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Autism and Gender: From Refrigerator Mothers to Computer Geeks

Online ISBN:
9780252096259
Print ISBN:
9780252038372
Publisher:
University of Illinois Press
Book

Autism and Gender: From Refrigerator Mothers to Computer Geeks

Jordynn Jack
Jordynn Jack
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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Published:
1 May 2014
Online ISBN:
9780252096259
Print ISBN:
9780252038372
Publisher:
University of Illinois Press

Abstract

The reasons behind the increase in autism diagnoses have become hotly contested in the media as well as within the medical, scholarly, and autistic communities. This book suggests the proliferating number of discussions point to autism as a rhetorical phenomenon that engenders attempts to persuade through arguments, appeals to emotions, and representational strategies. The book focuses on the ways gender influences popular discussion and understanding of autism's causes and effects. It identifies gendered theories like the “refrigerator mother” theory, for example, which blames emotionally distant mothers for autism, and the “extreme male brain” theory, which links autism to the modes of systematic thinking found in male computer geeks. The book's analysis reveals how people employ such highly gendered theories to craft rhetorical narratives around stock characters—fix-it dads, heroic mother warriors rescuing children from autism—that advocate for ends beyond the story itself while also allowing the storyteller to gain authority, understand the disorder, and take part in debates. The book reveals the ways we build narratives around controversial topics while offering new insights into the ways rhetorical inquiry can and does contribute to conversations about gender and disability.

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