Gender Paradox Hypothesis

Improved Essays
ASD is found in approximately one in every sixty-eight children, and of those sixty-eight every four are girls being diagnosed (Arky; Makin). This report has recently been found false because of skewed research. Because there are not very many girls being diagnosed with the autism spectrum disorder, ASD, it is difficult to research these girls. Due to having little research on autism girls, it is tough to find a way to treat girls with autism (Solomon et al. 57). The autism spectrum disorder is a male dominant disorder. In recent research, people have found that females are being misdiagnosed. Women are overlooked for many reasons, including research and how girls interact with others. When autistic females are misdiagnosed, it often takes …show more content…
The “gender paradox hypothesis” has been explained in two different models, the polygenic multiple-threshold models and the constitutional variability models. The polygenic multiple-threshold models advocate females find genetic and environmental loads a necessity to affect them. The constitutional variability models campaign that men have a more diverse genetic variability, which allows them to have less serve mutations, while females are more likely to be affected because of a pathological event such as brain damage (Solomon et al. 49). With these hypothesizes from research, it shows researchers believe females are being affected by being misdiagnosed or not being diagnosed at all. Multiple experts have also found genetic mutations in people with autism. Geneticist Evan Eichler found that eighty percent of the de novo mutations, a genetic mishap which happens for the first time in one member of the family by a mutation in the sperm or egg, can be significantly increased with the old age of fathers (Makin). The de novo mutation has been proven by multiple geneticists there is involvement with the autism illness, especially when the father is over the age of thirty-five years …show more content…
With girls, these stereotypes do not apply. Dr. Epstein, a clinical neuropsychologist, notes ”So where the boys are looking at train schedules, girls might have an excessive interest in horses or unicorns, which is not unexpected for girls.” are often a great way to tell if a person has ASD, but not for females (Arky). Stereotypes such as avoiding eye contact, maintaining friendships, and hiding common repetitive behaviors are often masked my females. Another specialist, Norman Hermant, The Australian Broadcasting Corps Social Affairs Correspondent, stated that “Girls are better at masking some of autism’s telltale signs, such as difficulty socializing and repetitive and inflexible behavior.” (“Specialists Warns”). Because females mask these stereotypes, they unload their problems at home and a lot of the time have terrible mental breakdowns. These breakdowns cause exhaustion for both the girls and the parents and many times cause other mental health issues. Dr. Meng-Chuan Lai, an assistant professor at U of T, has found asking questions about others has helped her understand them better (Meng-Chuan Lai). In the book Women and Girls with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Understanding Life Experiences from Early Childhood to Old Age, the author said, “The first step is for professionals to understand that the profile shows itself differently in females than males. You have to work a bit harder to find it,

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Temple Grandin

    • 613 Words
    • 3 Pages

    One in every one-hundred-eighty-nine women have autism compared to every one in forty-two men. This means there in a 4.5 times more chance for men to get autism. Considering it unusual for women to have autism is rather correct. Temple Grandin is one of these women, but she didn't let this stop her. Temple Grandin has left an impact on the world through the cattle industry, her speeches on overcoming autism, and her compassion for any and everything she does.…

    • 613 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Temple Grandin Biography

    • 1949 Words
    • 8 Pages

    No one knew what autism was in 1947, when Temple Grandin was diagnosed, it was not until 1957 that the behaviors she possessed were labeled as autism (Grandin and Panek 1-2). Despite the time Temple was diagnosed, her mother worked to get her treatment, and to discover new methods to help her daughter. Grandin’s condition is not as severe as some, she is a very high functioning woman, even when faced with her autistic struggles. Although it is different for every individual, there are countless descriptions for autism, that range from mild to very severe neurological complications (Grandin and Duffy 5). This is why autism can be so diverse from one individual to another.…

    • 1949 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    ASD: A Relational Study

    • 1669 Words
    • 7 Pages

    For this study, each group will have fifty individuals, these groups also should have equal numbers of male and female participants to see the difference between autistic men and women, there is no specific age to participate, but it is preferred more adults than kids, ethnicity or level of education is not important. The sample will consist of randomly selected people who access the survey online, the link for the survey will be send via e-mail and will be posted in autism forums and communities, before they begin answering the survey, they would have to accept the consent form and complete the Autism-Spectrum Quotient test.…

    • 1669 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Rain Boy Stereotypes

    • 1960 Words
    • 8 Pages

    The Truth Behind Boys with Autism In today’s society, individuals and groups are labeled with either positive or negative stereotypes. People encounter stereotypes everyday and everywhere. It is the picture people paint in their minds when approaching a group or individual when in fact it may be different in reality. Stereotypes affect a person’s way of living and thinking either in a negative or positive way.…

    • 1960 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Autism is considered a “males disease,” due to the fact it is more prominent in the male species. Stein’s work “The First Reader” has many examples of obsessive and hyper-focused behavior. One boy spends his entire day counting the letter w, while another was engrossed in measurement. “He measured his hair, he measured his share of a pear, he measured his feet” were the examples used to describe the young boy’s behavior. Perhaps Stein’s use of examples of autistic behavior was used repeatedly because of the fact that it was something she was familiar with.…

    • 1306 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    females develop a more severe ASD phenotype than males and are more likely to be on the low-functioning end of the spectrum (2000). However, this may just reflect a difficulty and failure in diagnosing females that actually have high functioning autism. Because ASD symptoms manifest differently in females, many females may go under diagnosed or even misdiagnosed. As children go through the developmental process, researchers have found that boys that develop ASD tend to have greater social problems than females with ASD. The X-chromosome mutations have been found to be responsible for the social impairments present in ASD.…

    • 1654 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This is a drastic drop from the 1 in 150 seen just 14 years earlier in 2000. (a) Due to the fact that there is no cure for autism, most people live with the disorder for life. Approximately 16.8 out of 1000 children have seen and experienced how prevalent and widespread this disorder is. (b) There is also a vast difference in the number of females versus males diagnosed with autism. For every one female diagnosed with autism, 4 males are diagnosed.…

    • 736 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Critical Thinking Activity

    • 1105 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Critical Thinking Activity VNSG 1334 - Fall 2015: Autism and its impact on the family. How Autism spectrum disorders can affect a child’s ability to meet growth and development milestones in specific areas. The student will also provide a power-point slide outlining the information found in research of this topic Q: Healthcare professionals should directly observe and assess the child or young person’s social and communication skills and behaviour. C Healthcare professionals should consider using ASD-specific observational instruments, as a means of improving the reliability of ASD diagnosis.…

    • 1105 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder that affects the brain’s development of social and communication skills. A person with autism may have repetitive behaviors, social challenges, and communication difficulties which last throughout a person’s lifetime. About one percent of the world’s population is living with autism, and about 3.5 million Americans are living with an ASD. There is no known single cause for autism, but most accept that autism is caused by abnormalities in brain structure or function. Brain scans show differences in the brain structure when compared to a neurotypical brain (Autism-Society).…

    • 1752 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Introduction “The image often evoked to describe autism is that of a beautiful child in a glass shell.” (Schopler, E., Mesibov, G., 1995) For decades many parents have clung to this notion, of hoping that one day a means might be found to break the invisible barrier. Thus far, no cure has been found. Perhaps the time has come for the image to be shattered. Perhaps the time has come to concentrate, rather, on understanding the minds of the autistic.…

    • 1827 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Autism figures are growing; it is the fastest growing development disorders in the U.S. Boys are nearly 5 times more likely to have autism then girls. While there is no cure for autism, people can educate themselves about autism, the more people know about autism the better they can help a child that is suffering from the disorder. Based on research that there is no known single cause for autism spectrum disorder.…

    • 839 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Paradoxes Of Gender

    • 1397 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Minimum wage legislation for women and children in the District of Columbia was passed by Congress in 1918. Five years later, the wage board of Children’s Hospital in Washington D.C. cut the hours of many of the employees, who were primarily women, to counteract the extra money that they would have to pay their employees due to the legislation. Many of the employees saw that the wage board’s enforcement of the 1918 legislation was not benefitting them as intended because overall, they would each be paid less overall due to the decrease in working hours. The case was brought to the Supreme Court by Children’s Hospital and a female employee hoping to stop the enforcement of the act by Jesse C. Adkins and the wage board. The Supreme Court ruled…

    • 1397 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Rain Man Film Analysis

    • 1274 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The idea of inclusion of the autistic into society is promoted by powerful bodies of medical professionals and associations against the stigmatization of the developmentally-disabled resulting in a shift in the construction of autism in society (Gabbard, 2010). Sometimes, autistic persons are presented as not so different from the rest of society and the line between what is normal behaviour and autism blurs (Draaisma, 2009). The implications of this shift in social construct of autism is ideally that of a more inclusive society that tries to adapt to the needs of the disabled (Treffert,…

    • 1274 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Gender Blur

    • 1411 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Aaron Devor, the author of the essay “Gender Role Behaviors and Attitudes”, states that gender is a social construct that has very little to do with biology. On the other hand, Deborah Blum, in her essay “The Gender Blur: Where Does Biology End And Society Take Over”, claims that while society has an effect on gender, so does biology. In this essay, I plan to present the argument that biology and society both have an effect on gender. I, like Blum, noticed biological gender differences in my children (two boys and a girl). As a father who has raised his children to believe that, men and women both do the housework, I noticed that my boys were much more aggressive than my daughter ever was even before pre-school.…

    • 1411 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    With the recent measles outbreak, there has been another disease in the news. Autism is a disease that affects millions of people globally. This is a relatively recent disease that has developed over the past few decades. It has a wide range of severity and can affect people in a variety of ways. This is why it is so confusing to researchers, parents and children affected by autism.…

    • 1209 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays