Extreme male brain + Simon Baron Cohen

www.youtube.com/watch

Yes, it has led to under-identification of women and anyone else who doesn't present in a stereotypical way, according to definitions that have been built upon studies that, way back, mostly referred to small groups of young boys.  It basically reinforced all of that which meant that many didn't get the help or support they needed.  He also doesn't seem to listen well enough to the autistic community so his view seems to be skewed and external (i.e. based on observable behaviours rather than internal autistic experience) - Kieran Rose is a good person to listen to on this subject.  

The Spectrum 10000 study has led to lots of controversy too.  I think there's some good information from Aucademy (Dr Chloe Farahar) on this subject. 

To be accurate, an 'impaired theory of mind'. But this is how science works, hypotheses are created and tested, those that fail to be supported by evidence fall by the wayside. If people failed to propose hypotheses, there would be no progress.

We have to remember that Simon Baron Cohen is the same theorist who argued that Autistics don't have a "Theory of Mind", something now thoroughly debunked. 

ah thank you for explaining!

I think that it is the interpretation of what the theory claims by others, including clinicians, that is the major problem. The theory claims that autistic brains are more extremely male-like in only two areas of cognition: systematising information and processing emotional cues. It does not claim that the brains of female autistics are more male-like otherwise. Unfortunately, generalist media tend to not know what is meant by a scientific theory - and I would class this as a hypothesis anyway - and tend to misinterpret them. This leads to over-reaction by interest groups. However, anything that tends to make diagnosis for female autistics more difficult, is unhelpful. Unfortunately, scientists are often afforded only limited access to correcting misapprehensions that their work can give rise to.

I’m guessing people might be concerned that it tends to erase autistic women? Myself I have strong doubts about the theory’s correctness but a theory being wrong doesn’t automatically make it harmful. If it encourages the miss or under diagnosis of women though (or potentially of effeminate boys) then it could be an issue.