Do you feel like a man?

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Is it common for people with autism spectrum disorders to feel like they are no gender or of the other gender?

I am 25 and I've always felt more like a boy/guy than a girl/women.

I have only been in lesbian relationships, never dated a guy, kissed, held hands or anything with a guy. Not interested at all. I've tried to be more feminine, grew my hair, dressed differently but it was just not natural for me.

yes. we are more fluid in gender identity.

in answer to the question of the post, I feel like me, and I've been taught by society that 'me' is typically more male in some ways (facial expressions/ body language or lack thereof) in some ways than most women. I'm fine with it but I'm definitely not a 'typical female'.

I have huge problem with all the clothing, makeup and lotions that are supposed to make you look and feel "young and beautiful" They usually make ME feel uncomfortable and disgusting! Lace is rough and scratchy, satin is cold, slippery and almost slimy, and don't even get me started on pantyhose. I loathe the feel of anything oily, greasy, gritty or powdery on my skin which is what how most makeup feels. I hardly ever wear it and when I do it's usually just some lipsick and blush. When I was a teenager I didn't get why other girls wanted to wear makeup when I put it on I thought it made me look worse. I hardly ever wear dresses or skirts, I don't even like short pants. It's not that I don't want to dress feminine at all but I think being comfortable is much more important. That's why you'll usually see me wearing loose jeans, a T-shirt with a cartoon on it and a pair of sneakers that's actually built for someone who spend most of her time walking. But yeah, sometimes I feel that I look or act too masculine, especially since I was a bit more girly before I hit adolescence. Sigggghhhh.

I've been reading some of the other replies and noticed that a lot of women say they feel like both genders or neither gender. Well I think everyone has both a masculine and a femenine side but one side usually dominates the other. No woman is 100% femenine no man is 100% masculine (that's right you guys ). Anyway why are we so worked up over this, it's the 21st century and we shouldn't be letting society brainwash us with their outdated stereotypes. My mom, who's been happily married to my dad for almost 40 years, is the boss of a scrap recycling plant and she told me it doesn't make her any less of a woman because her job is "not femenine". I wish I could be as secure as she is...

Remember when I mentioned being a bit more girly when I was younger in my last post? Well when I was really young I once went through a phase where ALL I wanted to wear were dresses. In the summer I even wanted to wear them when swimming at the beach but my mom managed to to convince me that a bathing suit was better. I think around the time I started school I noticed other girls wearing pants and I didn't think they looked like boys, which I was afraid I did. So I accepted pants into my life. And when I became a teenager I couldn't stand to wear them. Funny how people change as they grow up...

I've always felt more masculine on the inside, than whatever feminine is supposed to mean. I can easily dress feminine, and often enjoy it on special occasions. I do tend to come across as non-feminine, if refusing to grin like an idiot when a man speaks to me is a good example. Since starting a new relationship, I find that my smiles are spontaneous and genuine, because I really like my guy; I like every inch of his very hairy, masculine body, his awesome brain power, and his sensitive, caring, feminine, "insides." So, my internal man loves his internal woman. Awesome!

exactly...If I could be born again I would rather be born male although i dress pretty old fashioned feminine I think like a guy i think...I'm 50 percent female 50 percent male.i also hate the limitations even now that I seem to get as a girl...

I'm doing post-grad research on cross-gender identification in young children, and there have been some reports that children with autism are over-represented in clinical populations of children diagnosed with "Gender Identity Disorder". A clinic in the Netherlands has reported that 6% of their patients also have and ASD, and 10% of child patients at a clinic in Canada were also diagnosed with PDD. These are only preliminary reports but it seems that it is common for children diagnosed with GIDC to also have and ASD. It's not clear whether the reverse is true.

When I was a child, I was afraid that if I did not wear a dress, people would think I was a little boy. I felt more like a little boy, and still haven't entirely taken to being female (though I am heterosexual and really like men). Being someone who believes in reincarnation, I believe I have past life memories of being a young boy in another part of the world during a time of conflict in which I was imprisoned and murdered. This is information that came to me through recurring dreams I had as a child, stuff that I don't think kids' subconscious minds go around making up out of thin air.

Anyhow, yes, in short, I DO feel like a man much of the time (and have been known to comment that given my personality, I believe my life would be easier and I would gain more acceptance from others if I were actually sporting the physiological equipment to match) but am working towards being more comfortable being a woman.

~IslandAspie~

As far as I have seen I was male in all my past lives so it is quite confusing at times to be female but I am comfortable with it now. I was much less so as a child and was very upset at being female I have a similar experience when coming out of a hypnotherapy session and getting back into my female body. That may have been way out here for some of you but my past life memories have been present and influenced me since I was a child.

I don't feel like a man, but I've been told I have a lot of masculine personality traits, whatever THAT means. I look very feminine, and I'm comfortable in my own body (when I'm not getting sensory-overloaded, but that's another story), but I guess I don't assign gender to personality traits. I don't exactly know what ppl mean when they say that, and when I ask they give some vague answer that I don't really get....usually having to do with my "direct" manner. But why is that considered masculine?
~Kate

I don't have a typical gender identity and I don't really feel like I fit in with either gender. However, I usually feel more like a man than a woman and much of the time I think of myself as a man, although I am biologically a woman.

I never was little sweetie, weak, high-voiced girl. I don't feel with girls like one of them, but like I was a bodyguard. But I don't want to be a man. Being tall, strong, alto-voiced is not enough reason to convert to man. Who said every girl must be little sweetie in pink dress?

I'm not sure what feeling like a man means, there are so many different ways to be a man. But I conceive of myself as a man with female anatomy. I make more sense that way. I don't think of myself as having much to do with straight, cisgender women. They confuse me more than anyone else. I know people who are transguys, but I don't have that same yearning for surgery or hormones. I'm just a guy with breasts.

WOW. Yes. That's how I feel. Exactly. On the nose.

As a child I used to feel as if I was born in the wrong body but I also felt as if I was born the wrong species.