Autism beyond the Gender Binary and Heteronormativity

It is established that autistics have an inclination for queerness. Even though this is not a rule, it appears that deep introspection and the dismantling of social constructs that come with autism pave the way for a deeper exploration of gender identity and sexual orientation. So what about autism beyond the gender-binary and heteronormativity?

Autism, particularly high functioning autism/Asperger’s, has long been considered a male condition. When women and girls were first included in research, the gender binary was used as a basis to classify the various representation of autism. The scientific world has now established that there is no such thing as masculine and feminine autism. There is autism and there are autistics.

Breaking down the gender binary, allowed researchers to identify trends in autistic populations. In fact, many autistics evolve outside of the narrow definitions of gender. So why is it that there is such a high prevalence of queer people in the autistic population? Or a high rate of autistics in the queer community?

Several factors contribute to the intersection of autism and queerness:

Introspection: There is evidence that autistics tend to turn introspection into an extreme sport, which could explain why there is a higher prevalence of people experiencing gender dysphoria among the autistic population as compared to the general population. This could simply mean that autistics are not more queer but they know themselves better than allistics.

Social Constructs: Autism, gender and sexuality are all spectrums, they constitute layers of individual identities and experiences. The social foundation of these concepts is that an expression of the self differing from the established norms will be considered to be ‘less’. Autism challenges neurotypicism just like queerness challenges heteronormativity.

Community: The queer community is one free of judgment and stigma, or at least comparatively more accepting than the rest of society. The people who seek a sense of community outside of the conventional social landscape are often people who had to go through immeasurable challenges to get there so they will likely express and experience real empathy for anyone having had to jump many hurdles.

Coming Out: In many ways, the experience of coming out, transitioning as well as the process of unmasking are similar. Autistics who begin their unmasking journey shed their thick protective layers to emerge as their real selves. It is a painful process and it often comes at the cost of a few family members and friends.

Intersectional feminism: Up till recently, lesbians and female autistics or lesbian autistics, non-binary (autistics), non-white autistics and pretty much any autistic differing from the classic profile, didn’t get much of the spotlight. The fight is the same. A number of minorities have been much more vocal in the past few years and they are finally taking up their space thanks to the generations of feminists who paved the way before them.

Genetics: Most autistics appear to be somewhat androgynous. Female autistics have higher total and bioactive testosterone levels, less feminine facial features and a larger head circumference compared to non-autistics. Autistic men tend to have less masculine facial features, higher voices as well as less masculine physical proportions.

It isn’t surprising then to to know that gender diverse individuals are 3 to 6 times more likely to be autistic than cis-gendered people.