I believe this rationale originates from Simon Baron-Cohen who pioneered several salient in-vogue or influential ideas in psychology. He was the one who came up

I believe this rationale originates from Simon Baron-Cohen who pioneered several salient in-vogue or influential ideas in psychology. He was the one who came up with the idea of autism reflecting an 'extreme male brain'. More specifically he kind of uses the term 'extreme male' as magnified version of 'male brain' which trends towards systematization rather than empathizing. Around the time he formulated these theories I believe he conducted some studies trying to correlate testosterone levels or exposures in early ages and ToM deficit or something like that. I believe his results have been repeatedly challenged, but perhaps not been utterly conclusive. This study perhaps may be the nail in the coffin.