Female autism is sometimes less externally noticeable (less acting out, more blending in). It is also believed that females with autism often display traits later than males.
I've heard it said females often have less concrete interests, but I have not noticed.
I personally think the charts with 'female aspie traits' that I've seen are bullshit.
The way I see it the whole world has a number of building blocks to their personality, some external, and some others. gender probably has one of the largest effects on our personalities... if you're building a building, its going to look quite different if you change the largest stone, even if all the other stones are the same.
_________________ People seem to think "Ignorance is Bliss", I don't agree.
Joined: Sep 07, 2006 Age: 25 Posts: 2183 Location: London
Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2011 5:54 pm Post subject:
Females with AS I've noticed, are sometimes more in your face, or needy. There are quiet ones too though. I was sort of both, but calmed down a few years ago.
I've noticed a few needy aspie men, but not very many. Half of them I've met were fairly quiet. The other half - a mixture of "normal" and mad.
I have noticed that people only notice difference between the genders when it comes to the fallacious stereotypes regarding relationships (every other thread in L&D has a topic related to this).
We rarely hear about differences when it comes to work-related situations, economic issues, things like that.
I personally think the charts with 'female aspie traits' that I've seen are bullshit.
I can't say I agree with this entirely, because I've been able to show people that I am autistic (aspie) because of these charts. However, I think there are less differences than people like to admit (btw, I do stutter, and I do have really odd special interests.. I also know who I am, but can blend in and very rarely trust a person enough to show my true self to- Otherwise that chart is me in print, but it can be applied to males a lot of the time, too.) What needs to be done is doctors need to stop looking at a person as a gender and more as a person if that makes sense, when deciding if something is an autistic trait or a mood disorder, etc.
Joined: Mar 27, 2006 Age: 24 Posts: 2635 Location: Massachusetts
Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2011 10:36 pm Post subject:
The only differences I see is in trends, I'm trying to think of them but can only think of one at the moment: female aspies are more likely to be terrified of hurting others, though this also can occur in males.
I've also heard that female aspies are more likely to be mimics, but haven't seen enough data to say whether this matches what I've seen, as I'm not one myself.
Joined: May 08, 2008 Age: 44 Posts: 4000 Location: in my brain
Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2011 10:59 pm Post subject:
It seems like female special interests are more likely to involve animals, bioscience, arts, crafts and such (and voracious reading), as opposed to machines, electronics, weapons, and other technological things. -- But only as a tendency and not a rule that's always true.
Joined: Mar 27, 2006 Age: 24 Posts: 2635 Location: Massachusetts
Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2011 11:38 pm Post subject:
Apple_in_my_Eye wrote:
It seems like female special interests are more likely to involve animals, bioscience, arts, crafts and such (and voracious reading), as opposed to machines, electronics, weapons, and other technological things. -- But only as a tendency and not a rule that's always true.
Heh, the special interest that caused me to realize I had them was FIRST robotics :p. I was given the role of explaining the robot to the judges and the principal of the school ended up telling me he didn't think I'd ever be as good socially as he saw me in those situations. (Though I've also had stereotypically female special interests (turtles, The Hobbit and such)
I want to know how much this is actually true (that there's a tendency in that direction), and how much people assume its true or deal with selection bias because of the overall viewpoint that females aren't into engineering, math, or non-biology science fields.
Well the reported differences that a lot of sources seem to report.
1) Interests are not as unusual.
2) Females are better imitators therefore often go unnoticed.
3) And according to Tony Attwood, aspie females often go into the caring professions. Really? Well I certainly dont fit that stereotype.
I'm obsessed with fire trucks for one example of something weird to obsess over. I can tell you which truck does what, and where each truck comes from (the trucks have numbers on them, and those numbers represent the station they're from) I also have decided to be a specific fire truck when I grow up- People laugh, but I see it this way: I either never grow up or I defy the laws of physics... Either way it's a win win situation for me. There are several other ones that wouldn't fit into the specific traits females have. But thinking about it now, I guess we have to look at it as another guideline and know that not everyone will fit everything. I still think there's too much emphasis put on the so called differences between male and female aspies and autists. I bet if we gave a doctor the case file of a male and female on the spectrum without telling the gender, they wouldn't be able to distinguish a difference.
Well the reported differences that a lot of sources seem to report.
1) Interests are not as unusual.
2) Females are better imitators therefore often go unnoticed.
3) And according to Tony Attwood, aspie females often go into the caring professions. Really? Well I certainly dont fit that stereotype.
I don't fit into going into the caring profession either!!
