." She put on her game face and turned their mocking wolf-whistles into a joke. That enabled her to brush them off and to perform her song like a warrior.

She clearly found her second performance more difficult. The audience was no longer mocking her, but receptive. Their expectations were totally different.

Without the jeering audience, and with expectations now very high, she wasn't able to get fully into her performance warrior mode. She behaved with more "decorum," without the joking around, and as a result her nerves had more impact on her voice, causing the glottal stop breakage in the opening and pulling it a trifle flat in a couple sections, especially in the climax when she was almost 1/2 tone off.

:rofl:

I was just trying to come up with a logical explanation for her weird behavior. To me it looks like classic primate submissive behavior. People are welcome to disagree with me.

I know she is not used to the fame and fortune. She's been quite sheltered & may be lacking in social skills. I have no problem with her looks. I certainly wish her the best. She has a gorgeous voice, and she started off badly in her last performance, but pulled it off like a real veteran.

I'm not jealous of her either. I have been a musician for nearly fifty years and have performed countless times myself in groups and as a soloist, so I well understand nerves.


I hope she gets her rest and is able to make a good career with her lovely voice.

when you could have posted it in the Lounge? And why the repeat in GD? Exactly what is your point?

And of course we're all welcome to our own opinions. But seriously, to speculate about a total stranger and offer opinions on behavior that *you* consider "wierd," "not age appropriate" and "classic primate submissive" just strikes me as, well, wierd, not age appropriate and pointless.

In any event, I'm pretty well done with the topic of Susan Boyle. She's been speculated about to death out in GD and in the Lounge.

for your viewpoint, NL. But MOL has posted her blog link here before with invitation to view it to see the pillows. I don't think she assumes she needs any bait to invite viewers for her blog.

As for the OP, I naturally assume, as PC wrote, that her brain injury influences her behavior in ways we can't understand. I was a bit embarrassed for her in an interview. There wasn't anything 'sexy' about it. She is guileless and innocent, making an easy mark for those who would use her so-called deficiencies to make cheap jokes.

I want people to post comments at my blog.

If they disagree with me, they are welcome to discuss it there. I'm trying to understand Ms. Boyle's behavior. That is all. I am not jealous. I am not pissed that she is unattractive. Others are reading too much into my statements.

And if northernlights feels dirty, that's her/his problem.

I am not demeaning Ms. Boyle; far from it. Trying to understand. And hoping that she has a wonderful career and is protected from the trials of fame.

I do love your beautiful pillows though. They are very soothing to look at. :hi: :hug:

I wish Miss Boyle the best. She needs protection from the limelight. I hope she can keep singing.

This is a woman with a birth injury, anoxia.
Her oxygen supply was cut off during birth which
causes permanent brain damage.

The symptoms you describe can be caused by this kind of brain
damage. Limited intellectual functioning, poor judgment,
sexually inappropriate behavior, poor social and coping skills.
Obviously the part of her brain dealing with musical ability was
left intact.

This is a woman who will need a great deal of help navigating
fame and fortune. She will be easily upset and victimized.
She is in need of guidance, support and protection. Care must be
taken.

Thanks for that. I thought about the cultural aspect but had no idea Boyle suffered a birth injury. This makes her even more remarkable.

Jane Russell, Ann Miller, Betty Grable, Rita Hayworth, Marilyn--all of them showed a little leg in a teasing way either in films or during personal appearances. She may have picked up "sexy" behavior from observing these ladies. I say this because when I turned of age and started drinking, my idea (because my parents were not drinkers) of how to drink socially was formed by Nick and Nora movies. In one memorable scene Nora came to a party a little late and asked how many drinks Nick had already had. He said, "Six." She then ordered seven martinis and when a maid brought them on a tray, Nora downed them one after the other and said, "Now we're even!" I was left with the impression that this is how sophisticated people behave. I'm lucky I'm still alive! Susan Boyle has a rare and beautiful gift as well as a slight disability. I wish her all the best.

Edit for typo & then some...

My mom grew up in the 30s and 40s, and her idea of life was that you were supposed to look like Joan Crawford (red lipstick and severe suits) and hold your liquor like a man. What she thought were "good" movies were the ones where everyone was dressed for a formal dinner party, nobody cussed, nobody hopped in the sack with a stranger, and everybody was sophisticated and laughing--a lot like the Nick & Nora movies you're talking about.

And women used to slap men in the face all the time. One friend of mine, a man, once slapped a woman back because he had seen Cary Grant do so in an old movie. (and boy was he ever sorry!) I can't think of any Marx brother's film where one of them doesn't get smacked by some society grande dame. Needless to say, scenes like that don't play well in this day and age. Ms. Boyle is a country person. I imagine she learned a lot about culture outside her little town on tv and in the movie house.