Paraphilias, Subclinical Autism, and AGP

Autism is a spectrum with a range of cognitive symptoms, some of which are more socially debilitating than others. If these symptoms are not too much of an issue for the individual, then they may be able to function in society without outside assistance. This would be considered "high-functioning" autism. However, given that autism is most likely a polygenetic trait due to this spectrum, it is possible that someone may be "autism-like" without ever being diagnosed as autistic. They may possess some vague symptoms equated with autism that would be seen as personality quirks rather than clear signs of autism. They would never be diagnosed on the spectrum and would therefore be subclinical.

It is known that autistic individuals - more so autistic male individuals - are more likely to develop and present hypersexual paraphilias. We could go into why this occurs or what sets up an autistic individual for this predisposition toward strange sexuality, but it probably has to do with some mix of influences: differences in mirror neuron function, stunted socialization and development, hyperfixation, etc.

One thing to note about sexual arousal is that it is a fairly primitive process taking place in a highly complex human brain, with billions of connections and parameters. Sexuality requires fine tuning of these connections to work properly. Autism is marked by a stunted ability to learn relatively simple social strategies and cues, because the autistic brain treats all stimuli as equally "weighted". In a neurotypical brain, this kind of learning is easier because specific social stimuli can be tuned to be more important than others without any deliberate thought. There's no reason that sexual arousal would be any different. Just as an autistic person may learn other social skills and cues in a strange way, they may also develop a strange sexuality.

This all leads to the notion that the autistic brain may be predisposed to paraphilias. Hyperfixation exacerbates this and could result in obsessive thought regarding this paraphilia. The paraphilia could be anything, but it's more likely that it is some sort of proxy or adjacency to "normal" sexuality. For example, feet possess a relatively high amount of sensory nerve endings, somewhat like a sexual organ. Scary or humiliating things share similar physiologic pathways as sexual arousal. Certain attire accentuates what a normal sexuality would look for in terms of stimuli for arousal. And autogynephilia uses its own sexual proxy: the self.

What does this all mean? Well, it potentially shows that most if not all paraphilias are erotic target errors. They result from an inability to convert complex stimuli into a relatively simple state of arousal. During sexual development, problems with learning the proper sexual cues could lead to arousal toward non-sexual or unconventionally sexual things: feet, anthropomorphic animals, diapers, or the notion of transforming into the opposite sex. Once this misattribution is established, it becomes the individual's predominate sexuality during their post-pubescent years. It may also be possible to aquire new paraphilias or sexualities later, but these won't be as strong or persistent as the fundamental sexuality.

A subclinical autistic person may also be predisposed to these sexual developmental issues. On the outside, they might seem fairly neurotypical or perhaps a bit quirky, but their social function would be largely indistinguishable to that of neurotypical individuals. In this case, strange sexuality like AGP could still develop and may be alarming to the individual, because it would threaten their social, professional, and romantic wellbeing. They would look for answers as to why they were fairly normal yet so weird sexually.

There are likely other ways AGP can manifest, but this probably explains the existence of individuals with long-term AGP and possible desires to transition. The connection between hypersexual paraphilia and autism is well established. AGP is often comorbid with other paraphilias. You just need to look in any AGP centered discord server if you desire proof of these two former statements. However, it's not impossible that porn addiction could cause temporary AGP. Childhood trauma is murkier and much more challenging to prove that it is the direct cause, though it might have an influence on someone predisposed to paraphilias.

What do all of you think of this? Do you think it relates to your experience? How much do you think ASD explains AGP?