Fern Brady

"This is a book about how being a woman gets in the way of people's expectation of what autism should look like and, equally, how being autistic gets in the way of people's expectations of what a woman should look like."

Strong Female Character is a game-changing memoir on sexism and neurodiversity. Fern Brady uses her voice as a neuro-divergent, working-class woman from Scotland to bring issues such as sex work, abusive relationships and her time spent in teenage mental health units to the page. It takes a sledgehammer to the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope which is mistakenly applied to neuro-diverse women and looks at how her lack of regard for social expectations ultimately meant she surpassed any limitations of what a Scottish working-class woman can do.

First published: Thursday 16th February 2023