There is a widely held misconception that either autism only exists in boys, or girls with autism are so rare as to be non-existent. First, I am an autistic woman. There are many autistic women out there. There is no doubt that we exist in the autism community, just the general public.

Part of this misconception is due to the media. When you see an autistic person portrayed in the media, they are almost always male. Typically, they are young (either small children or teenagers), white, males. They are usually either ‘severely autistic’ (and are described as such) or are geniuses with slight social quirks. Often, they exist solely as plot devices. The media rarely considers the sensory aspects of autism, and almost never tells a story from an autistic perspective. Occasionally, an autistic person will be called in to comment and advise, but it’s rare for an autistic person to play an autistic character.

So, overall, media representation of autism sucks. It sucks when you constantly see misrepresentations and see them being praised for ‘bringing light to the condition’.

But what sucks more is how this influences the general public. When I tell someone I have Asperger’s, they usually respond ‘oh, like Sheldon?’. I used to have a minor obsession with The Big Bang Theory, partially because it was one of the only shows with someone even mildly similar to me. Now, I recognise that Sheldon is a bit of a jerk.

The media rarely admits that the person is autistic. The writers of The Big Bang Theory have not admitted that Sheldon is autistic, regardless of the fact that they have written him as such and fans of the show have considered it non-negotiable. The fact is, regardless of whether or not he is ‘diagnosed’ by the show, the majority of the public consider him the poster boy for Asperger’s. But since he hasn’t been ‘labelled’, the writers can get away with making fun of his autistic symptoms and never explaining why he acts certain ways. The show, in my opinion, doesn’t lead to understanding and acceptance of autism. It leads to misrepresentation and misunderstanding.

Another show with an obviously autistic character is Bones. I love this show. It is the only one I have found thus far with a woman with autism who is not defined solely by the autism. Brennan is an actual character, not just a collection of ‘quirky’ symptoms. She has not been ‘diagnosed’ on the show (and the show has finished, so she never will be), but the creator and the actor have said that she is based off of someone with Asperger’s.

So when people see autistic people in media, they aren’t women. This leads to the assumption that autism only exists in boys. This is largely the fault of the media, because there are many autistic actors out there looking for work who would be perfect.

This misconception is also due to misdiagnosis and lack of diagnosis in autistic women. Autistic women tend to be diagnosed at a later age, if at all, and are often diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, Anorexia Nervosa, and/or various mood disorders before someone considers autism.

This may be due to the fact that Kanner and Asperger, the people who originally discovered autism (IE figured out it was a diagnosis) in the 1940’s, only had young boys in their original sample. So the diagnostic criteria was based off of boys, rather than a combination of boys and girls. At the time, it’s possible they assumed that either girls don’t ‘get’ autism, or they must display autistic symptoms in the same ways as boys. We now know that women typically display autistic traits differently than boys. For example, masking would hide some of our social difficulties. Having more socially acceptable special interests (such as makeup and fashion) could hide them from doctors looking for obsessive interests in trains.

There could, of course, be some kind of biological reason for autism to occur more often in boys than girls. But the difference between the sexes is not high enough for autism to be considered a boys disorder. This stereotype is a myth enforced by the media and by diagnostic criteria that only considered males.