Male / Female AS traits?

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So, does anyone thing there are sex differences in the expression of AS?

As most diagnosed AS are male, there is either a sexual genetic component or it is expressed differently in females.

Both?

I know females are more social creatures in general. so maybe a nominal AS female would behave more normally... a random thought.

And what I'm looking for is, WHAT are they?

Do you see a correlation in sex, AS, and behavior anywhere?

Bland-Excellent question. I've wondered that myself. Females are usually more social, empathetic and relationally oriented than men. I seem to be more like a guy in alot of these areas and this causes problems in my friendships and marriage.

I think sometimes female Aspies might be better with social situations (still not good, but better) than many male Aspies. Though there's certainly people who don't fit with this, but I think generally this might be so.

Also, sometimes I've noticed (when mentioned on this site) that female obsessive interests might be different than those many of the male Aspies tend to get involved in. But again, this isn't true for everyone.

Female Aspies also tend to be more spiritual/religious than male Aspies.

As a female,I would say I am as far from the female-ASD steriotype as males are,but I do wonder whether the extreme male brain theory has anything to do with this,and the common gender differences,eg,if this was a definitive cause,would that mean less profoundly affected females were exposed to less male hormones (testosterone?),and would a unborn male be affected more by the same amount of hormone exposure by a less affected female because they have male orientated brains already...if that makes any sense?

Good question hermit.
I think I am social with people I am familiar with... to a point. I only generally have one friend at a time.. (right now between friends as my other one just moved)

But I don't behave socially like a NT. I find large gatherings unnerving. When I do go I just keep to myself, try to talk but cannot follow large conversations.. I just usually resign to not speak.

When speaking with friends I am analytical and logical rather than emotional, that is probably why they like pouring out all their woes to me.

I am empathetic to a point. When in person I usually don't know what to say or how to treact appropriately. I have just learned to say "How are you" and I am in my mid 30's
Or I don't recognize the body language to say what is the matter, or even care to say it sometimes.
But I am an empath in the manner that I can usually read a room (feeling wise) and have a sense about someones problems but not from the body language.. wierd.

I hope this answers some questions
Oh I am curious as how our obsessions are different than guys?

Caveat: I've only known about AS for one year, so my thoughts on this are still in early stages.
I think it's an excellent question.



I read, and I believe this, that little girls are more easily socialized, and little AS girls are even more shy and tend to blend into the background, doing well in school, so nobody notices there's a "problem". Also, right now in our culture there's a lot of attention being paid to ADD, which is more prevalent in boys, I believe, so they're the ones being taken in for diagnosis, and that would be when AS gets diagnosed. So my theory is that there are no more male aspies than females, just more DIAGNOSED males than diagnosed females.

As to how it's expressed differently, that's a tough question. There are a lot of things we all have in common and a lot of things we don't.

Socially girls probably have it a little easier than guys, and we probably tend to function a little better on this level. We may have fewer sexual issues because of this.

Our special interests may be different because of how we've been socialized or because some aspies are better with techie type stuff (boys) or with creative stuff (girls).

My female AS traits: I'll have to think about that and post later.

Mm... my female Aspie characteristics.

I very, very much dislike meeting new people. I have the bad habit of ignoring them and burying myself in a book if at all possible, because I'm hypershy. It's easier for me if I have friends with me at the time, though even with that situation I take awhile to warm up to someone. Of course, if they inadvertantly trigger one of my special interests, all bets are off.

It takes ages to be what I consider a friend, although once I do make a friend they tend to stick for ages and be very loyal. I almost always make a very small, very close network of friends. I also seem to be a fairly good judge of character in that I often can tell when someone is trying to trick me or lead me into something bad right off the bat. Maybe that's just cynicsm, though.

Even with my friends, I am very bad at comforting. Most of my attempts to venture into the World of Emotions end up badly, and I am not the one anyone goes to cry on, probably because I am calmly logical and not very soothing.

As for body language, I'm bad at it. I can't read it very well, but I have managed to figure out when someone is getting bored with the topic at hand and move on--a very good trait for me.

My obsessions, by the way, are dogs (which is something that I have had since at least a year old and is probably never going to die), linguistics, mythology (especially mythical animals like the catoblepas), and, interestingly enough, social dynamics and history. I think the interest in social systems and body language and such comes from the fact that since I don't get it well and I see it from the outside, I like to learn about them from the outside. Does that make sense?

(For the record, I'm fifteen. I'm not yet fully mature, and I don't delude myself about it. I definitely have a lot more skills I need to work on and/or acquire.)

And that is why autistic chicks are getting more action than males.

Who da thunk it.

Huh?

Another thing that has recently crossed my mind, is that perhaps the reason why girls are better at social situations is that they are forced to conform more than most AS males. Personally, I don't think there is an advantage for girls in social situations that AS males can't give themselves if they force themselves to conform.

Nothing, my dear. Inane ramblings.

Continue.

I agree with you. There is so much pressure on little girls to "get along". It comes from everywhere, but particularly from the other little girls. So I've learned a lot of social skills in my many years. I like to call them the "things I didn't learn in kindergarten"

So I would think you could do it too - force yourself and learn how.

Really? Maybe I'm just speaking from a guy perspective, but I always thought that girls were usually more likely to be accepted for who they are, and therefore would feel less pressure to conform. Let's put it this way - I've found that these days, it's generally considered acceptable, and in some cases desirable, for women to have personality traits associated with men. However, men who have decidedly feminine personality traits, or lack certain stereotypically masculine traits, will inevitably be looked down upon as sissies, wusses, and so on, and generally will not be seen as "real men". But again, this may just be a guy slant - perhaps "tomboys" go through more trouble than I really know.

How Male and Female Brains Differ

http://webcenter.health.webmd.netscape. ... 0000_ep_03

Scientists now know that sex hormones begin to exert their influence during development of the fetus. A recent study by Israeli researchers that examined male and female brains found distinct differences in the developing fetus at just 26 weeks of pregnancy. The disparities could be seen when using an ultrasound scanner. The corpus callosum -- the bridge of nerve tissue that connects the right and left sides of the brain -- had a thicker measurement in female fetuses than in male fetuses.

Observations of adult brains show that this area may remain stronger in females. "Females seem to have language functioning in both sides of the brain," says Martha Bridge Denckla, PhD, a research scientist at Kennedy Krieger Institute.


I am able to do more than one thing at a time, my hubby can't. I am very focused on a single thing and forget about everything else. I am not a social person, I hate crouds and don't know when to shutup. I have to tell myself to be quiet all the time when someone is talking, things just pop in my head and I speak at anytime.

I am agnostic. I also feel a room but cannot read people.

OMG girls are so hard to get along with. It's sooo hard to be accepted by other girls. At least that's been my experience. They're so catty and difficult and competitive. Being around a group of girls is one of the levels of my hell.