"How might women be masking symptoms?
Females are placed under a lot of pressure to fit in, and I think that drives us to develop coping mechanisms. I read a paper on memory that said female brains are naturally better than male ones at storing up scripts in social situations. When I was growing up, I would observe people around me, see how they were behaving, and develop a script to get myself through it. Also, when females with ASD get an obsession it's not typically with the same things that males with ASD get into. I've never been interested in trains or timetables – I'm not collecting information. I was obsessed with more normal things."
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22530110.300-how-many-girls-mask-autism-spectrum-disorder-like-me.html?utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=SOC&utm_campaign=hoot&cmpid=SOC%257CNSNS%257C2014-GLOBAL-hoot#.VPtmMon0DqA
I think this observation is hugely important. HUGELY.
When I ask for advice about a social problem, I sometimes get such different advice from the men I ask vs. the women, where men will often assume that it's easy and realistic to just ignore the social situation, to just not care about the other person's opinion or behavior. Even when I get the same ignore-it advice from women, it's along the lines of 'can you ignore it? Can you avoid them? Can you shield yourself?', recognizing that it might not be possible - and even if it is, it will take work.
It's just never been true or real that I could ignore other's opinions of me, and I think that has a lot to do with being socialized as a woman. There is a requirement of availability to others, there is something wrapped up in the gender norms about having intimate and caring relationships. And maybe men are socialized away from that.
Related: Women with ADHD and heart attacks are also underdiagnosed, partially because of social norms.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22530110.300-how-many-girls-mask-autism-spectrum-disorder-like-me.html?utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=SOC&utm_campaign=hoot&cmpid=SOC%257CNSNS%257C2014-GLOBAL-hoot#.VPtmMon0DqA
When I ask for advice about a social problem, I sometimes get such different advice from the men I ask vs. the women, where men will often assume that it's easy and realistic to just ignore the social situation, to just not care about the other person's opinion or behavior. Even when I get the same ignore-it advice from women, it's along the lines of 'can you ignore it? Can you avoid them? Can you shield yourself?', recognizing that it might not be possible - and even if it is, it will take work.
It's just never been true or real that I could ignore other's opinions of me, and I think that has a lot to do with being socialized as a woman. There is a requirement of availability to others, there is something wrapped up in the gender norms about having intimate and caring relationships. And maybe men are socialized away from that.
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