The difficulty in the formation of selfhood for an autistic female is compounded when explored through the theoretical lens of intersectionality. Intersectionality theory ‘proposes that an individual who has several oppressed identities will live completely different experiences than someone who shares only one, or some, of those oppressed identities’ (Saxe 2017: 153). The consideration of identities as interacting with one another, rather than simply separate identities where the most ‘oppressed’ is the most conspicuous exposes a qualitatively unique experience of oppression that results from the interaction of these various identities. This concept is explored via the intersection of the oppressed identities of autistic females, where their identities within medical, societal and fictional discourses are absented, as opposed to the highly visible representation of the male autistic experience, thus affecting the female autistic identity formation.
Saxe states that autistic females have ‘three explicit identities that contribute to their experienced barriers’: gendered female, which is acknowledged as the subjugated gender; being under-represented in autistic research and in the largely male-centric autistic community; and finally, disabled in a dominant able-bodied world facing the obstacle of inclusion (2017: 159). Intersectionality theory illuminates the particular struggles of autistic female experience and points to the acknowledgement of the distinctive presentation of autism in females. Further, the theory exposes the unique struggles that autistic females face in gaining social inclusion, whereby their identity is constructed by the dominant discourse. In being isolated and disconnected from the neurotypical community juxtaposed with being largely absented from the autistic community, women with autism are twice-excluded. By utilising intersectionality to recognise the obstacles that autistic females encounter, it is then possible to address the issues that marginalise them.