What are some specific characteristics of girls/women with

Post Reply New Topic

Tony Atwood claims that girls with AS tend to not have as eccentric of "special interests." The topic is "normal," but the intensity and focus clearly are not. But he says that the normal topic may be why girls' "special interests" aren't targeted as being "odd" as often. I don't think this is true for all girls, though. Some of my "special interests," especially those during my very early childhood, clearly are/were eccentric.
-OddDuckNash99-

I'm too lazy to respond to specific points at the moment, but I think a lot of the stuff said about women vs. men and AS is misleading and/or totally false. For one thing, it depends on how we frame the question... are we talking about how AS affects women, or are we talking about how women with AS behave, because these are two different questions. Despite what many people on here probably believe, aspies are not by any means immune from social pressures. It's not that AS makes women interested in literature, it's that women in general are pushed by society (and perhaps by genetics) into fields such as literature and psychology. But guess what - there are tons of AS men who are passionate about literature and psychology. I saw someone say that most of the famous people on the spectrum, especially the writers, are female... and to that I have to respond uh... what? That reminds me of when someone told me that women are much better artists than men... I feel like in the latter example, Michelangelo, Leonardo, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, etc. would take great offense.

Neat topic. As a little girl I loved action figures even into my teens LOL! (I hated girly stuff Teen Magazine,Make up fashions etc.) I also would obsess over a movie and watch it over and over and over (of course I think that's normal right?) It's funny into my teens I constantly heard "throw them away etc." I then got more interested in my videogames (now I hear get into something else LOL!) I also tend to make better friends with guys.

For years they were asking the wrong questions and making the wrong assumptions about females on the autistic spectrum. They were looking for tomboys who liked trains and cars, and missed the fact that we tend to be obsessional about totally different things. We tend not to react with violence as much as the boys, to be quieter than the boys, to be more keen to try to make friends than the boys. (Those things do not apply to every woman with an ASD). So, to be diagnosed, a female had to be 'superbad', which meant that all the data for us was wrong as they were missing out the majority of us and thinking that we were really extreme. We weren't. They were just only looking at the really extreme ones.

So now they're trying to re-do the questions and the interview techniques.

Me? Utterly obsessed with horses as a child. And I mean utterly. I could concentrate on it for 18 hours a day, 7 days a week, making tables, data, plans, observations. This is Not Normal, but as it's girls and ponies, everyone just thought "aahh, how cute". I also sat in the garden and lined up grass stalks for days at a time,but they thought I was just being nice and peaceful playing by myself in a girly way. No-one realised. Then there were the friendship issues, the rigid routines, the shock if something changed, etc etc. I was told I had an OCD, because they had no clue what they were actually looking at until I got a proper diagnosis as an adult.

They're still missing out on diagnosing most of the females with an ASD now, but at least they're recognising the problems.

It seems like female aspies don't struggle with empathy as much, however I do somewhat.

To be fair I am not always shy and retiring, I was actually quite a bossy child, I liked to organise the other children and make by brother repeat renditions of the wizard of oz amoung other plays I was incredibly shy at secondary school until I found the other girls, one with Dyslexia ec and then I was extremely talkative. How I have got thus far without a diagnosis is camoflauge on my part and very itnentional. I am perhaps more angry at human beings in general, their fear of the unkown preventing me from seeking some sort of assistance, laughing at my ticks and telling me to stop being so clumsy, naive, blunt, to stop taking things literally, as though that would see to it! I used to be fairly head strong, just thought i'd mention that as I am getting the girly, high-pitched tippy toe Aspie with her barbie and horses image and I am more the boystrous streaming through puddles, holes in her clothes, bruises all over her knees, long wavy hair and quite unapproachable when frowning apparently kind of an Aspie. Moving on...

My special interests are typical female interests: English, languages, literature, geography and cats.

What I find odd about empathy is that I have always been required to understand another's feelings. However, that was very one-sided, as no one bothered to understand mine. It is much the same now as it was when I was a child. Someone else's emotional needs always were more important that mine.

I do often understand what someone is going through emotionallhy...I can be compassionate, but it's not always the case. For instance an evil person in my life suffered illness & I wasn't bothered by it in the least. In fact, I was very happy to hear he had a serious medical issue. But unless someone did something deliberately cruel & hurtful to me, I usually am very compassionate towards others. I just wish it were reciprocated more often.

I dont know about in general but I was a bit like a boy in most ways! I hated pink princessy things and broke the legs off my Sindy doll!

_________________
I have HFA, ADHD, OCD & Tourette syndrome. I love animals, especially my bunnies and hamster. I skate in a roller derby team (but I'll try not to bite )

Oh, I was a very feminine little girl. I only put on a tomboy act for my brothers and for my late mother, the latter who despised her own gender. I'm still very feminine.