ultraviolet-techno-ecology:

When you dive right into it – many stereotypical things associated with autism are or were historically considered feminine activities. Which makes it baffling how people believe that Autism must represent an “Extreme Male Brain”

Until modern times – the majority of detail-focused repetitive labour was given to women. Sewing, cooking, and managing household finances and schedules being prime examples. Note however that none of these jobs are considered stereotypically autistic. 

Women have been involved with computers since they have appeared in the modern world. My grandmother spent her early adulthood working on computers the size of rooms – and programming was at the time considered very comparable to knitting – thus popular with women. Only recently have we come to see computers as masculine, and by extension the autistic compatibility with technology as a sign of some neuro-masculinity.

However similarly – Autistic boys are often noted for being bad at things we expect from their sex. They are often physically less coordinated, have less competitive drives, and tend towards emotional and physical sensitivity. All of these things are expected of girls. 

Perhaps the greatest thing to take away from this train of thought, is that our society is so profoundly sexist in our expectations that when questioned what we could expect an “Extreme Female Brain” to actually be good at, literally all we can imagine is socializing despite the extensive number of jobs which women have occupied throughout all of human history – and thus Autism with it’s difficulty in the social nuances must obviously be hyper masculine by default.