system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Why is autism more common in boys than girls?

I've read that autism is 4x more common in men than women. Is this a fairly concrete fact, and if so, do scientists have any intuition why this is the case?
gpt
This is not 100% known at our current level of understanding. It's thought that the same mechanism that prompts faster language and social development in developing girls may have some protective or 'cloaking' effect on ASD. 

Something to also stew on is the women that are diagnosed are often more severe as a group than the men - so there is also a possibility that high functioning females with ASD simply aren't been diagnosed. There is a lot of (anecdotal at this stage) evidence of women who believe they reach the criteria but have not been given a diagnosis due to their gender.