Because a certain breed of feminist is particularly annoying to people who have ASD.
I've run into them. They live in this delusional fantasy where all gender disparity, even where you can prove that the reason behind the disparity is based on biological differences, is part of some evil conspiracy, somehow.
If you point out scientific evidence that contradicts their fantasy, you are told, "Well, those scientists are really all misogynists anyway, since they think that all ideas have to PASS SOME KIND OF TEST to be deemed acceptable! It's all part of the patriarchy, don't you know!"
And, in their view, they are morally superior because they accept any person's ideas as perfect and worthy just as they are, even though they're pretty much crapping profusely on your ideas. And they don't see this as contradictory.
On the other hand, most people with ASD are actually fairly feminist, overall. They just aren't THAT kind of feminist. They're true feminists. They are people who think that everyone, regardless of how they think, should be given a chance to contribute to society everything that is within their potential, even if some of us may require unconventional accommodations, at times, in order to reach our full potential. We don't want welfare benefits, but we want simple considerations such as being able to ask, at a fast-food job, not to be forced to do service waiting tables when there are more suitable jobs in the back that the servers hate doing anyway. We don't demand unreasonable sacrifice on the part of organizations, but on the contrary, we suggest that businesses could actually see better profits and greater workplace harmony if they learned to manage "deep-level" diversity in the workplace. Generally, most of the things that could be done to accommodate people with ASD, in the workplace, would be cost-neutral or cost-negative!
We also realize that, in many workplaces, women are in the same position. Many workplaces are built "by men, for men." This is a tragedy. We understand that.
But being called a "misogynist" because you dare to say "Actually, a nuance to that issue is that testosterone and estrogen do some pretty interesting things in the brain, and let me call up a few citations to demonstrate to you how this works," is really very disheartening. You assume that other people want to discuss the topic in the light of factual accuracy, and you don't really know how to deal with someone who works more on the basis of rhetoric and symbolic language.
Think of it along the lines of people who have the homophobic or transphobic strains of feminism. Many feminists are extremely hostile toward gay people and other minority groups, and they are actually very outspoken and cruel on this matter. I have encountered them even in academic settings.
I think that people with ASD are naturally averse to a certain strain of feminism, which is the delusional/paranoid strain of feminism where you're almost obligated to be out-of-touch with reality in order to be considered "enlightened." On the other hand, I think people with ASD also tend to readily embrace other, more realistic and pragmatic, forms of feminism.
And those of us who have had very different exposure on the topic can kind of clash, but it's rewarding to have these kinds of conversations because we often find ourselves agreeing with each other on more things than we disagree.
Last edited by Persimmonpudding on 09 Dec 2014, 6:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
09 Dec 2014, 7:45 am
