Re: Article~Girls on the Spectrum: Q&A with the Author of Aspergirls

[Guest guest]

Mark A. wrote:

> Fewer females are diagnosed than males. Some writers have speculated

> that each gender may express the symptoms differently.

Perhaps, but we also need to take the differences in male/female

socialization into account.

For the most part, girls are raised with an emphasis on personal

presentation, avoiding conflict, collaborating with and pleasing others,

and caring what others think of them. They get lots of feedback from

their peer group, allowing them to make ongoing course corrections in

their social behavior. While this emphasis doesn't always work in the

girl's best interests, it does make her more likely to be attuned to

social dynamics. The Aspie girl may still be socially 'odd' when

compared to her peers, yet her deficits may present as less extreme than

an Aspie boy's might.

Boys are typically socialized to be competitive and achievement

oriented, not collaborators and people-pleasers. They also don't tend

to benefit from quality peer group feedback that might improve their

social IQ. While there are many strengths in this approach, the Aspie

boy's social development can suffer as a result. Thus, he can lag

behind his peers in terms of grooming, hygiene, inappropriate public

behaviors, popular culture, and all those other little details that are

necessary to be accepted into one's peer group.

All of this is a very long way of saying that nature and nurture, once

entwined, can be very difficult to tease apart.

Best,

~CJ

[Guest guest]

Is Asperger syndrome really less common in girls and women, or are females just better than males at masking autistic symptoms?

Fewer females are diagnosed than males. Some writers have speculated that each gender may express the symptoms differently. As a result, some girls may be diagnosed with ADHD instead. However, the hard data is lacking. Psychiatric and psychological diagnosis

is still more art than science.

Other writers have argued that ADHD should be placed on the Autism spectrum. The problem with that approach is that some of the so-called " core " features of Autism are not required for a diagnosis of ADHD. In other words, if a word means everything, eventually

it may mean nothing.

There are other problems, as well. Most Autists, female and male, become less " Autistic " with age (nurture over nature). Women may, especially, have more difficulty getting a " retrospective diagnosis " than men. (I am just guessing.)

Personally, I was rediagnosed as an (so-called Asperger's) Autistic retrospectively - based partially on a re-evaluation of my early 1960s diagnosis of childhood schizophrenia. Today, I would come nowhere near the threshold.

For various reasons, mostly related to my work as a sociologist and a professor, I have started calling myself an emancipated Autist. That feels right to me these days. My guess is that many other Autists would find that label offensive.

---

Mark A. , Ph.D., sociology of religion, theory, and clinical sociology

Portal: http://markfoster.net * Critical realism:

http://structurization.com

Two books: http://bahaifaith.info * Clinical:

http://fosterservices.com

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