It's A Girl Thing Too

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Although there are few "dyed in the wool" who are female and on the spectrum, I have met a small handful of girls who I have met who have exhibited Asperger traits.

I suppose that having AS can lead to anorexia, since AS can produce anxiety and anxiety can contribute to anorexia but anorexia shouldn't be called the "female Aspergers." First of all, that statement implies that girls don't have typical AS and I know that AS doesn't always lead to anorexia since I have AS and I have never been anorexic/bulimic. Whoever wrote that shouldn't use bad journalism to manipulate the public into thinking that all AS women have anorexia.

Anorexia is an extreme pattern of fixated behaviours that also strongly entails classification, making of lists and a systematic set of knowledge. I suspect that for some people with AS, there is a risk that calorie control can become a special interest.

When I was very very young, literally 4 or 5, my family accused me of being anorexic. I am a very finicky eater due to taste and smell sensitivities, and when I'm wound up in something I won't eat.

All through my childhood, I was told I was anorexic and underweight, which was bizarre to me because I don't care about my appearance much. I just have a lot of trouble eating when I'm upset, my appetite does not exist at all, and certain smells and textures are just disgusting to me outright.

When I'm not upset by yelling, noise, anger, violence, etc., I eat fine. Grade and high school cafeterias were always very noisy -- I could never eat very much there.

I wonder what exactly constitutes anorexia in these autistic girls. Are they truly obsessed with keeping up appearances, as the usual writing on anorexia would give as the main reason?

Gender disphoria can also lead girls to calorie restriction, to prevent a curvy, feminine form. A lot of girls here say they feel androgynous or male inside.

I think before somebody makes claims about anorexia being exceedingly common in autistics, the reason for the anorexic pattern of behavior should be explored. If an autistic anorexic is not eating for a reason unrelated to how NT anorexics work, the usual treatments might not work or even backfire.

Anorexia is the most lethal of all mental disorders. If these girls could be diagnosed with autism younger, perhaps interventions could be put in place that might prevent future anorexia. A lot of anorexics are undiagnosed, which is why we don't hear a lot from them on these boards.

I agree that the public should not be thinking autism=eating disorders, however.

I posted a link to this article a few weeks (months?) ago when it was in the Independent, there was a discussion then about anorexia and people's personal experiences with it. I think the thread is called Article about autism and women/girls.

I read a similar article a while back, though it was far less black and white.

Anorexia nervosa has almost limitless causes, one of them being Asperger's, though ASD is definitely not the most common. Saying that autism in girls always presents itself as Anorexia is obviously pretty seriously inaccurate. I've had issues with EDs in the past (though never enough to be diagnosable with AN, as it has very specific criteria) so I definitely understand how being both female and aspergian (combined with other factors) can lead to an eating disorder, though it's definitely not correct to say that all aspergian women have EDs, or that all girls with EDs have Asperger's.