What are some specific characteristics of girls/women with

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Ryn
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22 Sep 2008, 12:17 am

release_the_bats wrote:
The way I've heard it explained is that girls are often "little philosophers" while boys are "little professors", but I don't know if I agree with that.

Anyway, apparently, there is not much (if any?) research on the subject.


Wow, if this is true then I'm right in the mold. I've always been like that. My majors in college are English Writing and Psychology, with a minor in Women's Studies. I have always thought about stuff like philosophy and things.


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22 Sep 2008, 9:47 am

This isn't quite answering the question, but I've noticed women on the spectrum talk more on forums like this one than women not on the spectrum do on other forums. Normally women let men do most of the talking in public, but we charge right in. Clearly a deficiency in social understanding. :wink:

Female autistic compared to male autists: most likely we have more stereotypically feminine interests as a group compared to males. Duh.

Also, I suspect that we are better writers compared to male autists. Has anyone noticed that most of the famous people on the spectrum, especially those who have written books, are female? Female brains are less lateralized for language than male brains, so it's possible the deficits show a different pattern than in males.



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22 Sep 2008, 10:18 am

LostInSpace wrote:
ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo wrote:
pandd wrote:
One article I have come across indicates girls are more likely to engage in apparently imaginative play (for instance incorporating themes like princesses, unicorns) according to the anecdotal experience of the author.


WOW I cannot believe that. When I was little I was completely obsessed with princesses, horses, unicorns, Pegasus. Never knew why exactly.


Aren't all little girls?


I always knew I was extraordinarily odd.

I liked best playing with Lego and of course: playing fighting! With sticks or fists or kicking, whatever.

I hated pink, hated horses, hated princesses hehe


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sunshower
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22 Sep 2008, 10:19 am

pandd wrote:
One article I have come across indicates girls are more likely to engage in apparently imaginative play (for instance incorporating themes like princesses, unicorns) according to the anecdotal experience of the author.

Other literature I have read indicates that females are more likely to be better 'social mimics' (ie they might laugh if others in a group laugh, or hang back and copy-alongside others when they do not understand long lists of instructions (for instance during classroom tasks).

Girls as a group are speculatively suggested as being more passive and less prone to 'acting out' when their problems do not receive attention. There is some suggestion that where a male might dig in and throw temper-tantrums and refuse to cooperate (thus forcing the point where their sensory/routine etc issues are concerned), girls might be more inclined to submit and 'grin and bear it', with resulting negativity turned inward rather than outward.

I've also read that some experts have speculated that females as a group have a higher propensity toward 'soft science' interests, for instance languages, literature, sociology, history/historic figures, individual persons, than do males as a group.

Over-all, there is some anecdotal evidence, and opinions inferred by 'experts' on the basis of their experience, but ultimately not a lot is actually known from comprehensive or robust study/research. It's an area that needs urgent investigation in my view.


I think that's an interesting perspective because as a girl with aspergers I did find that I always directed the blame internally and took things passively, which eventually caused me to have a real problem with self-hate.


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22 Sep 2008, 10:42 am

For me it was unicorns, pegasus, castles, etc. However, I hated all things typically girly!! ! I could never relate to a princess as a child. I can remember playing with tonka trucks, hotwheel & matchbox cars, or other typical boy stuff. I also loved being physical...bike riding running, roller skating, skate boarding (I was alone in that activity, no other girls cared for it back then), etc. Despised dolls, jump rope (too uncoordinated anyway), playing house, or any other typical girl activity. They bored me to tears, no matter how hard anyone tried to encourage me.


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22 Sep 2008, 11:51 am

The little philosopher suits me as a child.


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ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo
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22 Sep 2008, 12:12 pm

Sora wrote:
LostInSpace wrote:
ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo wrote:
pandd wrote:
One article I have come across indicates girls are more likely to engage in apparently imaginative play (for instance incorporating themes like princesses, unicorns) according to the anecdotal experience of the author.


WOW I cannot believe that. When I was little I was completely obsessed with princesses, horses, unicorns, Pegasus. Never knew why exactly.


Aren't all little girls?


I always knew I was extraordinarily odd.

I liked best playing with Lego and of course: playing fighting! With sticks or fists or kicking, whatever.

I hated pink, hated horses, hated princesses hehe


You know, now that I think about it, I liked all kinds of themes. Not just the Princess themes. I had a fascination with racetracks. I wanted Hot Wheels or Matchbox racetracks but my mom didn't like those because, she said they had too many small pieces that could get lost. I also liked Lincoln Logs. My favorite of all were the Lincoln Logs although my mom wouldn't get those either, she said they were too expensive. I liked Legos too, but Mom used same excuse not to buy those.
One particular thing I can remember being fascinated with was making a castle out of a cardboard box. I had a book with instructions and I obsessed on that. When I tried to make my own it didn't look as nice as the one in the book and I remember being disappointed about that.
I would dream about building things but would get very frustrated when I tried and the end product had too many flaws.



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22 Sep 2008, 12:24 pm

I had no interest whatsoever in princesses and unicorns. I loved Lego and Jigsaw Puzzles. I was generally pretty bad at maths (had a problem with some things while being exceptionally good at others, like geometry) but always found it easy to learn languages and write.

from what I've noticed the most striking difference lies in social skills and empathy, girls definately show more talent in that field than the boys...


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ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo
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22 Sep 2008, 12:26 pm

I LOVE jigsaw puzzles, even now:)



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22 Sep 2008, 12:30 pm

ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo wrote:
I LOVE jigsaw puzzles, even now:)


same here :D


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22 Sep 2008, 12:41 pm

SeaBright wrote:
outrageous beauty and maddening charisma.

:D :lol: :D :wink: :lol:

Like a really good drag act.
.



Last edited by ouinon on 23 Sep 2008, 2:03 am, edited 1 time in total.

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22 Sep 2008, 1:37 pm

This is very interesting.
When coming up for reasons why I could be Aspergers and other reasons why I couldn't be, one of the reasons I couldn't be was that I always liked English and Psychology, and I thought that if I really had Aspergers then I should like maths and science. I guess that reason is gone.
Also, I've always loved going in to my imagination.
I've never been particularly girly either.


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Ryn
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22 Sep 2008, 3:46 pm

I wasn't very girly as a child either. I was very energetic and messy. I could never keepy my clothes nice.

I wasn't really big into princesses and things, though I liked them well enough. Sailor Moon was my big obsession, but even before then I loved to play fight. I always pretended I was a Power Ranger.


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22 Sep 2008, 9:50 pm

I was not very girly either. I recall normal girls as seeming as an entirely different entity from me...mysterious and fascinating..but nothing like me...this was when I was really little....But I knew i was not a boy, and boys seemed like something else too. I was really androgynous until shortly after I hit puberty. In all the pictures of me when I was really little, I looked like a boy. this was partially exacerbated by my (very asish) mom, who dressed me in gender-neutral clothes and I had a gender-neurtral haircut. I looked a bit like the little boy from the Shining. I did have pretend-play, and alot of the characters I pretended to be were male...but some were female..I would go from pretending I was Indiana Jones to Strawberry Shortcake in one swoop..(this was when I was a wee bit older and slightly more aware that I was a girl...



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23 Sep 2008, 1:15 am

"There may still be too little attention for the gender-specifical side of autism. Asperger (1944) indicates that not only do boys present with autism more often than girls, but that the picture also is not so strong. He had the impression that autism presented itself in women more sharply with ageing, as if the autism would only in ageing reach full growth in women. We cannot name any research which indicates differences in the nature of autism between men and women, as Asperger did, but in our own experience we have also come across a similar picture, we are then discussing women of normal to above-average intelligence. In women, there is more often a case of severe mental handicap. [...]
The adult autistic women we have experienced ourselves, appear more 'undone', more crippled over a wide range, while the disorder in men seems more focused on the specific area of social interaction."

From:
Martine F. Delfos, Een vreemde wereld [...]; 7th edition (2008)
p. 106, my translation

The book is available in translation (A Strange World [...])

sorry girls, but i am interested in the subject & lurking


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poopylungstuffing
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23 Sep 2008, 1:33 am

It seems as though the developmental issues I was experiencing as a child were simply not defined or addressed, (at leased not with me).....but I am pretty sure they were visible. I got better as I got older in alot of ways....though I do have alot of dysfunctions as an adult...more than some and less than others...but they do make their mark.