Autism and Masking

My therapist a few years ago said something about me being Autistic, assuming that I had already been diagnosed. I had always thought of Autism as kids who scream and are impossible to control, so I was immediately offended. I told him he was full of shit and hung up on him. Thank you to Covid-19 for ensuring that I didn’t have to angrily drive away since therapy was virtual at that time.

I started reading about Autism and joining groups for Autistic adults. The more research I did, the more I began to understand myself, and to see that my therapist was right. Don’t worry; I called him to apologize. It was still awkward after that so I see someone else now, but at least he got the satisfaction of me admitting he was right.

The point is: Knowing I was Autistic helped me see why the kink community appealed to me. I hate surprises or not knowing what is going to happen next. Being a Domme and negotiating scenes in advance took all the scary things out of sex. It made it much more palatable for me.

I also realized that I’ve always done something called “masking,” though I called it my “chameleon response.”

Basically, I mirror whatever energy someone else puts out. I mirror their speech patterns and even their mannerisms. FYI: Being someone who masks heavily is not great around people who hate themselves or people who are assholes. I have a natural resistance to negativity due to having an overabundance of Serotonin and Dopamine in my brain, but a miserable enough person can wear me down eventually until I mirror them.

People can’t always tell I’m happy because I don’t do facial expressions really well. But, all you have to do is listen to me talk.

I also see the best in people, find the good in shit situations, and generally view the world as a great place to be.

This is not always good. For example, my ex-husband had a serious brain injury while out drinking in Seoul in 2016. He became meaner and more dependent on alcohol, but I didn’t really notice because I only saw the good things in him. Later, he had another serious brain injury while out on exercise with the Navy. He got so mean and violent, but I thought: “Oh, he’ll get better.” He got worse and worse, and I kept trying to help him instead of running away. I thought I could help, because that is the disadvantage of being a cheerful person who looks for the good in everyone.

Being Autistic means I’m pretty awkward (on the inside) and I always feel like I’m cosplaying as an adult. On the other hand, that makes role-play really easy. If you’re already doing cosplay in all of your life, then trying out different characters isn’t so weird. It makes being a Domme easy because it’s just another persona, like my work persona and my friend persona. It’s like being diagnosed allowed me to find the key to a lock I didn’t know I had inside me.

On balance, I think I’ve come to love who I am more now.

I used to be pretty insecure. My biological mom spent my entire childhood calling me a piece of shit, and my biological dad told me I was too stupid to grow up to be anything of value. The kids at school also bullied me, and I didn’t learn to read or write until I was in 5^th grade. Thanks to Mrs. Delinsik for speaking kindly to me. No one had ever spoken to me kindly before, and it turns out that’s how I learn. I can’t learn from being screamed at. I can’t even hear people when they are screaming because it makes my brain panic.

I was never stupid. I was just processing external stimuli with my entire brain the way Autistic people do, instead of with only one specific part of my brain the way neurotypicals do. This makes it hard to hear people chew and hear appliances hum and other things like that, but it definitely makes sex better. Experiencing sex with your entire brain is pretty great.

Once I was diagnosed, I noticed that most of my kinky friends are neurodivergent, too. That makes me happy. I didn’t even know who I was, but I still found my people.

I’ve come to realize that Autistic people are often bullied nut neurotypicals, and it’s not because there is anything wrong with us. It’s because there’s something wrong with the people who choose to bully us. The people who didn’t like how I acted make me laugh now. After all, I was only masking and mirroring their own behavior towards me (including tone, inflection, and stance). The thing they didn’t like was actually their own actions reflected back at them. It’s amusing when you think about it.

Thank you to all of you who have been part of my journey and helped me along the way. It means a lot.

As for me, I am trying to unmask. I don’t want to mirror people anymore or be anyone other than myself. It’s about time. But, I wish I’d been diagnosed sooner. I spent 42 years thinking I was a defective horse when I was a zebra all along.