Do women really have more normal looking special interests?

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As a kid I got into the crazes that were among my peers, even if I didn't really like them. For example, Pokemon was big in 1999 (I was 9 at the time), and Pokemon was something I wouldn't usually get into. But because all the other kids at my school were swapping Pokemon cards and collecting all the Pokemon plushies and stickers, I wanted to be part of it, so I soon got myself a collection of Pokemon cards. Just having a 'shiny' card with a high HP number got me popular.

As a teen I liked all the pop music that my peers were listening to, and I wanted a mobile phone too, which my dad got for me. But I wasn't all that bothered about make-up or fashion.

As an adult I do care more about my appearance and I am into fashion and the latest styles. But I hate the songs that are out now, although others my age have said the same.

When I was in middle school I really didn't care what I looked like. That was years and years ago. Now that I'm in my 20s I take my time showering, making sure my outfits don't make me look like I got dressed last minute, I wear makeup (I try to make it look natural without it being just concealer and foundation) and I dress the way I like to dress.

I don't do this to fit in. I have a feeling that people wish my style was more edgy. I'm not an "edgy" woman. I wouldn't call myself "girly" but I would say that I'm "feminine". People have pushed me to wear men's clothes because it's "powerful" but I feel more powerful when I dress feminine. Besides, I have a curvy body shape and my facial structure, hair texture and even the way I do my makeup is very feminine so men's clothes don't match with my appearances Men's t-shirts don't fit my bust, waist and hips properly.

I have been female my entire life. I interests over the years have varied widely regarding what I considered special. But the intensity would never waver. In grade school for about 3 autumns, i collected buckets and buckets of horse chestnuts. I would separate them and catalog them according to overall color, size, shape, and whether they were smooth or rough. Every year my mom would end up throwing them all away while I was at school, which always meant a bad day when I would find out.
I've been fascinated with death since childhood, too. Got to visit a cremation. And all family trips would get sidelined if I spotted a cemetery. Once, I found a dead bird and tried to bring it home. Apparently I wasn't supposed to do that.
My biggest interest/love today is anything Oldsmobile related. Aside from having a real oldsmobile in my garage, I have probably hundreds of Hot Wheels/Matchbox/Johnny Lightning Oldsmobiles, And quite a few larger die cast vehicles as well (mostly Oldsmobiles). I have shirts and hats with oldsmobile on them. Pictures and signs on my walls at home with Oldsmobiles on them. I have quite a few car songs on my music player which include also quite a few songs about oldsmobiles. I have travelled to Georgia, Tennessee and Michigan so I could attend huge Oldsmobile shows. I even grew up in a city that had a GM plant. And yes, They built oldsmobile's at that plant to before they shut it down. I visited the Oldsmobile museum in Lansing, MI. Also, I live close to the city of Oldsmar--- a 102 year old town which was founded by Ransom Eli Olds, The same man who founded oldsmobile in 1897.
Yes I'd have to say that for several years now I have been happily preoccupied with anything and everything Oldsmobile .
Maybe as a woman I should be more preoccupied with things like make up or doing hair... Everyone is an individual. I think that's what makes my special interest so special.

I used to put all of my toys in line. I'm not sure if that counts as sorting.

I did indulge in a lot of what wd be considered autistic behaviour except applied to stereotypical girly things like stuffed toy rabbits, making dollhouses instead of LEGO structures, obsessed with Helen Keller, geology, amassing collections, etc. Being a loner with a book hiding in corners doesn’t stand out as much as other behaviours would esp with boys.

My special interests are history (which doesn't cause much fuss as I studying to be an historian), DIY and building things - which can stand out sometimes when I'm in a uni class for making sculptures and I build a life-sized guillotine, plus a couple of smaller ones with baskets and assemblage art. I'm also very very interested in older sitcoms that aren't all that popular anymore, so while everyone else is talking about Game of Thrones I'm making Allo' Allo' and Blackadder references, or making jokes about Mrs Slocombe's p**** (cat) (double entendres). Oh, and my cats are a special interest too. But there are heels if mad cat ladies about to swap "fur baby" stories with

I think women do tend to have more socially accepted special interests but the autistic part shows up with how we approach it. Like it seems to me, with the normal and not so normal, that how women on the spectrum approach or deal with their special interests is on a much more intense scale or very different from how an NT would approach it.

Someone mentioned sex being a special interest, I think i'm similar but more with the psychology and anatomical structures involved. I realised last year that even though people (men and women) see me as a very sexual creature sex isn't THAT important to me and I don't like having sex without my feelings being involved or respected. I actually require a lot of emotional security. Any how, a lot of my Art is built around concepts of sex, gender, mythology and sexual orientation. Weirdly enough, sex and spirituality/religion go hand in hand for me. My family find my Art and me really weird because their traditional pentecostalists - my Mum's even a pastor.

I also feel like I hold back on a lot of my special interests because I'm worried people will start talking about me funny. I've been the center of gossip in my community before (London is tiny and the creative scene is even smaller) so I think I hold back on certain things. Like I love music but the producing aspect but I know if I tried to start making music the gossip mongers would start whispering and I can't deal with all that right now. I also hold back on my choice of style nowadays too because my family began to make comments and people would treat me funny, which is really sh***y.

Funny enough, saying all this makes me feel like I should just accept myself more.

I also love anime which a lot of people have said some really sh***y things about. I love history, traditional healing therapies and methods, mythology, spirituality and otherkin concepts (which is HEAVILY demonised by my ethnic community), photography, art and lately interior design/decoration.

I think I sometimes find myself weird but mainly because my family is so god damn normal and I have no real freedom to be myself.

Salesladies, hardware shop dudes, car mechanics, newspaper sellers... Here's EVERYTHING I know, salesperson. Lucky you.

why aren't there more female audiophiles? they have keener hearing, by god they oughta be more interested in fine audio than men are. somebody please answer me this.

Describing female special interest as normal is a bit of a curve ball. Most of the stereotypical male aspie interest arent weird either. I think normal in relation to female traits means dolls and other girly stuff. As opposed to collecting batteries from all over the world

My special interest has been Harry Potter for sixteen years (encyclopedic, the works). I guess it's more "normal" than the stereotypical trains or computers or whatever.

I don't spot trains, but some of my interests aren't typically feminine, either, and they usually say women on the spectrum will gravitate toward stuff like dolls, which I didn't. Instead, I have extensive knowledge of, and interest in, the sports card collecting hobby, which is 90-95% male per the last polling on Sports Card Forum. I also know tons about NBA and basketball in general, and I usually don't see sports among the usual interests listed for women on the spectrum. I also liked playing basketball when I was younger and got decent at it despite some slight dyspraxia and gross motor deficits. Honestly, I think I've gotten clumsier and more autistic as I've gotten older. When I was younger, it was harder to tell. I just appeared nerdy and tomboyish...

My interests have always been about dinosaurs, history, archecture, volcanoes, water Idk if that classifies as normal xD but I loooove video games and art those are my other interests

Books!! !

My special interest is sociology/psychology. Which I understand people from a psychology perspective, but I still can’t work out people’s motives are facial expressions. I do well enough that I function really well. I usallly get called ‘nice lady’ a lot.

I’m letting go of psychology and moving onto studying to be a personal trainer. My special interest are more socially acceptable.

When I was about 7, my interest was skeletons and reading about them. Reading was my biggest interest until I went to uni and had to read hundreds of articles about psychological topics. Sadly, reading isn't a big thing with me now like it once was.

Kumihimo (Japanese braiding) has had me a little obsessed, especially with collecting thread for it. I now have such a large amount - lots of different colours and types - that I have to restrain myself from buying more.

I gave it a good go recently with studying computers and programming but it never really grabbed me, though I like having the knowledge I got from it.

I've had many intense interests, some normal some not so much, but the only interest I have that I can call a special interest now is drawing and I suck even at that.