The study in the following article was published in 2018, so I’m not sure if it’s come up on WP before.
Quote:
A recent study of 4,500 Swedish twins found that autistic girls from ages 9-18 were three times as likely to experience sexual assault when compared to their neurotypical counterparts. This statistic is particularly alarming as girls and women with characteristics of ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) already face difficulties receiving the diagnosis, with the average age of diagnosis being 16 years of age. Kirsten Lindsmith, an autistic advocate and blogger, explains why these girls are at an increased risk for sexual assault:
“Autistic people have a kind of manual transmission brain, as we have to learn social skills, instead of it coming naturally. This combines with patriarchy, consent culture, and issues with sexuality. We don’t cognitively multitask very well and reading social situations doesn’t happen intuitively. In our society, a lot of how sexuality and courtship works is indirect, not overt, and requires this dance of nonverbal communication. Autistic people are not inherently equipped unless they learn it painstakingly, and then it often still takes a lot more effort to maintain. It’s a disadvantage.”
Not only do social deficits put them at greater risk for sexual assault, but it is also continuous social rejection that is often a part of growing up autistic. This can lead to increased receptivity to positive social attention, making it difficult to distinguish true, warm friendship from predatory behaviour:
“Having that directed positive attention can be so hypnotizing for someone with that background. There’s this level of social trauma in autism that will frequently make people really grateful to someone who is directing a lot of positive attention. Sexual desire from predators can look a lot like positive attention, being friendly, really liking you, thinking you’re funny. All these types of things that don’t come from indirect courtship. They’re going to talk to you specifically more than other people, smile at you, look at you more, maybe stand close to you, touch you a little – all those things that you may be starved for.”
https://trauma.blog.yorku.ca/2022/04/au ... l-assault/Link to study:
https://acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/d ... jcpp.12884Abstract:
Quote:
Background
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and other related neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) have, in some previous studies, been shown to increase the risk of being sexually victimized. However, no studies have examined whether the association is driven by a general NDD phenotype versus specific diagnoses, nor the etiology of the association.
Method
Using a genetically informative, prospective design, we examined the association between ASD and ADHD in childhood and coercive sexual victimization up to age 18. A total of 4,500 children participating in the Child and Adolescent Twin Study in Sweden (CATSS) were rated by their parents on NDDs at age 9 or 12 years, and self-reported at age 18 on lifetime experiences of coercive sexual touching and/or coercive sex. First, we regressed sexual victimization on the NDDs. Second, we regressed sexual victimization on general and specific NDD symptoms identified via a bifactor model. Third, we decomposed the observed associations into genetic and environmental parts.
Results
In females, ASD was associated with an almost threefolded increased risk of coercive sexual victimization, and ADHD with a doubled risk. In males, the risk associated with ASD and ADHD was of the same magnitude but not significant. When controlling for overall NDD symptom load ASD or ADHD, no longer uniquely predicted coercive sexual victimization. The association between the NDD general factor and coercive sexual victimization was due to shared genetics.
Conclusions
General NDD symptom load, rather than specific ASD or ADHD symptoms, seems to be a moderate vulnerability factor for coercive sexual victimization. We speculate that an evocative gene–environment correlation might account for this observation, such that sexual perpetrators actively target NDD individuals.
15 Feb 2024, 11:48 am
