Autism and Gender

Authors

Abstract

Autism has been gendered since its inception; a developmental condition first identified in boys who seemed to have difficulties with social engagement, preferring instead to be absorbed in a world of their own. In the last decade, however, there has been a proliferation of research in psychology and psychiatry and in neurodiversity studies that is suggestive of a far more complex and heterogeneous relation between autism and gender. This has important implications for diagnostic frameworks, and the accessibility of services and care that can support the well-being of all autistic people. It also has implications for how we view gender diversity, and how we handle seemingly mutual exclusive explanatory frameworks in the face of first-person testimonies and rights-based activism. The first aim of this chapter is to give a critical account of the extant literature on autism and gender, and to consider the strengths and weaknesses of the prevailing approaches in psychiatry and psychology. We review both essentialist and non-essentialist conceptions and identify a detrimental trend toward exclusivity. The second aim is to consider the contribution that neurodiversity studies and phenomenological philosophy make in clarifying this complicated issue; using lived experience as a means of resisting exclusion without claiming universal inclusion.

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