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terfs keep mentioning the % of autistics who are trans/nb and that we’re ‘brainwashed’
and because i’m an asshole, i decided to look into why so many autistic folks are trans/nb. it’s not an inaccurate statement, at least the first half, but terfs lie through their teeth so i decided to get to the scientific root of it.
the answer blew my fucking mind.
the study on gender and autism i found said two very specific things about autistic people: we are more mentally resistant to things like social conditioning and binarism. we like our secret third things, y'know.
an excerpt:
“The finding that non-binary identities are most elevated seems to support hypotheses focussed on autistic resistance to social conditioning, which are consistent with existing evidence of the same effect with respect to self-description of sexual orientation. Perhaps elevated rates of trans identity in autism might result from a rejection of the binary cisgenderist norm, which combined with a below-typical concern for social norms could promote the disclosure of the identity.”
94% of autistics surveyed for that paper identified themselves as non-binary.
other studies have found autistic people have higher levels of critical thinking, and require more evidence to maintain or convert to a belief system (hence why many of us eventually fall away from religion) than allistic people.
which means, at least from my perspective, that:
a) the 'brainwashing’ terfs are accusing the trans community of inflicting on autistic folks would likely not even work if they tried.
b) the current binary definition of gender flies directly against embedded autistic modes of thinking to begin with.
you cannot brainwash someone into thinking something they already believe.
This essentially suggests that autistic people are likely to be NB because we are in fact resistant to the relevant brainwashing.
For those wondering, the study is “Walsh, Reubs J., et al. "Brief Report: Gender Identity Differences in Autistic Adults: Associations with Perceptual and Socio-cognitive Profiles.” Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, vol. 48, no. 12, Dec. 2018"
[copied from a reply by @maxens]
ahhhhhhhh…..so being on T has increased my muscle mass substantially, which has meant weight loss (because I’m eating a similar amount, but now my muscles are gobbling it up). this has also lead to people commenting on my weight loss, specifically to talk up how positive and good it is. my weight-lifting coach told me I’d gone from a “caterpillar to a butterfly”
why is this bad? because I’m a recovered anorexic. in past I’d starve myself to the point of losing my period for months, I’d do things like cut a single olive into four pieces and eat it over the course of an hour as a “snack”. my breakfast was half a cup of dry all-bran, my lunch was half an apple. and I’m 6′2, I do genuinely need more food than the average person to function. I had multiple moments walking out of my house where I’d think “oh I have to go back inside, I’m close to fainting from not eating.”
having everyone compliment me on my weight loss has made me want to accelerate it, and now I’ve cut my back on my eating. I’m going out with nothing in my stomach and still trying to participate in every day life. it’s hard because I’m a pretty private person (disregard how I’m currently blasting out my personal life to strangers), so it’s something that I’m going to have to deal with and fix on my own, but it’s scary to watch familiar habits return. hopefully my love of food wins out over the mental eels 🤷
“Gender is a shell game. What is a man? Whatever a woman isn’t. What is a woman? Whatever a man is not. Tap on it and it’s hollow. Look under the shells: it’s not there”— Naomi Alderman, The Power (via sonnywortzik)
Anonymous said:how did you know you were trans
thought about it
