Jezebel 
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New York, 3:01 PM
Mon Nov 9
40 posts in the last 24 hours
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10/22/09
[www.scientificamerican.com]
The author noted that the people who can't recognize fear are actually different from people with autism, who have difficult recognizing ALL types of emotions on other peoples' faces.
Aren't more men pscyhopaths than women? Or, at least we hear about more male serial killers than women? Not that all killers are pscyhopaths, but maybe this would help explain why men kill more than women do? #emotions
10/21/09
But yeah I second what lobsterswithmittens said; it's probably because women are afraid more often than men. #emotions
10/21/09
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10/21/09
A few years ago, it was brought to my attention that most men, while they understand that women experience fear walking alone at night or in a parking garage, don't really "get" it. As in, they don't know what it is to feel fear in an everyday situation. It's not for lack of compassion, it's simply something they don't have to feel. So perhaps this has something to do with their own abilities to detect fear in others.
10/21/09
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10/22/09
Besides which the statistics- men being physically assaulted more- don't actually tell us much about... well, anything. I'm interested in where you got the stat from, if you can point me to the study I'd like to see more info.
I'm afraid when I'm out and about (and sometimes when I'm not) partially because of my life experiences, and the experiences of the other women in my life, which I won't get into, but it's been clear to me from a young age that I'm subject to a particular kind of violence because of my gender. If you've been blessed with feeling you have no reason to fear, then I envy you. My fear isn't debilitating but I could do without it. #emotions
10/22/09
10/22/09
We definitely hear about the rapes/abductions/killings. But in reality, crime is fairly low and most people don't have those things happen to them. In fact, women are at the greatest risk from people they know--their boyfriends, husbands, friends, acquaintances. I think that a lot of times we get afraid of the unknown, the dark, strangers--but that fear is pretty unfounded for the most part. #emotions
10/22/09
I know MANY women who have been raped, both by strangers and people they knew. I'm sure I know more women who have been raped by never told me about it, as well.
I also hear in the news, in my city at least, all the time (every day) about women being assaulted by a stranger in the street, or a warning from the police that they have to release this violent sex offender onto the streets and they are worried he will commit the crime again (they often/usually do). It's become a running joke between me and my mother because all the time there are photos of these men in the paper that women (specifically women) are supposed to look out for because they have a history of breaking into women's homes at night and raping them, or for raping them on the street, and we joke that we'll never remember all of their faces, so what's the point of even releasing the photo? Also, at the place I go to school there have been attacks on women at night who are alone by strange men (who haven't been caught). The stats on women being raped are something like, what, 1 in 4? Depending where you look, could be more, or less, but still a sizable chunk of the female population.
Given all this (and my past experiences and the past experiences of the other women in my life)- how exactly is my fear unfounded? Just because the statistics say my boyfriend is more likely to rape me, that doesn't make it "reality"- it's just a stat. Stats do not tell the whole story.
I have felt and been threatened by strange men in the middle of the day. The threat of assault is a constant cloud over my head if I am out on my own, because I am very aware that it happens a lot. Also, I have had very disconcerting encounters with men where I wasn't sure exactly how much I was at risk. Men have purposefully intimidated me (often in groups) out in public, making me very conscious of my very REAL vulnerability to them.
Where ever you live that these things don't happen to you, I would like to move there. #emotions
10/22/09
I think that a lot of the news reports aren't about presenting representative facts--but about scaring us. The 24/7 media ensures that every time someone gets kidnapped or murdered or raped, we hear about it. The world isn't any more dangerous than it was fifty years ago. It's just that we talk about sex crimes more (a good thing!) and that we hear about scary stories because of the Nancy Graces of the world.
I think that the whole 24/7 media reporting all this stuff is bad for women. It perpetuates the notion that we need to be constantly afraid, when in reality as long as we're all (male/female) mostly aware of our surroundings, then bad stuff probably won't happen. And if it does, it's more than likely not going to happen from a total stranger, but from someone that we know. #emotions
10/23/09
10/23/09
I guess I prefer to look at facts, not opinions or feelings, when deciding things. #emotions
10/21/09
10/21/09
A lot of women in bad relationships over time stop showing as many emotions... maybe because they're misread... #emotions
10/21/09
10/22/09
10/05/09
When someone says " Hello ", it's best to say " Hello " back, and not to respond by reciting that various colors of light sabers found amongst the various Jedi nights.
10/05/09
10/05/09
I'm oblivious to tiny little offenses I've committed over the years, where people show their distaste with expressions (like when I, as a teenager, didn't understand that to people, saying "X is worse than Y" implies both are bad, and isn't a synonym with "Y is better than X"), but I certainly *care* that I offended people, and want to avoid it in the future. If anything, I care more than the average person, cause I keep an exhausting mental log of all the ways I've offended people since childhood, to make sure I don't do them again.
10/05/09
10/06/09
10/05/09
My brother was diagnosed with Asperger's at 27. The diagnosis has not only stopped my mom from helping my brother get over his fears, she actually babies any and all bad behavior he does (such as throwing a fit because we are eating something he doesn't want to or getting verbally, not yet physically, violent when we do something he doesn't like) and says it's his disorder and there is nothing that can be done.
I hear about those getting treatment and being re-socialized but I only often see the erratic behaviour not being treated or "Oh, it's the Asperger's, nothing we can do." I have met those who are diagnosed as with it who have perfectly normal social lives.
I have nothing against the diagnosis, just why it is diagnosed and often times how it is (not) treated.
10/05/09
I realize that many people truly are on the spectrum, but I have never seen such a blatant case of misdiagnosis in my entire life.
10/05/09
Second, that it would be interesting if the concern about "what we'll do" with autism spectrum kids as they age actually led to an examination of adults who currently fit the diagnostic criteria or would have as children (a much larger group than we think, I suspect). This is a largely ignored group, but vital to determining what kinds of services actually help adults with autism spectrum disorders thrive.
10/05/09
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10/05/09
I was accidentally diagnosed as Asperger's at 28 years old, when I drove a friend and her 4 year old boy to an autism specialist, and he asked that we normal people take his autism diagnosis questionnaire alongside with her answers for him. He scored 32 out of 111, and he is now at 8 a non-verbal, severe autist; I scored 87 out of 111, which was the second highest score the doctor had ever seen.
It was freeing though, to realize that my lack of coordination and feelings of being overwhelmed with too much sensory input had an explanation, but I wonder if I'd been given the diagnosis at a young age, like a 20-year-old acquaintance was, if I'd be different - he was homeschooled and basically told he'd never work or date so he lives up to those expectations, whereas I was expected to go to a regular school and check my latest obsession to do homework, chores, and show up for work, and to swim since I wasn't coordinated enough to play volleyball, and other things like that. I wonder if for high-functioning ASD and Asperger's people, an early diagnosis with the low expectations that usually go with it isn't shortchanging them.
10/05/09
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Sorry, autism is (ha, irony) one of my special interests, as an autistic person (Asperger's being my diagnosis).
10/05/09
My son has been diagnosed with autism, and there is no evidence that his disorder is genetic. There is no history of autism in my family. There is no history of autism in my husband's family. My son, like many other children diagnosed with autism, is considered to be "high-functioning". This term simply means that his IQ is average or above-average. So, no, he didn't receive the diagnosis rather than a diagnosis of mental retardation. He's quite bright, as are the other children on the spectrum that I have met.
I do think that the threshold for diagnosing is growing ever lower/more sensitive, and that is one factor for the increase in diagnoses. However, I also think that something has changed in the environment that is triggering more cases of autism. I do not know what that is. I don't think it is vaccines.
This is a very frustrating disorder to deal with, as there is no definitive way to diagnose it, no clear-cut treatments, and insurance companies deny benefits with impunity.
10/05/09
So none of these theories are right, it is just more diagnosis. Only severely non-verbal autists were called autists in the 70s, and now everyone on the spectrum gets diagnosed.
10/05/09
10/05/09
" cured " and that she and her husband are " bad " parents because they don't home school , shop at Whole Foods, and can't afford the alternative therapies that Ms. McCarthys son gets. That broke my heart. Here is a mom doing the best that she can - being made to feel like a " bad mom " because of people like McCarthy. ( off my Soap Box now )
10/05/09
10/05/09
I'm going to blame high fructose corn syrup. Because it's convenient for me and my distaste for the sheer number of products that use it. I admit to having no scientific basis to blame it, I just don't like the junk.
But truthfully, is it really becoming more widespread, or is there just more awareness of the autism spectrum? Or possibly diagnosis-happy parents and docs (as we experienced with a lot of false ADD kids in the 90s and early 00s)? Genetic testing will be great to have and I certainly hope they get it down pat relatively soon.
10/05/09
I also think it's compounded by the fact that in our lifetimes we have to encounter so many more strangers and have more advanced social skills. I can see how an autistic child would just be kept at home 100 years ago and considered "funny" but without something "medically" wrong with him. It's the nature of modern society that any kind of unusual behavior must have a disease behind it and be dealt with accordingly.
10/05/09
10/05/09
The spectrum means that people like me--a bit odd, a bit obsessive, socially inept--are autistic, along with people like my patients at work, who may be nonverbal and not completely toilet trained at 10, or 15.
10/05/09
I don't know nearly enough about autism to have an opinion on those questions, but they seem like potential reasons why thinking about autism with a spectrum model might give a lot of false positives. It is probably the best way to approach it - but it still may have this problem.
10/05/09
@Her Grace: I would be shocked if there weren't any people with Autism on Jez.
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That's a reason why this methodology is not a good one, but that defect would cause an underestimation of how many are affected, so it would not explain the increase, only point to this increase being even bigger.
10/05/09
10/05/09
I mean they seem present this as a possible mistake that would cause the figures to be so high, when that it would cause them to be lower, not higher.
I know the post doesn't explicitly say that, but it seems to point in that direction, which is a wrong one.