Take part: Autistic Gender Critical Voices

[NeuroPoppins]

Hi everyone, I'm putting together an article for my blog about what autistic ppl would like to say to other autistics about how they've been treated for having GC views.

Like being banned from groups, dog-piled, censored, trolled, branded hateful, shamed etc. About maybe feeling you've had to leave the groups and find a new place. Whatever experiences ppl have had. Maybe even personal guilt for not speaking up sooner, or for seeing others be silenced and not sticking up for them because it would have been too overwhelming for you to do. Help ppl see that you can admit these things and you're not alone.

I'm thinking I'll make an article with different quotes from ppl. Maybe turn some into Slides/Infographics so they're more likely to be shared around to help reach more ppl who might feel the same. Or see it and see the consequences for having been the persecutors damning us.

If anyone has anything they'd like to say or add to it put it here in the comments

Will all be done anonymously so no one will be named etc. No worries if you don't want to add anything, that's fine too.

I can't post a link to my blog as it will get marked as spam but you can just search my name Neuro Poppins and you will find my blog so you can check me out first. I've done Autistic Interviews before where I included questions about gender and published gender critical voices to show that there are autistic ppl who do not agree with gender ideology. I'd like to help raise our voices so I'm thinking up different ways to do so.

(I don't monetise the blog either btw, so I'm not making any money off this. I do it because of passion.)

Feel free to ask me any questions if you need more info

Trying to talk to ppl my own age about it is hard enough, I can't even begin to know the dangers of talking to your child about it with the extra barriers between you that happen during adolescence. I would never listen to my mum as a teen cos I though she knew nothing, anything she said weaponised my thoughts against her. Luckily I grew out of it of course, but mostly thanks to having an amazing, articulate and intelligent NT sister who taught me how to think. My mum is undiagnosed autistic (I think anyway), and she had very black and white thinking that make conversations difficult, without my sister to help me see how to think critically and escape my mums way of thinking I honestly don't know where is be today.

As hard as it is, your daughter will be listening and taking things in. Sounds like you are working hard at soft persistence and reason x

And yes, I'm a female, in my late 30s and have only just in recent years realised I'm a woman. I had some gender and identity issues due to undiagnosed autism, and if the idea of non-binary had been around in my youth I would have almost certainly thought I was that. It's taken me decades to recognise my own internalised misogyny and finally stop hating the idea of femaleness. I never thought I was a boy, but I aligned WITH boys and genuinely didn't see myself as a girl, which led me to think I was seen by men as one of them, which led me into very bad situations I didn't see coming. I feel like I've been a version of trans in a way, and I've only woken up from it these last few years and I can see the harm done to myself by not recognising myself as a girl. I'm only just starting to articulate this stuff to myself so it's hard to describe, but I'm going to try and start writing more about it as I see a lot of similar themes in autistic trans. Not being able to recognise myself had led me to dissociate, now I'm like a detransitioner (who never transitioned in the first place) who has realised I'm just a woman. Finding radfem has felt like coming home to me.

I used to pay a lot of attention to the reddit sites for aspergers (generally) and women with aspergers. The general one seemed swamped with so much more negativity, very much in support of the idea that autism often presents very differently in males and females. Then the transwomen started moving more and more into the women's site, and you could really feel the difference. Autistic trans women seem to generally have a very male-presenting autism - I find it difficult believing someone is really female on a psychological level when they come across so male even on an anonymous text-based medium!

I don't go on the sites so much but thankfully I think the balance has shifted back now. I even saw a reply quite heavily downvoted recently for chipping in with "my experiences as a trans person who was male-presenting in childhood" (paraphrasing) when the topic of discussion was what it was like having autism as a female child.

Yes, it's true, I often find I know when reading someone's writing that they are male or female. Even in autistic females who are often said to have "male brains" - it's still obvious it's a female talking. And when transwomen talk I can tell they are male. The whole TRA's movement is very male in its style of thinking and behaviour. As a woman who has suffered repeatedly from male violence and manipulation it's so glaringly obvious to me. And the fact that they are listened to just proves they are not women, cos our voice are never heard.

I have DC who are autistic. There is certainly a lot of ND in both my and DH family. Am I autistic? Quite possibly, but not bothered about getting a diagnosis. One ND diagnosis is enough. I have long since come to terms with being myself. But more than that, I don’t want to be linked with those who now refer to themselves as the ‘Autism Community’. Indeed neither do the most of autistic people I know in real life (and some ‘Aspies’ and ‘people with autism’ who have been told by the Autism Community they must not refer to themselves that way). This activist group have turned autism into an identity with prescribed beliefs that those who identify (with or without a diagnosis) must follow and part of that is gender ideology. It will be impossible to untangle autism from gender ideology until it is recognised that there is not a single ‘Autism Community’ and those who shout online do not represent everyone.

My DC are not interested in the Autism Community either after being in an autism training session where they were constantly told ‘the Autism Community think this’ and that ‘Autistic people do this/are good at that’ neither of which tallied with them.

DD is short for 'dear daughter'
DS is short for 'dear son'
DC is short for 'dear children'

It gets a bit more confusing with things like DP which could be 'dear grandparents' or 'dear partner' so sometimes you'll see DGP. Or DS which could be 'dear sister' so people will write DSis

I draw the line at Ddog 😆

I'd love to tell my workplace neurodivergency group that GC views are protected, but I'm scared. I'm likely to leave the group anyway because the incessant positivity irritates me no end.

@VitoCorleoneOfMNMafia , the incessant positivity irritates me no end

That made me chuckle. I know what you mean!

So true. I was caught up in the idea of autism community think, and Autism as an identity. It's only very, very recently I'm seeing things clearly. The 'Neurodiversity Movement' has become so tangled up in gender ideology and identity insanity and will villainise anyone who doesn't play along validating it.

Thank you for your comment

Yes, it is very risky to speak against. Even though GC views are now protected it is too worry some to do

Thank you all for your comments. I think I've replied to everyone but sorry if I've missed anyone. I will start putting comments together for the article in the coming weeks and I will let you know when I've done it. Feel free to add more as there is still plenty of time. I really appreciate all the input

Oh, yes, the policing of language by 'the community'! Which I personally find odd, as I'd have thought the very idea of community and grouping would be unappealing to many autistic people.

At a course for parents of autistic kids of all places, I mentioned that my teen was more comfortable with the idea of having Aspergers than Autism. I was rebuffed by a loud woman, saying that her teen is 'simply horrified' at the mention of Mr Asperger. I sighed, and said that mine was more keen on clarity than linguistic fashions, and that facts cannot be changed and it was him that first spotted Autism without LD. I guess this woman wasn't a fan of facts or reality. A bit like GI.

The article is ready and will be going live tomorrow 7am.

Would anyone be so kind as to share the link in here tomorrow once it's published pls? If I post my own blog links it will be marked as spam and I might lose my account on here x

Just search my name Neuro Poppins and you will find it. Thanks

The article is now online for you to view and share. Please can someone share the link to our here pls?

Titled Silenced Voices: Autistic Perspectives on Gender Critical Views

Thank you all SO much for taking part ❤️

My DD has a condition that has now fallen or been co-opted into the ND ‘community’. Fortunately, she had experienced forced teaming via school early on - all the children with various support needs being chucked together and realising how stupid it was. But trans issues have hollowed out what might have been useful support groups everywhere. There is only one condition that gets the rainbows, sparkles and unicorns it seems. Such a shame but so good you are making a new space.

I came across a TikTok/youtube short on masking the other day. It was someone who had been accused of teaching autistic children to mask and was totally unapologetic about it - that it was about teaching children reciprosity and how to live alongside others. I have previously seen people in autistic groups saying they want this too - so they can fit in at times when they choose to do so (they were shouted down). It was too short a short to really understand the merits or otherwise of his particular approach.

What particularly caught my attention though was that autistic men or their family members had also requested this because they had received complaints about frightening women.

Hiya! I just looked for it and couldn't find it? Sorry, really would love to read it

Yes, I am having to teach my autistic male teen not to frighten women.

Everyone adapts their behaviour to the situation. This is normal. Eg: using a quiet voice in the library not your football stand voice. We teach our little (NT) kids that . Autistic kids deserve to learn it too. Yes it's more difficult but we do need to learn if we can.

There is a difference between masking ( behaviour detrimental to masker) and camouflaging (? Think that was the term my SLT used) which is the adapting everyone does to the location. Masking can be useful for some people in short bursts if used knowingly and weighing up the pros and cons. (Eg when not appearing disabled is a safety concern)

@NeuroPoppins Can you tell us which site it's on? I can't see it in my google search?

Oh, erm, maybe try typing into Google
Silenced Voices: Autistic Perspectives on Gender Critical Views
?
Or is on my blog now but you might have to scroll down the page to where the blog posts are shown?

If you type Neuro Poppins into Google it should come up. The domain name is Auntie Autism though. But Neuro Poppins is best to type in

Should look like this on Google, then scroll down my website to blog posts

Like a driving licence, masking is useful to have available to you even if you choose not to use it most of the time.

What we shouldn't be doing is masking all the time.

https://auntieautism.wordpress.com/2024/05/09/silenced-voices-autistic-perspectives-on-gender-critical-views/

That's it! Thank you!! ❤️