Question for Male aspies.

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If anyone said, "that was very NT of you", I'd be highly offended

I've never been interested in sport or cars. I never really had "feminine" interests growing up - just "nerdy" ones...

I'm a big guy and I've always felt pressured into a macho because of this - I was press-ganged into playing rugby at school and many people have suggested that I should be a night-club bouncer or a rent-collector, despite my character being totally unsuited to such occupations. My father would have been more impressed if I had joined the army or the police instead of going to University.

A lot of men seem to take it as a deliberate rejection of them and their values if I say that I don't follow football, no matter how polite or friendly I try to be about it. Lack of interest in sport really got me quite ostracised when I was young.

I'm becoming more comfortable in my role as a big softy now though and luckily my girlfriend seems happy with it too

I do have eclectic interests, many of which fall well outside the realm of the traditional masculine wheelhouse, and no, i have never been particularly concerned about other's response to that. It was a common source of friction between my father and myself when I was growing up, however. He constantly expressed irritation that I did not share his interests in mechanics and so forth. Funny factoid about that; my older brother did/does share his interest in building things and mechanics, and he turned out to be transgendered. He likes racing cars and engines and aircraft machinery. I don't. He is the one who wears women's clothing. So.

Gender identity not so black and white, eh.

I've never cared about fitting into certain male stereotypes. One example is sports. I'm not into baseball, football (US), basketball, or hockey at all, and I don't feel the need to use that particular script to bond with other guys. Nothing against fans of those sports, but they just aren't my thing.

I do like cars and motorcycles and sometimes can get a conversation going that will keep most guys engaged. But for me that's more about having something to talk about than being bro's.

Do what I want to do.

It might be "masculine" or it might not be, but that doesn't have any effect over my choice.