‘Male Autism’ and ‘female Autism’ as an example of white, heteropatriarchy reinforcing heteronormative gender norms.
This essay was originally produced for my Masters of Arts (Women and Gender Studies) at Flinders University.
The white, heteropatriarchy is a system of power that reinforces gender norms and roles based on rigid and binary understandings of masculinity and femininity as well as whiteness. The gendering of Autism is yet another way to perpetuate cisgenderism and erase those who deviate from heteronormative gender roles. I am using this essay to argue that the concept of ‘male Autism’ and ‘female Autism’ operates within and upholds the white heteropatriarchy and enforces heteronormative gender norms, expression and stereotypes.
As Caroline Criado Perez (2019) discusses in The Default Male, medical research has a history of focusing on male participants and centering the experiences of males. This has contributed to the male experiences being seen as the universal experience. Autism research is no exception to this phenomenon. Autism research has predominantly focused on men and boys which has led to the male Autistic experience being seen as the universal or default Autistic experience. As a result, women and girls as well as other marginalised genders have historically been excluded from Autism research. This intentional exclusion is evident through the silencing of Dr. Grunya Sukhavera’s research on Autism which centered both girls and boys (Sher & Gibson, 2023). Instead, it is the research on Autistic boys by Leo Kanner and Hans Asperger that has been favoured. In fact, research on Autism barely acknowledges Dr. Grunya Sukhavera’s work. Perez (2019) recognises this in The Default Male as a common experience; female researchers and scholars are ignored in favour of male researchers and scholars as well as research centering a disproportionate amount of male participants versus female participants.
This gap in research and the centering of male experience as the default experience has led to the neglect and misunderstanding of women’s health (Perez, 2019) which is exactly what we have seen in our understanding of Autism. Since the design and development of Autism assessments was based on existing research that has predominantly focused on Autistic traits in men and boys, Autism assessments have led to the missed identification of Autism in women, girls and other marginalised genders. As a result, men and boys are four times more likely to be diagnosed with Autism compared to women and girls (D’Mellow, Frosch, Cardinaux, & Gabrieli, 2022). Women and girls are not only less likely to be correctly diagnosed as Autistic but are more likely to receive an incorrect diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder, social anxiety or an eating disorder (Lockwood Estrin, 2021). While I cannot deny the lack of inclusion of women and girls within Autism research has definitely contributed to the lack of diagnosis and misdiagnosis, I do believe that we fall at risk of ignoring both racial bias and socioeconomic factors as a significant contributor to the diagnostic gap. It isn’t just women and girls who are excluded from Autism research but Black and Indigenous people who have been excluded from Autism research. In 2016, a review revealed that in 408 published Autism studies, less than 18% reported the race and ethnicity of its participants (West, Travers, Kemper, Liberty, Cote, McCollow, & Stansberry Brusnahan, 2016). I believe this is a significant problem that Audre Lorde (1984) acknowledges in her essay, Age, Race, Class and Sex: Women Redefining Differences. Too often, we tend to focus on the oppression of women while failing to acknowledge the intersecting oppression in regards to race and class.
As a result of this gender bias within Autism research and the positioning of males as the default experience, the concept of ‘female Autism’ has become increasingly popular in order to recognise the experiences of Autistic women and girls and address the diagnostic gap. The concept of ‘male Autism’ and ‘female Autism' has become another way for the white, heteropatriarchy to reinforce heternormative gender norms. I believe it does this through cisgenderism; a system that erases gender identities that do not align with assigned gender at birth (Lennon & Mistler, 2014). This binary concept contributes to the exclusion of transgender and non-binary people and any other gender non-conforming people.
The white, heteronormative patriarchy has a significant history of reinforcing gender norms through its strict binary of masculinity and femininity where masculinity is historically tied to men and femininity is tied to women (Halberstam, 1998). We have strict ideas of what femininity looks like, and who can embody it, and what masculinity looks like, and who can embody it, which all plays into heteronormative gender norms and stereotypes. If we look through the online discourse on social media in regards to ‘female Autism’ and ‘male Autism’, we’ll see different traits and behaviours associated with either gender. ‘Female Autism’ is associated with appearing quiet, shy, empathetic, nurturing and sensitive. These characteristics are often associated with femininity. ‘Male Autism’ is associated with appearing disruptive, aggressive and displaying more repetitive and rigid behaviours. These characteristics are often associated with masculinity. By reinforcing feminine characteristics with women and masculine characteristics with men, the concept of ‘female Autism’ and ‘male Autism’ are reinforcing gender norms. Additionally, many Autistic women and girls report masking in order to fit in socially. These behaviours reinforce heternormative gender stereotypes and expectations of women - that women must be socially competent, submissive and nice. Another differentiation between ‘female Autism’ and ‘male Autism’ is that girls and women tend to hold special interests that are gender appropriate interests such as animals, arts and crafts, celebrities and fashion while boys and men tend to be interested in gender appropriate interests such as dinosaurs, trains, computers and other science and technology based subjects (Brown, Bernardin, Beauchamp, Kanne, & Nowell, 2024). Again, we are assigning what activities or in this case, interests are considered appropriate for an individual based on their gender and reinforcing the idea that femininity is inherently tied to women and masculinity is inherently tied to men.
This splitting of Autism into female Autism and male Autism merely reinforces rigid beliefs and expectations when it comes to gender expression and gender roles as well as femininity and masculinity. I find this relates strongly to what Halberstamd (1998) states in Female Masculinity, both women and gender non-conforming people can and do embody masculinity. Conversely, both men and gender non-conforming people can and do embody femininity. As a result, I find the very concept of ‘male Autism’ and ‘female Autism’ contributes to the erasure of non-cisgender Autistic experiences and non-binary individuals who do not fit into the mould of so-called ‘female Autism’ and ‘male Autism’. The idea of ‘female Autism’ and ‘male Autism’ is just another example of Western society’s inability to recognise androgynous women, masculine women and boyish girls and otherwise ambiguously gendered bodies and experiences. I find, again, this is supported by what Halberstamd (1998) has stated in Female Masculinity; there is a continued refusal in Western society to admit ambiguously gendered bodies. Since the white, heteronormative patriarchy relies on fixed, binary understandings of gender in order to maintain traditional power hierarchies (Lennon & Mistler, 2014) and cisgenderism upholds these binaries by denying the existence of people who exist outside of them, I argue that this is exactly what ‘female Autism’ and ‘male Autism’ does; it denies the existence of Autistic people who exist outside of this binary concept.
The binary concept of ‘female Autism’ and ‘male Autism’ are also based on white, Western and cisgender populations. It is important to remember that what constitutes appropriate female or male behaviours in regards to femininity and masculinity are racialized too. Since ‘female Autism’ represents a white, emotionally sensitive and socially compliant person, it excludes and ignores Black, Brown and Indigenous Autistic people who fall outside this white, feminine expression. This very concept assumes universal gender expressions which ignores how race shapes gender and gender expression (Lorde, 1984) as well as how racial stereotypes impact how one perceives Autistic traits.
The white, heteropatriarchy marginalises and excludes transgender and non-binary individuals as well as anyone who doesn’t fit into the binary and rigid understandings of masculinity and femininity. This is why it’s important to understand that the gendering of Autism as ‘male Autism’ and ‘female Autism’ is not grounded in any scientific classification of diagnostic distinction but rather, a reflection of gender biases that upholds the white, heteropatriarchy and heternormative gender norms.
References
Brown, E. C., Bernardin, J. C., Beauchamp, T. M., Kanne, M. S., & Nowell, P. K. (2024). More similar than different: characterizing special interests in autistic boys and girls based on caregiver report. Autism Research, 17(11), 2333–2345. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.3216
D’Mellow, M. A., Frosch, R. I., Li, E. C., Cardinaux, L. A., & Gabrieli, D. J. (2022). Exclusion of females in autism research: empirical evidence for a “leaky” recruitment‐to‐research pipeline. Autism Research, 15(10), 1929-1940. doi: 10.1002/aur.2795.
Lockwood Estrin, G., Milner, V., Spain, D., Happé, F., & Colvert, E. (2021). Barriers to autism spectrum disorder diagnosis for young women and girls: a Systematic Review. Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 8(4), 454–470. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40489-020-00225-8
Halberstam, J. (1998). Female Masculinity (pp 1-29). Duke University Press.
Lennon, E., & Mistler, B. J. (2014). Cisgenderism. TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly, 1(1-2), pp 63–64.
Lorde, A. (1984). Age, race, class and sex: Women redefining differences. In Sister Outsider: Essays & Speeches (pp 114-123). Crossing Press.
Perez, C. C. (2019). Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men (pp 1-25). Abrams Press.
Sher, D. A., & Gibson, J. L. (2023). Pioneering, prodigious and perspicacious: Grunya Efimovna Sukhareva's life and contribution to conceptualising autism and schizophrenia. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 32(3), 475–490. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-021-01875-7
West, E. A., Travers, J. C., Kemper, T. D., Liberty, L. M., Cote, D. L., McCollow, M. M., & Stansberry Brusnahan, L. L. (2016). Racial and ethnic diversity of participants in research supporting evidence-based practices for learners with autism spectrum disorder. The Journal of Special Education, 50(3), 151-163. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022466916632495