![]() Gender identity is also intimately linked with gender roles: the behaviours and attitudes a given society considers acceptable and appropriate for individuals based on their sex as male or female. As gender identity is self-identified, it is often informed by an individual’s personal perceptions and experiences of their own masculinity or femininity. Īccording to the American Psychological Association, gender identity is defined as an individuals’ internal conception of themselves as male, female, a blend of both, or otherwise. Despite this, studies investigating the relationship between autistic traits and GD in child samples have found comparable levels of autism symptoms between boys and girls with GD. Sex differences have also been observed, where the co-occurrence of elevated rates of gender variance in autistic groups, as well as greater clinically significant autism symptoms in adult GD samples, is reported in individuals assigned female at birth than individuals assigned as male. A relationship between gender dysphoria (GD) and autism has also been suggested, where both a higher representation of GD in autistic groups irrespective of sex, as well as an increased number of autistic symptoms in adults with GD, are common observations within current literature. Defined as an umbrella term that describes variability between an individual’s assigned sex and gender identity, gender variance has been reported by 5.4 to 7.2% of autistic natal male and female youths and 11.3% of autistic adults, yet between 0.7 and 5% in non-autistic or control samples. Studies proposing this link have identified an increased prevalence of gender variance in autism. Within autism, there appears to be greater variability in gender identity than found in the wider population. Findings suggest the importance of increased clinical attention to this diversity and the need to provide support to facilitate the development of a healthy sexual identity and reduce the risks identified in this study. Results indicate that autistic females present with greater diversity in their sexual identities than individuals without autism, with those with a homosexual sexual orientation being at greater risk of experiencing adverse sexual encounters. Thus, the data may not be representative of the broader population. Moreover, although multiple recruitment methods were used in this study, non-representative may bias estimates of prevalence rates. The small number of participants who identified as transgender ( n = 40) limits the reliability of results pertaining to sexual experiences across gender identity. The use of fixed format response items may have restricted participants’ abilities to provide rich responses pertaining to their sexual identities and nature of negative sexual experiences. There were no differences in negative sexual experiences across gender identity in the autistic sample. 018) presented with a reduced risk of regretted sexual experiences than non-autistic heterosexual peers. Non-autistic bisexual females (OR = 0.24 p =. There were no differences in rates of negative sexual experiences between autistic bisexual and both autistic heterosexual and non-autistic bisexual females. 01) and were more likely to have experienced unwanted sexual experiences than non-autistic females regardless of sexual orientation (OR ≥ 2.38 p <. ![]() ![]() ![]() Autistic homosexual females were more likely to have experienced a range of negative sexual experiences than autistic heterosexual females (OR ≥ 3.29 p <. 05) and non-heterosexual sexual orientation ( p <. ResultsĪutistic females were more likely to identify with a transgender gender identity ( p <. Differences in the prevalence of negative sexual experiences were compared across diagnosis and each gender identity and sexual orientation label. Self-reported gender identity and sexual orientation were compared between 134 autistic ( M age = 26.2 years, SD = 8.7) and 161 non-autistic females ( M age = 22.0 years, SD = 4.6). Two hundred and ninety-five females completed the Sexual Behaviour Scale-III (SBS-III) online. This study aimed to investigate the representation of gender and sexual diversity within autistic females and examine their rates of regretted, and unwanted, sexual encounters among females with a transgender gender identity and non-heterosexual sexual orientation. As higher rates of sexual victimisation are observed in individuals with diverse sexual identities in the broader population, rates of negative sexual experiences among autistic females remain unclear. Likewise, autistic females are also at an increased risk of adverse sexual experiences. There is growing recognition that autistic females present with more diverse gender and sexual identities than their non-autistic counterparts. ![]()
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