Extreme male brain theory: do you believe in it?

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drchcat85
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20 Feb 2015, 6:11 pm

While ASD occurs both in males and females, I don't agree with the extreme male brain. In fact, "autistic" brain is an overspecialized brain in some areas that differs from person to person. I feel I have an extreme female brain. I did the SQ and EQ that showed me that I am an overempathizer. At faces test I responded correctly at all items. This seems that my oversystemizing is oriented on social domain. My "femaleness" is also due to my mood swings, high emotion, sensory issues, childlike behavior and my attraction to study of psychology.


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20 Feb 2015, 7:38 pm

Just from what I have seen here and support groups I think it might be a sub category that describes some Autistics.


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21 Feb 2015, 4:00 pm

This male brain/female brain thing is dumb. I am a male, more visual than emotional, but is live the color pink, and like jewelry as we'll.


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21 Feb 2015, 6:49 pm

...Hmmm.........



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21 Feb 2015, 7:26 pm

Maybe some autistic people have an "extreme male" brain, but generally I think it's BS on all levels. I've written quite a bit on how I think it's nonsense.

Verdandi wrote:
aspi-rant wrote:
distribution of the empathizing and systemizing scores of NT-males, NT-females and aspies:


I wonder if there are traits where autistic people would test more like "extreme female" than anything else. I wouldn't be surprised if there were.


Same, I want to do a massive inventory of NT males, NT females, autistic females, and autistic males, isolate some factors which both women and autistic people tend to score higher on, then contrive my test from those factors which "proves" autism is an extreme female brain. :P


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22 Feb 2015, 2:09 am

I think it's a stupid theory. I don't care about cars, or science, or space exploration or any other supposedly "male-brained" interest.



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22 Feb 2015, 2:10 pm

Well I ain't no manly man I will tell you that. I don't have huge muscles and I definitely have a low manly voice. I'm the guy you'd pick last in a basketball pick-up game and the guy you'd least expect to get all the ladies. I am the definition of unmanly. But when I drink me some mountain dew, I am a god among men.

Hey that should be a commercial.



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22 Feb 2015, 5:41 pm

quaker wrote:
most of these 'specialists'are more black and
white in their thinking than we are.

I am naturally left brain and right brain
combined.....

I am a systemizer and empathizer


Almost totally agree, though I would change your "most" to "some". I have often wondered if Simon Baron-Cohen is on the spectrum and aware of it (or possibly in denial, though more probably aware of it). His fixations and the black and white statements he has made during his career suggest that to me..



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22 Feb 2015, 5:54 pm

MyWorld wrote:
Personally I dont, otherwise females with ASD will act very manly and most of them will be lesbians. I noticed that there are some homosexual males who happen to have ASD here on WP. Although I can see where the theory comes from being that those with ASD often have trouble with language and tend to do well in areas that require technological areas rather than language areas. Also, with the whole socializing where in society it seems that women are expected to be good at socializing even though NT men are just as good. I never saw it as males being less adept at socializing than women. Also, with the sensory issues that most people with ASD have, I don't see what it has to do with being a male at all.

Sorry if its sounds like I'm trolling, but I promise I'm not


There was a study that found females with AS had brains more similar to NT males, and males with AS had brains which were more feminine. I believe my brain is likely more similar to that of a male, though not as much as it used to be.

Sexuality is not necessarily integrated with other aspects of brain sex. I myself am not attracted to women, nor are most of the women that I have met with AS, none of whom were very girly in an NT sense.

While it's difficult to determine brain sex of groups of individuals, if we look at those who identify as transgendered, with an interest in becoming transexual, with the assumption that at least some of those individuals do have a brain sex which conflicts their genetic and phenotypical sex, we find that most male's who identify as female are heterosexual in that they are attracted to females...the normative attraction of their biological sex, yet most females who identify as male are homosexuals and are attracted to females.

I should also state that just because a female has a more "masculine" brain or a male has a more "feminine" brain, does not mean that person identifies as transgendered. As others have stated, it isn't so much about how one feels about themselves and their identity, but the functioning of the brain as far as systemizing, and handling information and so on.

All in all, brain sex, sexuality, and gender identity are still fairly poorly understood subjects.



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22 Feb 2015, 6:04 pm

Barchan wrote:
I think it's a stupid theory. I don't care about cars, or science, or space exploration or any other supposedly "male-brained" interest.


It's not so much about what you care about but how your brain deals with information and navigates the world.

Out of curiosity, what things do you care about?



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22 Feb 2015, 6:18 pm

MyWorld wrote:
Personally I dont, otherwise females with ASD will act very manly and most of them will be lesbians. I noticed that there are some homosexual males who happen to have ASD here on WP. Although I can see where the theory comes from being that those with ASD often have trouble with language and tend to do well in areas that require technological areas rather than language areas. Also, with the whole socializing where in society it seems that women are expected to be good at socializing even though NT men are just as good. I never saw it as males being less adept at socializing than women. Also, with the sensory issues that most people with ASD have, I don't see what it has to do with being a male at all.

Sorry if its sounds like I'm trolling, but I promise I'm not


Science is NOT about whether anyone "believes" in it.

Belief is not relevant.

What DOES matter is if a theory is well-supported by evidence and that the Scientific Method has been rigorously apply to it.



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22 Feb 2015, 7:10 pm

It's not well thought out hypothesis. Unfortunately for it, transgenderism has already cornered the market on "Male/Female brain", it has actual hard data to back it up and from more credible sciences. While it's true that a lot of Autistic people are gender queer, they land all over the spectrum; left, right, center, up, down. According to Baron-Cohen's logic, there would be a hard emphasis on one end of the spectrum and Autistic transwomen would be extremely rare.

These are one of those cases where Psychology is showing its age in a world that demands harder sciences and has the technology to meet those demands.



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23 Feb 2015, 1:50 am

I believe if autistics had an extreme male brain we would love watching sports & socializing at clubs


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23 Feb 2015, 1:54 am

slave wrote:
MyWorld wrote:
Personally I dont, otherwise females with ASD will act very manly and most of them will be lesbians. I noticed that there are some homosexual males who happen to have ASD here on WP. Although I can see where the theory comes from being that those with ASD often have trouble with language and tend to do well in areas that require technological areas rather than language areas. Also, with the whole socializing where in society it seems that women are expected to be good at socializing even though NT men are just as good. I never saw it as males being less adept at socializing than women. Also, with the sensory issues that most people with ASD have, I don't see what it has to do with being a male at all.

Sorry if its sounds like I'm trolling, but I promise I'm not


Science is NOT about whether anyone "believes" in it.

Belief is not relevant.

What DOES matter is if a theory is well-supported by evidence and that the Scientific Method has been rigorously apply to it.


Yes it is, at least for applications. If no one believes scientific theories had any validity, no one would apply them. People believe things, deal with it.


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23 Feb 2015, 9:43 am

While I love watching and playing hockey, that's about the only stereotypical male interest I have. I generally feel more comfortable around women and while I am very straight, if I was given the opportunity to magically become a straight female I would probably take it. Like I've said previously this is not a case of gender confusion: I have always been aware of being male and have always been attracted to the beautiful feminine form. I can't speak for any other Aspie males but they tend to present themselves as more feminine with more female friends (and the reverse applies to the Aspie females). I should point out that most goalies like me are probably somewhat Aspie and guess what, we are seen as the oddball ones (referees generally like us though :lol: )

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23 Feb 2015, 9:53 am

Didn't read responses here, but I don't believe this nonsense at all.

I am extremely empathetic, emotional, etc. Yet, I have a lot of traits that resemble autism. A lot of the time, I act as if I don't have feelings because I just feel so overwhelmed.

Male brain nonsense. BS. Males, females, these gender roles are created by society. It is dumb to use these roles to identify mental abnormalities Dumb.