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'gender incoherence' and Austism

James

A friend is reading Hendrickx's Women and Girls with Autism Spectrum Disorder (2015) and highlighted the following section. I have put it in this discussion board because I wonder what people's responses are.

Hendrickx writes "testosterone levels in women with autism were higher than control samples and that these women displayed more masculinised characteristics. It also found that men with autism presented more feminised characteristics, indicating that rather than women with autism being more masculinised per se, both genders may be more androgynous and represent a 'gender defiant disorder'. They go on o suggest that, 'gender incoherence in individuals with ASD is to be expected and should be regarded as one reflection of the wide autism phenotype.""

The frequently cited reference for this passage, omitted for readability, is Bejerot et al, ' The extreme male brain revisited: gender coherence in adults with autism spectrum disorder' (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/.../)

Parents

  • Hmmm, well we do know that Autistic people are way more likely to have gender and sexual identities other than straight and cis-gender than the neurotypical population.  I think it's one of those things that needs to be better understood.  Just what is the relationship between the two?  I loved Laura Kate Dale's book Uncomfortable Labels on being both Autistic and a trans gay woman.

    But is there something biological here operating at a hormonal as well as neurological level? - Well, in my 20s I was told I had too much free testosterone and it would be unlikely I'd get pregnant.  When I was pregnant, I was told I'd likely miscarry.  I didn't, thank God, but I do have the usual issues that come with a bit too much testosterone in women - ovarian cysts and annoying facial hair I am forever having to wax.

    Oh and errr, my horrid ex did once say to be: "You're not a real woman, are you?  You think like a man".  What? I have no idea what he meant by that or in which ways he found my thinking 'male'.

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  • Hmmm, well we do know that Autistic people are way more likely to have gender and sexual identities other than straight and cis-gender than the neurotypical population.  I think it's one of those things that needs to be better understood.  Just what is the relationship between the two?  I loved Laura Kate Dale's book Uncomfortable Labels on being both Autistic and a trans gay woman.

    But is there something biological here operating at a hormonal as well as neurological level? - Well, in my 20s I was told I had too much free testosterone and it would be unlikely I'd get pregnant.  When I was pregnant, I was told I'd likely miscarry.  I didn't, thank God, but I do have the usual issues that come with a bit too much testosterone in women - ovarian cysts and annoying facial hair I am forever having to wax.

    Oh and errr, my horrid ex did once say to be: "You're not a real woman, are you?  You think like a man".  What? I have no idea what he meant by that or in which ways he found my thinking 'male'.

Children
  • in reply to Dawn
    Dawn said:
    I loved Laura Kate Dale's book Uncomfortable Labels on being both Autistic and a trans gay woman.

    Thanks for recommending this .

  • in reply to Dawn

    Thanks for adding to the discussion. What you shared, the biological elements - and the social (that comment), are really striking in showing how autism can have all sorts of undernoted - and underdiscussed - implications and impacts.

    And thanks for mentioning Laura Kate Dale's book. (I recently finished - and was greatly moved by - Didier Eribon's Returning to Reims, which talks about the intersections of class and sexuality and the pressure to take on "a different kind of dissociative personality or double consciousness". I was wondering if someone has addressed similar issues regarding autism.) Will take a look at Uncomfortable Labels.