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Autism as a biomedical platform for sex differences research

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Abstract

Autism has become a ‘biomedical platform’ for sex differences research in fields such as genetics, endocrinology and neuroscience. Increasingly, researchers in these fields pose the male prevalence of autism as a model for investigating sex differences in the brain, and offer basic research on sex differences in the brain as a resource for understanding the etiology of autism. The use of autism as a biomedical platform for sex differences research obscures empirical and interpretive contestations surrounding claims about the male prevalence of autism. We argue that the uncritical use of this research platform across many fields stands to distort scientific research on autism and contribute to harmful gender stereotypes.

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Notes

  1. Along with Baron-Cohen, Rockefeller University neurobiologist Pfaff (Pfaff et al, 2011), Simon Fraser University evolutionary biologist Crespi and London School of Economics sociologist Badcock (Crespi and Badcock, 2008; Badcock and Crespi, 2008) and neuroscientist Keller of the Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma (Keller and Ruta, 2010) are among the leading proponents of the EMB theory.

  2. Empirical critiques of the EMB theory have been articulated within the autism research community (Ellis, 2005; Barbeau et al, 2009; Morsanyi et al, 2012) and by gender scholars in the social sciences (Nash and Grossi, 2007; Jordan-Young, 2010; Grossi and Fine, 2012; Sample, 2012). However, these critiques are not acknowledged in the expanding field of basic sex differences research that takes the male prevalence of autism as its starting point.

  3. NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools: http://projectreporter.nih.gov/reporter.cfm. As of 6 July 2012. Exact search terms: autism And (“sex difference” Or “gender difference” Or “sex specific” Or “gender specific” Or “sexual difference” Or “sexual dimorphism” Or “sexual dimorphic” Or “sex dependent” Or “gender dependent” Or “sex based” Or “gender based” Or “sex ratio” Or “sex characteristics”).

  4. Autism Speaks Science Grant Search: www.autismspeaks.org/science/grant-search/. As of 6 July 2012.

  5. As of 12 July 2012. Exact search terms: TS=(autism AND (“sex difference*” OR “gender difference*” OR “sex specific” OR “gender specific” OR “sexual difference*” OR “sexual dimorph*” OR “sex dependen*” OR “gender dependen*” OR “sex based” OR “gender based” OR “sex ratio*” OR “sex characteristic*”). Refined by: Document Type=(ARTICLE OR REVIEW) Timespan=1980–2011. Databases=SCI-EXPANDED, SSCI. Lemmatization=On. The Arts and Humanities Citation Index was excluded in an effort to focus on biomedical science publications. Search terms follow the recommendations of Moerman et al (2009) and Oertelt-Prigione et al (2010).

  6. As of 12 July 2012. Exact search terms: TS=(autism). Refined by: Document Type=(ARTICLE OR REVIEW) Timespan=1980–2011. Databases=SCI-EXPANDED, SSCI).

  7. As of 12 July 2012. Exact search terms: TS=(“sex difference*” OR “gender difference*” OR “sex specific” OR “gender specific” OR “sexual difference*” OR “sexual dimorph*” OR “sex dependen*” OR “gender dependen*” OR “sex based” OR “gender based” OR “sex ratio*” OR “sex characteristic*”). Refined by: Document Type=(ARTICLE OR REVIEW) Timespan=1980–2011. Databases=SCI-EXPANDED, SSCI. Lemmatization=On.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Kendra Bechtel and Kate Womersley for research assistance and Steve Worthington and Ista Zahn of the Harvard Institute for Quantitative Social Science for assistance with the bibliometric data.

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Gillis-Buck, E., Richardson, S. Autism as a biomedical platform for sex differences research. BioSocieties 9, 262–283 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1057/biosoc.2014.17

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