EMB Theory - Overly Masculine Gays?
The EMB, Extreme Male Brain theory, says that the brains of an autism spectrum disorder are overly masculine because of excess testosterone from the time even before birth. This is supposed to lead to "masculine" ways of processing information, some being - lack of empathy and social skills but an advantage in mathematics and "system" information.
I'm sure that it's not the case for everyone, Id like to think that it's not in my case, but gay males I've heard slightly lack testosterone levels and true or not, you can clearly see a lot of feminine qualities in many gay men.
So if a theory of homosexuality, and it seems to hold true in more cases than not, is that a man might have a brain more like a female, and female more like a male, where do autistics fit into this? A gay male who is more masculine than straight males?
There are people in shock for longish periods of time after I tell them i'm gay and im wondering if there are certain people who even believe it. I'm looked at as being more masculine than the majority of most straight males. I just got back from traveling 1/3 or so of the country, won't do it again for a while!, and part of my goal was to meet with other openly gay males, and I did. What I found out was that out of at least 15 gay males I had talked to or came in contact with, (some being in a gay only area) 14 out of 15 were so feminine that i thought i might as well have just continued to stay in the closet. I did meet one guy who was very masculine apart from a overly hip swinging walk so that was a big relief.
Off and on my life i've been highly competitive in everything i do, i've been known to get overly aggressive but -most- of the time manage to take it out on furniture ect. I have more facial hair.. and other hair shhhh, than I can keep up with most days and i'm very physically outgoing. I've dedicated the majority of this point in my life to bodybuilding, it's been a major obsession to the point I can forget about everything else some days. I'm well enough into my weightlifting to at least shoot for my "international natural bodybuilding and fitness" competition card but my social anxiety is so bad at this point in my life that I'm stuck shooting for goals past the goals I have not been able to even try yet.
I'm good for going off topic but figured that contributed in some way to the feminine/masculine homosexuality debate. I'd like to hear more about the relationship between an overly masculine brain relating to one of the biggest parts of being a female. How is it that excess testosterone can still lead to the type of person that most people see, and even myself, see as most of the time very feminine. Knowing what I know now being gay and autistic is starting to sound like an oxymoron - I think that's the right word. I've researched myself into extra confusion. What does everyone think?
I don't know how the Extreme Male Brain theory is a viable theory. It equates a certain type of thinking with being male sexed. This flies in the face that not all males think the same way let alone fit the Extreme Male Brain theory. A significant percentage may think that, even a majority depending on what population group you test for that's male sexed. This doesn't even account for women thinking in the pattern suggested by EMB who are very much not male sexed.
So you would come off as an oddity to those who want you to fit somewhere on their part of the bell-curve they think everyone fits on. It's a non-issue.
Sexuality factors into personality. Hormones factor into personality. Body image factors into personality. Hobbies factor into personality and vice versa. Your environment factors in. Genetics. Parental influence, education, and probably a hundred other factors. I see nothing wrong that you don't fit the stereotyped image what someone who is gay is supposed to fit.
Here is an example for what expections I run into with being mtf trans is that I enjoyed body-building greatly when I did it and that is something that most in the trans community say is a bad idea. I'd still be doing it if I didn't have my sleep issues and knee surgery. I mitigated the sleep problems with regular cpap use. On my list of things to work on getting my knee good enough post surgery now to withstand the rigors of body-building so I can take it up again. Leg day is my favorite day. Being so tall it was the easiest. I used to be able to squat my own bodyweight at 275lbs. MTF trans seem to be expected to only do cardio and diet, which for my size just isn't enough to keep the uneccessary fat off. I get weird looks when I bring this up in my support group but that's okay. They can choose to do what they want to do, and I can choose for me what I want to do. Because I like weightlifting, doesn't make me any less female or more male than a woman who weightlifts, a man who doesn't.
EMB is a load of BS as far as tying it to being male sexed imo. It's like saying your immune system is shot. There are many things that can lead to that result. AIDs, radiation poisoning of all white blood cell producing bone marrow, and a dozen other diseases, syndromes, and causes. So several groups, one is some NT males but not all, and some NT females but not all and most autistic spectrumed males and females but not everyone who is on the autistic spectrum fit EMB. It's a symptom and not a cause.