Correlation: ASD - Gender

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Most of you probably know the theory of ASD being more common in men because testosterone could trigger that and that theory also says that women and men with ASD most likely have it, because when they were still developing in the mother's womb, they had a higher dosage of testosterone than it should normally be (for whatever reason).
I don't have the statistics in mind anymore concerning the ratio women:men with autism.

My first question would be:
What are your thoughts on that theory?

My second question would be:
Could this "overdose" be a reason why people with autism tend to struggle with their gender identity, or are homosexual, bisexual or asexual more often than NTs?
(This is by no means meant in a negative way, but to me it seems like people with ASD tend to be one of the above more often than NTs, of course I can be terribly mistaken as well.)

Now, the testosterone-theory trying to explain the correlation of ASD and gender doesn't sound all that unplausible, but since I have been browsing these forums, I have been asking myself if that could really be correct.
I know this forum is not a very meaningful source as not all autists in the world are registered here, but if I take a look around, it doesn't really seem to me as if there are just a few women and many men, it seems pretty balanced out from my point of view (once again, this is how I perceived it so far, I could be mistaken).

I am not all that familiar with differences of women with an ASD and men with an ASD concerning the most common symptoms, but women (in general) usually tend to be more emotional than men and in one of Tony Attwood's books I read that women with ASD also tend to be more able to mask that than men, so they are just perceived as introverted, shy or things alike.
Could it be that most of them are just not being recognized as autists and there are actually about just as many women as men with ASD? Recognizing an ASD is not always easy after all, especially if the person developed tactics to hide it.

My third question is:
What is your point of view on that possibility?

And my fourth question is:
If you think that it could be quite balanced but women just tend to be less often diagnosed, do you think there should be individual diagnosis criteria for both genders?
(As far as I'm concerned they are the same for both, men and women after all - or am I wrong?)

Of course, answering the questions is absolutely optional, you are not forced to answer any of those if you don't want to.


Because I was curious, I have made a poll with the question whether you are male or female, just to get an idea if my perception of the representation of both genders (at least on this forum) is somewhat right or absolutely wrong.
You are allowed vote if you are suspected to have an ASD or are self-diagnosed, of course.

My response to all the questions is...

Most of the studies are flawed by assumptions that there is only male or female, they need to factor in that Trans/Intersex people such as myself are Trans/Intersex based on neurological and/or physical differances just the same as
Autistics and NT's... just fundementals of being human.

They wont find a cure for Autism because there is no cause beyond what we tell them.

I just believe women tend to be naturally social, interested in social and interpersonal issues...hence less women being diagnosed?

Is it wrong to think this?

I'm somewere on the autism spectrum and I'm (female-to-male) transgender.

I do think that there is something there. One of the earliest emotions that was not native to me that I learned was embarrassment. I was in an all-boys preschool class (although I didn't know I wasn't one then) and I kept saying ridiculous things; my first official memory of embarrassment as a concept was the shouting of the word "blood!" at three. They made me the weirdo from that moment. Oh, well. But then I hit kindergarten and they sent me off with the girls, who promptly declared that I didn't belong because "You're not one of us." I tried to go back to the boys, but they rejected me as well (but far more logically?). Boys seemed more natural. I think that the trans and autistic journeys can dovetail, yes. I wish the Asperger's/Autistic diagnoses were better understood in my youth. There are so many complications: I am trans, but am not lying when I say male. But I can't lie. So explain that to my insurance company!

I'm female. Not transgender.

It is quite interesting to see I'm not the only one thinking that the research done may very well be flawed or one-sided and that it would need more focus on certain other aspects. I held back my opinions on the topic because I didn't want to influence your answers, but I guess I'll comment on it too now.

The fact that the diagnosis is often left out could have to do with the very core of the discovery of autism. As far as I know, the "testing subjects" were usually always male children. Even Hans Asperger studied four boys. That way the focus was probably put too much on the child-age/"original" status (of Asperger-autists at least) and the male gender, in other words:

Heh, what a nasty typo!
These forums could benefit from a multiquote feature, that would make multiple quotes in one post each referencing the authors much easier than having to copy-paste each quote into one post separately or adding the author's name manually.
I always did it right the other times, I was even very sure I wrote m and not w. What's the lesson? Always tripple-check your posts when tired. People use to say mistakes and flaws make a person more sympathic, I hope this made me sympathic.

Yeah I believe that too. Women have the ability to "HIDE" AS better than men can because they are already socially conditioned.