Regarding hormones in the water, there does seem to be a link between autistic women and PCOS, a condition where a woman is born with too many eggs and this results in ovarian cysts and creates a lot of hormonal problems including infertility, weight gain, hirsutism, insulin intolerance. This link is not very well understood but most autistic women also tend to have PCOS (though plenty of women have PCOS and are not autistic) and women who have PCOS are more likely to have children with an autism diagnosis. Even though it tends to run in families, confusingly, PCOS does not appear to be genetic.
That said, I do have PCOS and even though women with PCOS tend to have more testosterone, I always loved being a woman and I never wanted to be a man or have experienced gender dysphoria, and I know plenty of other women with PCOS who are comfortable being women, they just wish their bodies worked like they should. So I don't think simplistic narratives I sometimes hear that excess testosterone causes more masculine women are true.
I also wanted to comment on the fact that a lot of the RODG kids I've seen tend to be gifted but rather than excel, they are so scared of failing that they don't even try and seem to want everyone to take care of them. And getting them to even confront that they are sabotaging themselves is hard. And unfortunately this internet trans culture enables that.
Sasha asked exactly the question I wanted Dr. Heying to answer. Did you evolve psychic mind-reading powers, Sasha?
Regarding hormones in the water, there does seem to be a link between autistic women and PCOS, a condition where a woman is born with too many eggs and this results in ovarian cysts and creates a lot of hormonal problems including infertility, weight gain, hirsutism, insulin intolerance. This link is not very well understood but most autistic women also tend to have PCOS (though plenty of women have PCOS and are not autistic) and women who have PCOS are more likely to have children with an autism diagnosis. Even though it tends to run in families, confusingly, PCOS does not appear to be genetic.
That said, I do have PCOS and even though women with PCOS tend to have more testosterone, I always loved being a woman and I never wanted to be a man or have experienced gender dysphoria, and I know plenty of other women with PCOS who are comfortable being women, they just wish their bodies worked like they should. So I don't think simplistic narratives I sometimes hear that excess testosterone causes more masculine women are true.
I also wanted to comment on the fact that a lot of the RODG kids I've seen tend to be gifted but rather than excel, they are so scared of failing that they don't even try and seem to want everyone to take care of them. And getting them to even confront that they are sabotaging themselves is hard. And unfortunately this internet trans culture enables that.
Wonderful conversation.
Wow what a brilliant woman!! I love her intellect and her soothing voice. Going to read all her books now! Thanks for bringing her on!