Female-To-Male Transsexual People (Transmen) Have More Autistic Traits
Main Category: AutismAlso Included In: Mental Health
Article Date: 06 May 2011 - 3:00 PDT
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A new study from Cambridge University, funded by the Medical Research Council, has found for the first time that female-to-male transsexual people have a higher than average number of autistic traits. The study has important implications for the clinical management of biological girls with gender incongruence that persists into adulthood.
The researchers measured autistic traits using the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) and compared AQ scores from transmen; transwomen (male-to-female); typical males; typical females; and individuals with Asperger Syndrome (AS, a form of autism). They found transmen had a higher average AQ than typical females, typical males and transwomen, but lower than individuals with AS. The findings are published today in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.
Professor Baron-Cohen, Director of the Autism Research Centre, interpreted the results:
"Girls with a higher than average number of autistic traits tend to have male-typical interests, showing a preference for systems over emotions. They prefer not to socialise with typical girls because they have different interests, and because typical girls on average have more advanced social skills. Both of these factors may lead girls with a higher number of autistic traits to socialize with boys, to believe they have a boy's mind in a girl's body, and to attribute their unhappiness to being a girl."
Rebecca Jones, who led the study with Professor Baron-Cohen, added:
"If such girls do believe they have a boy's mind in a girl's body, their higher than average number of autistic traits may also mean they hold their beliefs very strongly, and pursue them to the logical conclusion: opting for sex reassignment surgery in adulthood."
Dr Domenico Di Ceglie, a world expert on gender incongruence in young people from the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, and a member of the research team, commented:
"The awareness of the presence of autistic features may help these young people to explore the reasons behind their perceptions, and help them make more informed decisions about treatment."
Professor Chris Kennard, Chairman of the MRC's Neuroscience and Mental Health Board which funded the research, said:
"Autism is an important area of research because the spectrum of disorders affects so many people. The Medical Research Council is committed to supporting research into all the possible underpinnings of conditions associated with human brain development, including autistic spectrum disorders."
Source:
Medical Research Council
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22 Feb. 2012. <http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/224443.php>
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http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/224443.php.
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Visitor Opinions In Chronological Order (5)
numerous bones to pick with article
posted by Brooke on 6 May 2011 at 11:30 amI have numerous bones to pick with this article:
1.) It does not seek to ubiquitously respect the identities of transmen. The article consistently refers to them as "girls with gender incongruence", which is rather rude.
2.) It treats transsexualism as a belief instead of a medical condition. Transsexualism is confirmed and the treatment is standardized in the WPATH Standards of Care. Brain scans and autopsies have shown that transsexualism can be seen on a neurological level with the transsexual person having a brain that is more like their target gender than their natal sex.
3.) Correlation does not imply causation. The article makes the rash assumption that autism is a contributing factor to a transman's transsexualism. I find this appalling because not only does it seek to remove legitimacy from transsexualism but it also fails to mention that there may be a confounding factor involved, such as exposure to testosterone in the womb, which as been shown to be associated with autism and believed to be a factor in transmen's transsexualism.
All in all, I do not feel this article was not written by someone who is knowledgeable with transgender issues and I hope in the future they will be more aware of the people they write about.
Transphobic researchers
posted by Crash2Parties on 7 May 2011 at 12:02 amPlease google the researchers involved along with the term, "transphobic". As it happens, they are about to partake in a conference comprised of anti-transsexual researchers who are well known for following their own strange psychoanalytic theories and ignoring the last fifteen years of findings in the fields of neurology, embryology, endocrinology and general medicine.
having not read the paper
posted by Boo on 8 May 2011 at 5:31 amWhile I admittedly haven't read the paper, from the description here one could easily infer that the authors are simply reading boyish behavior in FtM trans kids as evidence of autism, rather than evidence, of, you know, boyishness.
My Own Take
posted by femme on 9 May 2011 at 9:52 amOk so like the past person I have not read the whole paper, I would like to. I'd lie to see what they consider to be "autistic traits" which they have relied on.
I found it odd that they focused upon the old fashioned thinking ideals such as "male typical interests". Just what are these so called typical traits anyway, and by who's mind are they such?
Having since retired from working with children both with special needs, including children living with Autism, and those who do not I found that a larger then typical proportion of children with autism were male assigned at birth. I say it this way since I have no idea of their own feelings of their own gender. In fact most had no interest one way or the other on the idea of their gender.
I spent a great deal of my time working with the many different children breaking the thought that something is a male game/activity/etc or a female one. I found that such thinking had been successfully used to exclude females from enjoying many activities.
Sadly it appears, from as much as I can garner through the article, this is the type of thinking these "researchers" come from.
Downright offensive..
posted by Aydyn on 1 Jan 2012 at 5:57 pmI agree 100% with Brooke. This article is insinuating anyone suffering from being born in the wrong body is simply, well, 'messed up' from autism. Not to be offensive towards autism, that's the last thing i mean to be, but they are two VERY different things. As a transman, I'm very offended by this article. This isn't a side affect of something else, this is a hell all of its own. Correlation does not imply causation.
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