Comments on: Autism and Gender: Are there differences?

By: Emily

Emily — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 14:50:40 +0000

I don’t buy the autism-anorexia connection except for the OCD link. Anorexia seems like another manifestation entirely of OCD, control, social pressures and awareness, etc., that don’t mesh with our experience of autism or anything else I’ve read about it. Many girls who are anorexic are perfectionists who are excellent students and socially active but who need that control because of other aspects of their lives. Do we think that these anorexic actresses, for example, are that way because of autism? No…it’s societal pressure, self image, and control.

By: Phil Schwarz

Phil Schwarz — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 05:27:56 +0000

Jean Kearns Miller's anthology, Women From Another Planet?, is an excellent background-read on the subject.

By: Janice

Janice — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 14:50:26 +0000

Youngest is, like FF’s daughter, far too fond of food to be anorexic. But she has some OCD behaviours that are simply directed at other aspects of her life than restricting food intake. Her autistic behaviours were very much according to the textbook but still somewhat difficult to diagnose because the assessors were tempted to think that her use of social toys (dolls, figures) was a sign of social behaviours whereas she was playing in self-contained, closely scripted ways typical of autism.

Youngest is also the only girl in her ASD class and has been, now, for two years. Integration’s good for her in that she gets to interact with other girls besides her older sister.

By: Fearless Females

Fearless Females — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 14:32:41 +0000

This connection is interesting. I have both a daughter with autism (however she is the opposite of anorexic) she likes food too much and overeating is more her issue.

But I also have a sister with anorexia and I have always thought that she had other underlining issues such as being “cognitively inflexible” she definitely has a “distorted pattern of processing info.” and severe OCD was something that she has always had. And she has been diagnosed with mental issues…So this is very interesting, at least to me.

By: Jen

Jen — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 11:55:32 +0000

I’d second your yes. I’m already seeing a big difference in the makeup of the self-contained classes that two of my children attend…when we started my girls were the first autistic girls that a lot of their teachers had ever met, and now I’d say that my one daughter’s class is pretty evenly split between males and females. It is nice to finally be seeing some research into autism in girls, because in my experience at least, it does manifest a bit differently (although that could just be my kids).

I’m not sure that I’d buy a link between autism and anorexia in girls without a lot more research- I grew up (after it became well-known in the 70s) having to be seen by many doctors as I was 5′11″, and didn’t hit 85 pounds until grade 10 (I wasn’t anorexic- I just didn’t gain weight even though I ate like a horse. Now, I definitely do gain weight!) So I spend a lot of time talking to doctors about eating disorders, and it does seem to me that anorexic girls are hyper-aware of societal “rules”, and behaviours, and able to outwardly follow them. I can see some similar characteristics in that a lot of the anorexic women I have known definitely have OCD as well as obsessive characteristics , but their entire social outlook seems to be quite different than anything I’ve ever read about autism. It will be interesting to see what research comes out.

And we’re back on the anorexia bandwagon in my house again- one of my daughters is 5′7″ and still weighs 67 pounds, and the other is 5′2 and 64 pounds. The first eats like crazy (fortunately we’ve managed to overcome most of her food issues), and the second is just a bit behind in growth because of chemotherapy (and the fact that she definitely has food preferences). Fortunately I’ve got it better than my mother did with me because at least I can show my girls’ daughters pictures of me when I was their age, which actually goes a long way in helping to refute the anorexic fears.

I’m thrilled to see research going on about autism in women now- it’s going to be interesting to see what happens.