It's A Girl Thing Too

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This article about autism in girls appeared in my local paper, The Sydney Morning Herald and seem to be a reprinted of an article that appeared in the UK paper The Independent.

They seem to be suggesting that most girls with anorexia actually have Asperger's. I'm not I actually agree with that position and am concerned that people will start believing that if girls don't have anorexia then they don't have Asperger's.

The section talking with a mother of two autistic girls is an interesting read though.

Interested in knowing what everyone else thinks of this article -http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/wellbeing/unfortunately-its-a-girl-thing-too-20100317-qfvs.html

Its very telling that by the second or third paragraph they're already banging that sterotypal drum about male Apies being brilliant college professors and playing with trains. Just once, I'd like to see a statistical poll to determine just what percentage of males diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome actually work in Higher Education and IT jobs, as opposed to other fields, or those who can't keep a job.

In two years on WP, I haven't noticed the females mentioning any plague of eating disorders. Maybe I missed a thread or two, or a dozen...

Like Brennan said, I worry that people will be too quick to assume that anorexia = AS and if girls don't have it they don't have AS. Anorexia nervosa comes from lots of other causes, like feeling inferior to other girls, trying to meet high standards, feeling a lack of control in their lives, etc. Only some 1 of 5 supposedly have it due to their AS.

I don't think we need any more stereotypical associations...

That was my reaction as well. I have most certainly never had as much as a touch of anorexia (nor bulimia, for that matter).

But maybe I'm just being my uncharming self.

I'm a female, a masculine one, but still a female. I have AS, and I don't even come close to being anorexic.

I remember reading a thread about eating disorders. You should try to look it up. One of the more active members on this forum (I won't reveal) said that she used to struggle with anorexia, and I've subscribed to another woman on YouTube who also has anorexia and diagnosed Asperger's.

I'm not saying that women with AS don't also suffer from anorexia, but I don't think that anorexia should be called the female form of Asperger's.

No they do not seem to be suggesting any such thing. One in five (the number suggested in the article) is not most, it's not even half....in fact it is not even a quarter.

That's true, but then they follow that fact with the phrase "Anorexia has been called the female Asperger's (the mild version of autism)." Why say that when it obviously isn't true. People aren't going to the remember the stats but they will remember that phrase. It is bad journalism and that is my objection to this article.

I expect it is true; someone somewhere probably has said this.


The same objection could be made for the overwhelming majority of pop media articles unfortunately. It is common and probably at many levels of media, industry-standard expected practice.

agreed.

Seconded.

That's what I have a problem with, too. Most people aren't going to note down statistics in their mind, but they will remember a catchy phrase like 'Anorexia is the female Asperger's'. And then they will likely go away with the idea that anorexia = AS and if a girl doesn't have it she doesn't have AS. Which is moronic.

If it comes to that, why do women in general have to be charming? Asperger or no, it seems the double standard is alive and well. Funny how no one ever says anything to *men* about being charming or playing nice...

I disagree. First, it's not stereotypical, since it's backed up by stastitics, though the science behind that might be argued. Second, the association could be very important. If a girl has autism and is thin, a medical/social worker could explore whether they have aneroxia, or vice-versa. Early diagnosis of aneroxia or signs that it may be developing has obvious benifits. Also, I would assume, treatments for anerexia in an Autistic versus NT could vary in effectiveness. Sure, the article states a figure, then immediately blows it out of proportion, but that's the nature of news media.

Although it's true that many social workers (of whatever stripe), will jump to conclusions, that is a completely separate issue. Possibility of comorbidity between aneroxia and Autism is no more likely to bring this out, than, say, a depressed person being more like to commit suicide, therefore every depressed person should be placed on suicide watch, or anyone who has suicidal tendancies must be depressed.

This article also addresses the possible underdiagnosis of female autistics, and suggests the existance of perhaps not-so-obvious unknown comorbid conditions with Autistics. Some speculated comorbid conditions don't actually turn out to be true, but research can't be performed on just the accurrate ones, without determinning which ones are in fact accurate. Although the media should be more careful in drawing conclusions, I understand why they don't end every speculative article with "but it could be just a bunch of BS."

Just for fun, here are some stats:
Using the much disputed "1 in 150" figure, there's a 0.67% rate for autism
6.7-10% of autistics are female (according to the article - 1 in 10 to 15)
Therefore, 0.047-0.067% of people are female autistics

Spot search shows rate of aneroxia in women as 0.5-3.7%
20% of aneroxics have autistic "features" (according to the article)
Therefore, the number of female autistic aneroxics is 0.1-0.74%.

Amazingly, there are 2 to 10 times more autistic women with aneroxia than there are autistic women.