Hello Dreamers,
Today is June 1st, the start of Pride Month. Which means more awareness of issues concerning LGBT and sexual minorities. While I, myself, am not a sexual minority, it has been a known fact that people who have Autism Spectrum Disorder are more likely to be a sexual minority, as well as to have what the DSM calls a paraphilic disorder, than the general public. Why is that a thing, and what does this mean for autistics, neurology, and general society?
The Facts of the Matter
The link between LGBT and autism has been known for a while, estimated to be somewhere between 15% - 35% of high-functioning autistics identify as any combination of homosexual/bisexual, transgendered, gender nonbinary, or other variants that classify as 'queer.' Only 4.5% of the general public identify as such.
As well, hypersexuality, or having a high libido, is overrepresented in the autistic community. 30% of male autistics and 10% of female autistics were found to be hypersexual in one study, compared to 3.5% of males and 3% of females in the general public.
Autistics are also more likely to admit to having a kink or unhealthy sexual desires. For many categories of what the DSM calls paraphilic disorders or disorders that involve sex and sexual desire and arousal, autistics were more likely to admit they had such than the general public. For example, 39% of male autistics admitted to having voyeuristic fantasies compared to 2% of males in the general public (10% of females in both groups admitted it) Not universal for all paraphilic disorders, as only 2% of female autistics admit to having sadistic fantasies, vs 3% of females within the general public.
Here's the, right out of the article from NIH: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5789215/table/T4/?report=objectonly
Studies like this are meant to remind people that autistic aren't unsocial aces. They crave love, sex, and intimacy as much as anyone else, possibly more so in fact.
What I Think?
Why would having a communication and expression disorder that makes reading social cues and acting appropriately difficult make someone more sexual? It's one thing to find a correlation, it's something else to prove causality.
Many of the studies involve participants having to self-identity. So you know what I think? I don't think ASD makes people more horny and less straight. Instead, I think autistics are more likely to be honest with themselves.
Here is another table from the same NIH study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5789215/table/T2/?report=objectonly
Now, let's laugh at the fact that 10% of autistics and no one in the general public admitted to being homosexual. As well, 8% of autistics and no one in the general public admitted to being bisexual. Despite the fact that sex experts frequently state that the LGB population is about 10% - 15% of the general public.
I smell a rat.
What I think is happening is, due to difficulties picking up on socially appropriate behavioural cues they might not know that they need to stay in the closet. LGBT phobia is a big problem that forces people to lie to themselves about what they want in love, sex, and romance.
As an example, TOTK introduced an endgame boss with a close panning upshot from feet to head. Said boss was also a scantly clad, jacked up, brown DILF. I'll admit my jaw dropped at the combination of attractiveness and blatant sexualization (Oh well). I will bet my right ovary that many straight women and gay men saw the same thing and were just as enamoured.
Now in many communities admitting that you are a sexual minority won't just ostracize you or invite violence to yourself, you might also be admitting to a higher power that you are damnable and unworthy of love and a ticket to heaven. So, a closet gay man seeing that sequence play out, will have their jaw drop at the sexuality while insisting to, not only their peers but to themselves, that "I like women, I swear! No, I am not being aroused by Ganondorf!"
Such cues that being gay is 'bad' would go over the heads of many autistic gay men, and they will admit without shame or guilt that the muscling Demon King is in fact, very hot, maybe even their type.
On the other end, lesbians play Zelda as well and would have felt nothing when they saw the guy. But maybe, to maintain a facade of straightness, had to pretend to drool over the very tall, dark, muscle man, while also insisting to themselves that "I like men! He's hot! I swear!"
I mean, Allen Turing, a suspected autistic, couldn't keep his gay arse in the closet to save his life and livelihood. The guy who cracked the German Enigma code was forced to take a plea deal and fired from M6 for being caught with a male lover. He would very well know that homosexuality was a crime in 1950s Britain. Yet, he lacked the communication and expression skills to hide it.
Sources:
Schöttle, D., Briken, P., Tüscher, O., & Turner, D. (2017). Sexuality in autism: Hypersexual and paraphilic behavior in women and men with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 19(4), 381-393. https://doi.org/10.31887/DCNS.2017.19.4/dschoettle
Post Script
Shut up about the TOTK spoiler: everyone knows Ganondorf is the BEBG.
People want love and to be loved. When you are connecting with someone and you feel you can just relax and be yourself, that's what relationship is about. It's rare to find that other person, so you want it to work. You try harder to manage this gift. These are trying times, and good is becoming scarce. It is unfortunate that love is in danger because of haters and trolls. Great writing.