Fraternal twins and autism

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It seems that some studies prove that the level of testosterone during pregnancy may be responsible for autism.
I remind you that I have not been diagnosed but I still wonder if being a fraternal twin increase the odds of developing autism when there is at least one boy.

Why ?

Because some studies about dizygotic twins (female / male) "proved" that girls who have a twin brother have been infected with the testosterone of their brother during the pregnancy. It is supposed to make them less desirable and attractive and have less chances of getting married.

I actually feel that, in a way, I've been infected by a higher than normal level of testosterone during my mother's pregnancy for some reasons (I believe I'm quite hairy for a girl my father said it was related to testosterone level...) but I don't care whether it will prevent me from being loved by a boy... Especially since I'm bisexual... (which could have a hormonal reason according to some studies)... Anyway...

I wonder if being one of a boy/boy fraternal twin set or one of a girl/boy set may increase the odds of having autism and if the girl has more odds of developping it than the boy though boys are usually more affected by this disorder.

"Infected with testosterone"?

Is being male a disease to you?

No but that the words they used in the studies so I used them too

Who wrote the study, Gloria Steinem?

I denounce the study as mere sexist propoganda, as evidenced by the use of phrases like, "Infected with testostereone."

I actually have no idea, a friend summarized it for me as she thought I would be interested. Sexism isn't what shocked me first, I didn't understand why female fraternal twins should be less fertile and all, especially since some of them have many kids and even twins themselves... I think this study was pretty old or based on old datas. My friend reported to me that it was writtent that they used datas of another century (18th ?) because nowadays a lot of twins are born because of fertility drugs or IVF. I still don't see how that could change the datas and how IVF twins wouldn't be "affected" by testosterone the same way as "natural" twins and guess this study is as uncertain as many other studies but I wonder I still wonder if having a fraternal twin brother or being a fraternal twin (male / male, female / male) could have anything to do with autism.

I once dated a guy who was a fraternal twin.
He was for all practical purposes an NT ( a highly organized, somewhat anal-retentive NT with obsessive tendancies who rocked himself to sleep in a stimmy sort of way)...but socially...NT...

He was alot smaller and somewhat more feminine and artsy than his very conservative and much larger twin brother...(also NT)

The reason this study used old data was because nowadays with birth control methods it is difficult to measure fertility - back then the majority of women who were fertile would have had as many children as they could, whereas now a lot of personal choice and family planning is involved which makes the fertility data unreliable.

I am an aspie girl with an NT twin brother, and I'm with you with the whole aspie twins thing. For multiple reasons... I personally believe the whole testosterone thing, although I have high cheek bones etc, I still think it is a possibility. Also, twins are a much highwr risk pregnancy, so I think it reasonable to say that twins are more likely to have neurological differences than NTs. Also, someone was saying that x chromosomes shield from Autism while y chromosomes do not, so maybe having a twin brother breaks that shield. The thing I find strange about some of these instances is that our brothers are NTs (as far as we know). Well, all in all, I know for a fact that many twin girls and twins in general are aspies, so there must be a reason!

Boy part of a girl/boy twin couple here. I had the luck of the umbilical cord wrapped around my neck... My sister is diagnosed with bipolar, I think her social skills are better than mine hands down (at least, they were once). For some unknown reasons, her mental state proved to be less stable than mine so far. There are some facts that might be the reason behind her strange behavior, but I don't see the whole picture. If I only had the social skills of hers... But then I wouldn't be myself...

She has some boyish traits, and I have some feminine. I don't know if it can be attributed to pre natal events.

Twin pregnancies also tend to cause more fetal stress; and difficult pregnancies are associated with an increased risk of autism. Now, it's only a few percent--the really big cause is genetic--but it seems likely that a difficult pregnancy, such as that caused by sharing the uterus with your twin, is enough to tip some people from barely-not-autistic and onto the spectrum proper.

Incidentally, I'm an identical twin; but my twin died at five months gestation. We shared a placenta, which is how I know we were identical (and thus of the same gender). My best guess as to cause of death is probably twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome due to a "leaky" placenta; I was lucky to get away with only minor heart problems.

I may had a vanishing twin. I'm not sure, when my mum was pregnant of me, at first glance doctor tough she was pregnant of two twins. I don't know, honestly.

I'm part of a fraternal twin, both male. My brother and I are not alike. He is the social one, I am more like a "hermit". My development before birth was bad, after that also. Mostly my lack of social skills could be attributed to spending to much time in an incubator after birth (is incubator realy the word for that? I mean a small glass box were babies stay in sometimes). In my time that meant almost no human contact. Sometimes that is asociated with problems with social skills. Also medice use after birth may have played a role. For the hormonal issue, I guess that could be true. Espacially because I was underdeveloped, maybe hormones may have had an even bigger influence.