Is there info on female AS please

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I'm sure people here know where to find info on the differences between the way that AS affects men and women?

I was reading the thread about social behaviour and AS, and I thought about the women I know who have AS compared to the men who have it. In each instance, the women seemed to be more social, and had more friends. I'm married to a guy with AS and we are very different in the way we behave. I am much more social (not much good at it, but I want to be social, want to make friends, and have succeeded in making some), whereas he's very insular, hates any and all social contact apart from me and his one friend who shares his same interests.

Trying to find research that might support or disprove this sort of difference, or at least go some way towards explaining it, but don't have a clue where to start?

Any ideas?

Many thanks

It's rather common that women are more "social" than men, even NT:s. The male AS is simply more AS than the female one. The female one is more "normal".

As a female with AS my personal belief is that the difference is mostly due to social roles.

Women typically are expected to be more social and tend to be "dragged" into social situations more often than men where its considered acceptable to be aloof and a bit anti-social.

I dont think AS really effects them differently its only a matter of gender-specific genetics generating a difference in motivation towards social interaction and women with AS tending to be more capable socially than their male counterparts due to the higher degree of practice they are forced to go through.

You might be right there. I'm not 100% sure that I've even met a female AS.

I've always thought I got away with a lot of my unsociability by being designated "shy." I understand shyness is more acceptable in girls than in boys.

But I also wonder if there isn't some behavior difference between males and females with AS. Not sure how to clarify that without some sweeping generalizations (so please don't rip me to pieces!)...

In general, males are more likely to engage in aggressive or violent behavior, and in school are more likely to be labeled disruptive. Wouldn't this also mean that, even if a disorder happened at the same rates in males and females, males would be more likely to be hauled in for a psych evaluation, because they would be more likely to exhibit disruptive behavior in school?

Just a theory. I am convinced that my various psychological and neurological... oddities... were to a large extent masked by my being an extremely quiet, timid child. And I think that was acceptable to people *because* I am female (the same traits seem to make school-age males targets for bullying).

I've met two actually. I say yeah there is a difference between male AS and female AS. One that first met I almost married that one but it didn't work. She was giving me more heart ache because she kept wanting to my girl friend and then she didn't and back again.

I think Fraya might be right, but there's something else I thought of.

I read in Psychology Today a long time ago that autism (and therefore autism-spectrum disorders) is really a case of an extreem "male" brain. A researcher devised a test to determine people's "systemizing quotient" and "empathy quotient"; on average, males and autistic people had a high SQ and a low EQ, while women had a higher EQ and a lower SQ.

It could be that women are labelled as Asperger's when their EQ would be close to average for a normal male. The difference wouldn't have been as prominent if they'd been born male. That's my thought.

Well said. As I've said before quite often it's as if you're on a scoial ride & feel it's as if wearing a mask but still not quite 'there' & facial expressions often give this away (if someone takes a photo the facew ill look blank) & the voice will quite monotone also.

http://www.neurodiversity.com/girls_and_women.html

ABove is good link - An EXCELLENT book is Women From Another Planet by Jean Kearns Miller.

the doctor told me it was rare for a girl to get asperger syndrome

Actually statistically speaking everyone has the same chance of having it regardless of gender.

Since the population is about 50% female it stands to reason about half the people with AS are female.

However due to societies structure and customs its more rare for a female with it to be noticed.

Typically women with AS are considered "cute" while men with it are considered "disfunctional"

isn't that always the way things turn out

Actually that's not true. According to Tony Attwood, an expert in the field, epidemiological evidence indicates that males are four times more likely than females to have AS. This makes sense because the ratio is the same as the other Autism Spectrum Disorders. 80% of people with autism are male and since AS is closely related to autism, it makes sense that 80% of people with AS are male. However, females are less likely to be referred for diagnosis so the rate of referral for diagnosis is ten boys for every girl.

That's Lovely...

Not that men 'disfunctional' appearing
Not that women "cute"

someone knows what I mean.
Good hope for AS males though!
And ladies too--

My counselor says/believes the same thing~and mostly, I think so do I 80/20 are some tough odds.

I myself do not know if I have ever met an Asperger female--I'm still trying to meet ANY Asperger person in my area--just so I can pinch em and make sure thier there. I've met bipolars-

I do think I've chosen 2 Asperger males for my heart though. Sadly, both turned out to be alcoholic--or maybe I just chose 2 alcoholics--but I could 'feel' them as wholes with my intuition-wheras I normally feel most males as intuition 'halves'. I don't know if that is love or lust or neruo peptides or what-but I wonder if in person WE have a group 'theroy of other minds' or what.

I also met a girl I thought had Aspergers because I could hold a quirky conversation with her-she was quirky. But then, she was irratic and irrational and a control freak. So I left off my super secret endeavor to see what others are like.

Last edited by SeaBright on 25 Aug 2006, 7:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I read that too, and it makes sense, but there are other things to Asperger's, like sensory issues, that almost no NT has, regardless of gender.

I'm petting one of my Buses. Do you think I'm cute?

I'm a female with AS, and I would have to say that I'm definitely not social. I am way more social than I used to be, thanks to 6 years of living with my very extroverted husband, who has taught me the "social ropes."

As a child, I was extremely non-social, and I rarely spoke unless it was to a family member AND it was related to a new interest. As a matter of fact, I spoke so little that I had a couple of episodes where I wet my pants because I couldn't bring myself to ask someone where a bathroom was. And that type of thing didn't just happen at the age where it might be at least a little "understandable," it still happened to me around the ages of 7 or 8. It actually happened once when I was 16 too, but I fortunately just wet my pants a little and then realized that peeing on someone's couch was way more embarassing than asking if I could use a bathroom.