Sex/gender in autism

Recent articles

Featured articles

Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Male slant to research may skew autism’s reported sex ratio

Clinicians may need to go beyond the 'masks' to find autism in women.

By Francesca Happé
19 October 2015 | 6 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Girls with autism may stop eating to blunt social pain

Anorexia sometimes accompanies autism in girls. Refusing food may mute the confusing array of stimuli that is particularly difficult for a girl with autism to handle.

By Nancy Zucker
19 October 2015 | 6 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Seeking precise portraits of girls with autism

Researchers need to consider new ways of capturing how autism manifests in girls, who may find clever ways of camouflaging their symptoms.

By Somer Bishop
6 October 2015 | 6 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

In search of factors that shield girls against autism

Identifying the factors that protect girls from autism may help us understand and possibly treat the disorder.

By Stephan J. Sanders
19 October 2015 | 7 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

The lost girls

Misdiagnosed, misunderstood or missed altogether, many women with autism struggle to get the help they need.

By Apoorva Mandavilli
19 October 2015 | 33 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Of mice and women

A new government mandate requires researchers to include females in their animal studies — or explain why they don't. What will this mean for autism research?

By Brooke Borel
19 October 2015 | 19 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Brains of girls, boys may mark distinct paths to autism

Differences between the brains of men and women with autism may help explain why men are more susceptible to the condition and women appear to be protected from it.

By Meng-Chuan Lai
19 October 2015 | 7 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Linking autism, sex, gender and prenatal hormones

Elevated levels of fetal sex steroid hormones such as testosterone may explain many of autism’s unique features.

By Simon Baron-Cohen
19 October 2015 | 5 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

By chemically tagging genes, sex hormones shape brain

The environment’s influence on gene expression can vary by sex and affect autism’s expression.

By Meghan H. Puglia, Jessica J. Connelly
19 October 2015 | 7 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Focus on autism must broaden to include non-binary genders

It’s past time for mainstream discussions of ‘women with autism’ to recognize that a significant portion of the autistic community identifies as gender-queer or non-binary.

By Emily Brooks
19 October 2015 | 6 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Mother-son duo with autism bond through their differences

It took me a while to see that my son had autism. Only then did I recognize the autism in myself.

By Valerie Paradiz
19 October 2015 | 2 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Gender disparities in psychiatric conditions

Autism is not the only brain disorder that is more common in one sex than in the other.

By Jessica Wright
19 October 2015 | 2 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Funding for sex differences in autism on the rise

Since 2008, funding for research on how autism differs in women and men has risen steadily.

By Nicholette Zeliadt
19 October 2015 | 2 min read

From the archives

Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Fair representation for the fairer sex in autism research

Including more females in autism research studies will aid the search for genetic and environmental susceptibility factors for the disorder, says genetic psychiatrist Lauren Weiss.

By Lauren Weiss
16 August 2011 | 6 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Autism characteristics differ by gender, studies find

Two studies published in the past month lend support to the notion that autism looks different in girls than it does in boys, making it harder to recognize and diagnose in girls. The studies reflect growing suspicion in the research community that the underlying biology and the experiences of girls with autism may both be distinct.

By Sarah DeWeerdt
27 March 2014 | 7 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

How gender influences the autism brain

Understanding the basis of sexual dimorphism in autism may not only inform our treatment of this condition, but may translate to therapies for many other mental illnesses, say Nirao Shah and Devanand Manoli.

By Devanand Manoli, Nirao Shah
27 August 2013 | 8 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Navigating autism’s gender gap

The number of people in a study, the proportion of male and female participants, and many other factors can affect research on sex differences in autism, says Thomas Frazier.

By Thomas Frazier
24 June 2014 | 4 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Power of girls to thwart autism shows up in sibling study

Children whose older sisters are on the spectrum are at higher risk for autism than are those with affected older brothers, a new study suggests. Younger brothers of children with autism are at greater risk than younger sisters.

By Charles Q. Choi
28 May 2015 | 4 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

‘Frozen’ offers glimpse of autism in girls

Elsa, the star of the movie “Frozen,” is the poster child for girls with autism.

By Helen Tager-Flusberg
15 September 2015 | 4 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Girls protected from autism, study suggests

It takes more mutations to trigger autism in women than in men, which may explain why men are four times more likely to have the disorder, according to a study published 26 February in the American Journal of Human Genetics.

By Jessica Wright
10 March 2014 | 5 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

Violet-stained neurons in a serial transverse section from an embryonic spiny dogfish, a bottom-dwelling shark.

Digitization of ‘breathtaking’ neuroanatomy slide collection offers untapped research gold mine

Thousands of histological sections of vertebrate brains—including from spiny dogfish, turtles and more—are newly available online.

By Shaena Montanari
22 January 2025 | 3 min read
Research image of brain organoids with astroglia formation represented in green.

Personalized medicine; astroglia organoids; fast track for fragile X drug

Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 20 January.

By Jill Adams
21 January 2025 | 2 min read
Illustration of clinicians, a pill bottle, a speech bubble and shadowy figures.

Neuroscientists need to do better at explaining basic mental health research

The knowledge gap between scientists, health-care professionals, policymakers and people with mental health conditions is growing, slowing the translation of basic science to new treatments. Like lawyers learning to present a case to the court, scientists should learn to educate nonscientists about their findings.

By Omar Abubaker, Karla Kaun, Eric J. Nestler
21 January 2025 | 7 min read