some reasons AS is diagnosed less in girls/women

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i was an awkward tomboy always in some kind of trouble although i didnt always understand why,i always was told i was just a very shy timid person ect ect and a cross between people coming up with excuses for the way i am and that that was the reason i hardly ever had any friends apparently. and untill now i have just gone along agreeing for some reason although i know im not shy when i get to know someone and am often getting pulled up for acting or being innapprropriate althpugh i do try to conform a bit for the sake of my kids

I think it has to do with social perceptions. NTs have a tendency to interpret lack of eye contact in girls as shyness, but the same behavior in boys can be seen as deviousness or even aggressiveness. If a girl screams if she's touched, she is much more likely to be seen as a sexual assault victim or molestation victim and treated as such. A boy who does this is much more likely to be seen as bizarre and noticed. He's also less likely to be treated correctly if he is a victim of molestation or sexual assault. If a boy is quiet, he can be quickly labeled as sullen, anti-social and potential "trouble" especially now with school shootings. If a girl is quiet, she's automatically assumed to be shy.

If a girl is into science more than dolls, she's a tomboy and she'll "grow out of it." If a boy is into the same things, he's a geek and needs to "toughen up."

If a girl is picked on, she's perceived as weak and often people think she needs to be defended (poor thing, she's so shy, etc.), but if a boy is picked on then there must be something "wrong" with him. I'm not saying that's always true, but it's true often enough to make a difference.

There's also tremendous social pressure on girls to sit up straight, smile, look people in the eye, talk to the girls, play dolls, play jump rope, etc. If she doesn't, most adults see her as shy and they work very hard to bring her into line with the other girls. Boys don't have this overwhelming attention to "conform" in that way (although they have other expectations to conform including join sports, act like a boy, etc.). Boys are often left to "act like boys" so when they hit the same socializing problems, they are much more overt because they haven't had that barage of "social inculcation" from the time of being a toddler to make them conform and give a less overt reaction. Boys punch, girls cry. So if a boy is goaded into punching and it becomes an everyday or every hour thing, he's going to get attention focused on him resulting in being diagnosed. If a girl cries all the time, she's overly sensitive or maybe she's a victim of child abuse, etc. but rarely do they associate that with AS, especially if she's been drummed into acting the way a girl should.

I think it can present differently, but I also think the social perceptions of the same symptoms and the way society treats them from birth causes big differences that lead to one being diagnosed more than the other.

Just my thoughts and of course there are going to be exceptions to this like everything.

Zanne

Some reasons could be

Shyness being more acceptable
Girls are more able to mask their poor social skills or adapt better
Traits are more mild/less noticeable

I was a shy kid and I still am and never was diagnosed, but showed some signs of AS when I was younger. My parents did realize something was wrong because I had poor motor skills. The doctors did some tests, determined I had hypotonia (now I've learned this could be related to AS and or Dyspraxia), but did mention I might have been slightly autistic, but they never looked into it for reasons I don't know.

I was certainly a weird kid, never felt on the same wavelength as my peers. I did some things then that still puzzle me to this day, but now I realize they could have been quirks related to AS.

I do think it's considered more acceptable for girls to be into reading and daydreaming than it is for boys.

Where I had difficulty was once women were expected to start wearing makeup and do a lot of social politicking. I'm in my late 20s and still don't know very much about how women create all these images of themselves and put them on display. I don't know how to do a lot of those things. Sometimes I think the world is a stage for a lot of women, and it isn't for me.

Pressures about being a "normal" female have been very destructive for me, especially since I didn't grow up in a middle-class environment. A lot of people have difficulty with women who say what they mean and are work-focused and have strong personal interests. For example, I hate cleaning the house when I am working on a project.

Ha! Me too. I just wrote a book over the past month and the hoovering didn't get done until I had printed my first draft to proof. But it is the summer holidays here and I no longer feel guilt about stupid stuff letting the housework slip a little. Neither my husband or my cats mind if the floor needs a hoover, though once I finish a project I really enjoy putting the house back together and making it all clean and tidy

I think with AS boys tend to turn it outward and girls inward. Aggression is much easier to spot than anorexia for instance.

Im doing a literature review at the moment on this and if you like i could post it on here when its finnished (or on my blog any way). The latest research seems to show that (most AS people not all) AS is passed on on the X and Y chromosomes so that girls need both parents to be carrying it where as boys just need one. This would make there be less girls with AS and if you have it your likely to miss diagnoses as if your a boy whos mother is NT the teachers and psychologists will say "well your a good mother and a nice family- it must be AS" where as if both parents have AS the teachers and psychologists are likely to say " oh its behavoural just look at the parents/ mother" also if both parents have it they are unlikely to notice anything wrong- my dad stimmed like mad he was hardly going to think it odd that I did. a good site to look at is sage publications "autism journal" but im not sure if it is accessable to the public, its great anyway and shows the origional papers of studies.