3 ms·
Without wanting to go too far out of my depth, I have read a few times now that a lot of the perceived growth in autism rates could be attributed to our society
by thrance 11mo ago
Without wanting to go too far out of my depth, I have read a few times now that a lot of the perceived growth in autism rates could be attributed to our society pushing people into adopting behaviors previously attributed to "actual" autism. Spending time on the computer as a kid (playing video games, etc.) is still mostly a boy activity, because of societal reasons, and can certainly lead to adopting these behaviors later in life in some cases (not making any value judgment here). I would be willing to bet that, had programming stayed a women-dominated position, we'd have more women than men on the spectrum today.
- luke5441 11mo agoThis is wildly extreme in the nature vs nuture debate. What is your opinion of gay conversion therapy?
- thrance 11mo agoI'm telling you: I'm out of my depth here. I don't need opinion on gay conversion therapy though, it's been shown repeatedly to be completely ineffective (and extremely cruel too). What's your point? Careful though, I'm not telling you that playing video games as a kid makes you autistic, I'm telling you that doing so can make an individual adopt behaviors previously thought to define/be exclusive to autism.
- luke5441 11mo agoWell, behaving like an autist is obviously not good. If it is by nuture then we can prevent it by e.g. prohibiting video games for kids. If it is by nature (being gay is generally accepted to be by nature) means that it cannot be changed by nuture. The trans issue is currently the hot frontier of this debate.