Why the 'extreme male brain' theory of autism has been disowned | The Spectator

Theory Briefing

• Sir Simon Baron-Cohen, who originally championed the extreme male brain theory, is himself distancing from it — a rare case of a theorist disowning his own landmark idea.
• The theory held that autism represents an extreme version of male-typical cognitive traits like systemising over empathising, shaping decades of research and diagnosis.
• Growing evidence around autistic women and gender-diverse individuals challenged the model's core assumption that autism maps neatly onto biological sex differences.
• Baron-Cohen's reversal raises questions about how long influential but flawed frameworks can steer clinical practice before the field corrects course.