Aspie girls just wanna have fun?

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-- I am living proof that aspie girls like to retreat into their own fantasy worlds. I could not live without mine.
-- My interests have always involved fiction and/or animals in some way.
-- It's very rare that I lash out. Even as a child, I was never violent and I never objected to anything my parents told me.
-- I suppose my interest in vampires could be considered "morbid", especially since it contrasts so sharply with my sweet demeanor and bright clothing.
-- I find a great deal of comfort in obsessing over fictional characters. Rituals and compulsions mean nothing to me (especially since I was cured of OCD).

--Girl aspies are less likely to lack imaginative play. In fact, many female aspies retreat into make-believe worlds to escape from difficult social realities.

Mhmm. Very much the truth here. I've made up several imaginary worlds, and have retreated into other peoples', ones where I understood how things worked and I was well liked. Apparently at one point, I was thought to be detaching from reality and not knowing the difference between what was real and what was fantasy. I've always just seen my fantasy worlds as a way of holding me over until reality was nicer for a while.

--While boy aspies tend to become obsessed with science, technology, and math, the most common obsessions in girl aspies appear to be literature and animals.

Yup. I've always read a lot, ever since I learned, and obsessed over quite a few literary works (Animorphs and Harry Potter, to name a couple). And I've always had an obsession with cats - breeds of cats, drawing cats, all of that. I've obsessed over anime, political causes and various art forms as well, however.

--Boy aspies are easier to diagnose because they are more likely than girl aspies to lash out.

Not so true in this case. ; Yeah, I wasn't diagnosed, but man was I a fighter - still am. Usually verbally (I've always been known to put up a ferocious argument, something I was thankfully taught to do well by my parents), but sometimes physically as well - especially after prolonged periods of bullying or harassment where no one would listen to me or help.

--While boy aspies accept their lack of empathy as simply a boost to their capacity for logical thinking, girl aspies have a tendency to seek out emotional stimulation. Of course girls have the same autistic objectivity, but they are more likely to try to overcome it. This leads to many aspie girls having "morbid" interests (I have seen evidence of this on wrongplanet; no one has suggested a WP Auschwitz guys club, but the WP Auschwitz girls club, God forgive our irreverent souls, has five members). We whack ourselves over the head with tragedy to teach ourselves empathy.

This, if true, would certainly explain A LOT. I worried that it was sorta sick, the way I was drawn to the most screwed up people or characters in any given situation - that I liked them almost exclusively BECAUSE they were tragedy magnets, because they were alone and ostracized when what they needed most was a hug and acceptance. And I always just thought it had something to do with finding people I related to because they'd gone through things even remotely comparable to my own experience, and therefore thought I would understand them better than more "normal" and less damaged people.

--With boys, social difficulties are more likely to result from compulsions and rituals. With girls, the root of the problem is often obsessions, whether the focus is on pet subjects or people.

Definitely so. I don't have the set routines or ways of doing things that is often associated with AS, but I do tend to have obsessions, long and short, that I just sink into and don't think about anything else for a while.

Boy "aspies" won't lack imaginative play too, just FYI and all. It's Autism that has the pretend/imaginative play "difficulties" as children in the majority of cases.

The rest seems to be accurate to some extent in that there are differences between males and females, no matter their disorder or lack thereof (what she said is taken from Attwood, who is sometimes right, sometimes wrong).

Aspie girls sound really interesting.

I can't really comment other than to say as a male I seem to have many of the female traits and many of the male traits. I very rarely lashed out. I loved imaginative worlds (fantasy books,Star Wars) up until I was about 17 and then I transitioned into science fiction. I tend to have both obsessions and ritualistic behaviours. I'm interested in science, technology, animals and literature. I lack empathy and I;m not particularly interested in increasing this. I am not morbid at all.

Like Hector, I am very much in the girl camp. I have always disliked maths, technology logic etc. Dramas of the heart appeal so much more to me than blackboard and chalk.

I think I have a very strong feminine side. I have just completed writing a book which will be published in January which explores these themes in great depth.

Chris

My niece exhibits an obsessive interest in animals. It has become a routine for me to show her different animals on the internet. For a three year old who has difficulty articulating her feelings and desires, she has no problems learning words like hippopotamus or porcupine or rhinoceros. Her all time favorite is a video clip of a galloping giraffe which we have to watch every night. Her routine is fixed and she must do the same things every day. So long as the schedule is kept to, she is happy, pleasantly manageable and a naughty joy to be with. Disrupt the schedule and she becomes lost and disoriented. The tantrums become implacable and she will start to harm herself by doing things like hitting her head against the ground. From a very early age, she has showed very little interest in engaging with others. Although she will seek to imitate what other children do, she will not make a move to play with them. Nor will she always allow people into her ambit. For instance, watching animal videos is apparently something that is done at night, so during the day, in the morning for instance when she is brought over, she completely ignores me despite my attempts to catch her attention. Come nightfall, when it seems I have been slated to make an appearance in her tightly scripted schedule, she runs into my room and noisily insists on watching those same animal videos again and again.

How it came about that she would watch animal videos on my laptop is accidental. One evening she came in and wanted to see what I was doing. In my bid to entertain her, I showed her some animal pictures off the internet and she decided that this must happen every night. She is genuinely interested in these animals and a video of a baby elephant using its big stumpy feet to scratch its face really entertains her no matter how many times she watches it. Why is she so interested in these animals though?

That would explain about my childhood fascination with cancer (no one I knew had it...)

I'm glad something does.

I could comment, being a girl and having something of both AS and HFA and all. I fit none, so I won't comment on each individually. Just saying I didn't fit any of these as a kid.

Nevertheless, quite interesting.

I think it's got less to do with ASDs, but a lot with gender roles.

Some of typical and still very true gender stereotypes that can easily be observed in kindergarten, elementary school and secondary school are:

Boys rather build things, play physically, fight, girls try
Boys are into machines usually, girls into animals.
Boys are expected to not be crybabies, girls are allowed to be that and are encouraged to seek comfort.
Boys are into maths and logical problems, girls into languages and arts.
Boys have a lot more physical activity going on, girls grow into discussions, talking and thinking.

I see parents who treat their kids less according to demand of gender roles and the boys have developed some 'female qualities' (express emotions, care for others outwardly) and vice versa with girls.

Education and environment seem to have a very pronounced influence on a probable predispositions and the eventual development of gender roles.