Gender identity, sexual orientation and adverse sexual experiences in autistic females.
Laura A Pecora, Grace I Hancock, Merrilyn Hooley and 4 others
PMID 32653016WHAT IT FOUND
Autistic females were more likely than non-autistic females to report bisexual or homosexual orientation.
Transgender identity did not clearly raise negative sexual experience risks within autism, but autistic homosexual females reported more regretted and unwanted sex.
Key findings
01Compared with non-autistic females, autistic females were 2.39 times more likely to report a homosexual orientation and 2.33 times more likely to report a bisexual orientation.
02Autistic females identifying as homosexual were 2.72 times more likely than autistic heterosexual females to report regretted sexual behaviour and 3.17 times more likely to report unwanted sexual behaviour.
03Transgender identity did not significantly increase negative sexual experiences within autistic females, but non-autistic transgender females were 4.01 times more likely than non-autistic cisgender females to report regretted sexual behaviour.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
All data were self-reported online, and autism status relied on self-report plus an Autism Quotient score above 32 rather than clinical examination. Recruitment used online advertisements, autism organisations, support forums, social media, word of mouth and snowballing, so the sample may not represent all autistic females. The non-autistic group had 45.6% reporting a non-heterosexual orientation, much higher than the 2 to 5% range reported for the broader population. The transgender groups were small, with 26 autistic and 14 non-autistic transgender females, so null findings about transgender identity may be limited by low power. The questionnaire used fixed response options and did not capture specific identities such as non-binary or transmale, or the reasons and conditions behind regretted and unwanted experiences. The study measured sexual identity but not sexual attraction or behaviour, and it did not examine causes, contexts or treatments. Only females assigned female at birth were included, so results cannot be generalised to autistic males.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that autism or transgender identity causes adverse sexual experiences. The study is a self-report survey, the transgender groups were small, and some associations were not significant.