AS in males vs. in females

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I've met aspie men and I've met aspie women, and even though I'm a guy I've discovered that my AS symptoms are more like those I see in women than those I see in men. For example, I saw the movie Adam a while ago, where the actor does a pretty good job of portraying what it's like to be a guy with AS, and I could identify with some of the things he had but not with others. But I know an aspie girl whose behavior is so much like my own that I cannot help thinking that I somehow got the "female version" of AS... I don't know if that makes sense.

What makes you think you have the "female version" of AS? how is it different from the "male version"? Could you maybe share some of the details?

I was hoping nobody would ask that because it's hard for me to describe. I'll think about it and see if I can put it into words.

AS women are more socially adept and less likely to have a single overwhelming special interest?

I am interested in many strange things, but I know better than to talk 'at' people about them. I'm more likely to spot a chance in a conversation to insert random facts from one of my interests but then let the conversation recover back to its original course. I think/hope I get away with it socially, but it fulfills my need to spout strange facts.

My few experiences of meeting a person with the same collection of very rare quirks I think of as my unique personality have been spooky. It makes it clear how much of my personality is a syndrome of austistic traits.

I don't know if it will help but I read this ( http://autism.lovetoknow.com/Symptoms_o ... r_Syndrome ) a little while ago, it says:

Asperger Symptoms in Girls

The Newsweek article, More Than Just 'Quirky' looks at the differences between boys and girls with Asperger's syndrome. The article notes that some experts believe that AS manifests differently in girls than it does in boys. Some experts suggest differences include:

•Fewer motor impairments
•Broader range of interests (though interests are unusually intense)
•Obsessions may not appear abnormal
•Drive to mimic others
•Cultural expectations are different for girls; shyness may be considered a positive trait
•Girls may tend to internalize feelings rather than acting out

No symptoms of Asperger's syndrome are specific to gender, but subtle differences can make the condition more difficult to detect in girls. Just as diagnosis can be challenging in girls, detecting AS in adults can be particularly tricky.

I suppose that would apply to me too. I have the female version of AS whatever. Doesn't matter really.

i was thinking about this earlier. Makes me agree with people that are for Nature in the Nature vs. Nurture argument.
If there is a syndrome that covers every single quirk and trait that I have, there is nothing left of me personality wise.... In a way it is depressing.

My personality is the product of an intellectual disorder.

me too.... i was reading the female asperger traits earlier this week and everything, including my clothing style and the way i approach men, is in it....
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_OJWZsdZiQSI/T ... 83e339.JPG

it's insane....i almost don't really exist.

I might have girly AS too.

i feel a personality crisis coming on!...
The way i talk, the way i feel, the clothes i wear, the interests, my affinity for trivia... its all just AS.
aaaah.. what is left of my personality after you subtract the AS part? Nothing
...this makes me want to study personalities... and figure out why people act like they do based on Nature. Not nurture.

'You' are the sum of your causes and conditions. In Buddhism this is called Anatta (no self)

It seems self negating, but It's actually liberating.

I don't really relate that much to the female version of AS except for internalizing and being perceived as shy which is "normal". I think it needs another name other than "female AS" because it makes me feel a bit alienated.

I don't see what's so different about that "female" list. Seems more like "not so incredibly stereotyped AS" to me.

Why would they be different in the first place?

I've felt the same way, honestly. It's mostly that I am pretty good at mimicking (at least until the conversation starts to get too personal--which for me is far sooner than for most people... that is, asking what I did on the weekend to me is too personal), my meltdowns manifest as crying like a baby rather than as temper tantrums--and I internalize a lot, and apparently selective mutism is more common in females than in males.

That said, they aren't really different at the root of it. It's just that different people have different responses to it.

Do I seem to have Male AS, or Female AS?

This is a bit frustrating for me. As for that list:

1. Some of the traits definitely fit me, but many fo the ones that fit me i can't see how they are distinct to women with AS, as they appear in men with AS too

2. There are a few that really don't apply to me--and again, many of those I see in men with AS too

3. Some of those aren't traits of a women with AS, but how society reacts to women with AS, so it's likely as influenced by society's bias toward women as it is influence by society;'s boas toward autism.

4. The list ignores the influences of the difference in how girls or raised as opposed to boys. If the way a society raises girls differently affects how a girls copes with having AS, causing her to have more support and understanding in certain things and less support and understanding in others, then she will develop differently from a boy with AS. But that DOESN'T make it a separate condition.