(Untitled)

[gileonnen]

This is a Curious Post.

During the past few months or so, my circles on the internet have come increasingly into contact with the notion of ' plurality' of personae in one body. I've been working to understand what the concept means and why other people feel that it describes them, so this post isn't an 'explain to me what plurals are, I don't know

Comments

[tybarbary]

It's not something that I personally identify with, but I have known a few people who do. Much like many other forms of identity (otherkin, bisexual), there are people who seem to use it to gain attention or excuse unacceptable or unhealthy behaviors, and others who are perfectly reasonable people who just happen to have this facet as a part of their self and paradigm. In fact, a person whom I greatly respect just revealed that he's part of a multiple system.

That's... about all I've got on the matter. It can be a valid thing, it's not my thing, but I respect it when a person embodies it.

(If this comment is completely useless, please delete it. ^^;)

[gileonnen]

Not useless at all! This is more or less the position I'm adopting, right now--but maybe I can prod you a little on your response? Because, for instance, while I don't identify as a plural system with multiple other persons sharing headspace with me, I do identify as multiply gendered, and although I have some control over how that gender presents, I feel myself phasing between states that I identify as 'masculine' or 'feminine' or 'neuter' or whatnot (and there's quite a lot of 'whatnot'). What kinds of distinctions, both on the level of feeling and on the level of pure intellectual classification, would you make between my experiences of my gender and a plural system's experiences of personhood?

[tybarbary]

I think facets of a trait one has - such as gender or even species - is a much less drastic "shift" than having multiple personalities or people in one's body. I am still the same person, whether I am presenting/feeling masculine or feminine or just plain funky, but as I have witnessed/understand it with multiple systems, the people within the same body are not the same "I". They may or may not know what the other one(s) is/are doing when the other is fronting or being the active personality. It may be the same mechanism of "shift" between facets of a trait and personalities in a body, but I consider multiples to be on a much larger scale than gender-switching.

Does that make sense?

[gileonnen]

*nods* It does! Thank you for providing such a thoroughgoing distinction!

[dejablue7]

I may or may not have something more intelligent to say later, but right now my response is primarily:

YAY~ ♥

[gileonnen]

XD Could you tell me why 'yay'? I admit, on the level of feeling, I've been allowing my very negative experiences with a particular plural system to color my feelings toward the entire concept. Although I want to eradicate that set of feelings, I also admit that I feel a little upset and sick to my stomach when you make a post on your plural story, because it reminds me of that system and the confusion and pain I remember. This is completely divorced from my delight at seeing you so excited about a subject, and my curiosity about that subject.

(All of which is to say, keep posting. It helps me to confront my irrational feelings and to identify why I feel them, and it helps me to understand something that I don't really understand yet.)

As I hope you can see, my feelings are very complicated right now, and I want to know where you're coming from when you reply with a capslocking YAY~. ^___^

I think I love you

[dejablue7]

Just yay! that singlets aside from myself are talking about it... sometimes I wonder if people look at my posts and think I'm just a crazy person or something ._

Re: I think I love you

[gileonnen]

*squeeeeeze* My experience was a little different, because it was online and involved a roleplaying environment in which IC/OOC distinctions were already not terribly well-maintained--so in addition to trying to navigate an entirely new set of social cues having to do with people who interact with the world as a group, I also had to do so while navigating cues that were only sometimes OOC and thus only sometimes pertained to anything that I-the-player had done. This was the social equivalent of deciding, after having mastered the two-ball juggle, to move on to juggling eight viable chicken eggs and a chainsaw.

Needless to say, I wound up with egg on my face.

So--no, I wouldn't say you're terrible for having a bad experience, especially when part of that badness comes from a place of needing fairly specific social cues. I would say that we both have a lot to learn on this front, and that hopefully we can have the kinds of conversations that can help us to learn.

[silverdragon262]

Interesting. Plurality isn't something I'd previously been aware of, but I suppose that is merely because it hasn't yet become a topic of vocal interest within my social circles. Until now, I suppose. I have been exploring the linked LJ community, and I have to admit that I feel what I can only describe as skepticism. But I also recognize that something about the concept deeply unsettles me, not in the least the use of the word "system" to describe the physical body. So no doubt I come to this discussion biased.

I hope that was not offensive. I want to be clear about the fact that my aim here is not to invalidate anyone's identity, nor am I trying to be uncivil. I just wanted to be honest, and to document my reaction to something new to me.

[gileonnen]

*nods* I think that documentation is a useful thing to provide, and you were very careful to couch your sentiments in language that took full responsibility for your own feelings. I'm grateful that you're here, listening, and I'm grateful that you're able to express yourself so cogently in the face of a new experience.

[silverdragon262]

Thank you for making this post. I will be reading with interest, because no matter my feelings on plurality I would like to understand it as much as possible.

I also want to comment on something you said a bit further up and to someone else--about the online roleplaying environment. Another bias I bring to this conversation, I think, is that I have participated in that environment quite heavily over the years. As you no doubt know, it's common for RPers to speak of their characters as though they are people and also as though they are, for lack of a better phrase, other personalities in one's "headspace" (RP terminology). I have spoken in this way myself, while at the same time remaining wary of anyone who seemed to honestly believe that their RP characters acted somehow of their own volition. That same wariness is evoked by multiplicity and, in particular, by what I have seen called "soulbonding," which, if I understand correctly, can refer to the inclusion of fictional characters in one's system or group.

[gileonnen]

Thank you for bringing up these contexts! They're also part of how I come to the discussion on multiplicity, and so it's important for me to recognize that I've been encouraged to dismiss such identities out of hand.

[reconditarmonia]

*poke*

[gileonnen]

:D :D :D Now that I've finished Giant Doom-Essay and Giant Doom-Spreadsheet, I am READY TO ROCK AND ROLL on the *poke* front.

[reconditarmonia]

Yay! What was the essay/spreadsheet for?

[gileonnen]

Oral examination preparations. Essentially, the equivalent to a Master's thesis. D:

[cpip]

Hmm. I was loosely familiar with some of the subsets of what's now 'plurality,' but I wasn't aware the various subsets were coalescing under one umbrella.

I confess I tend to be skeptical of such claims -- then again, I tend to be skeptical of a lot of things.

[gileonnen]

*nodnod* The thing I had the greatest difficulty with initially was distinguishing plurality from Dissociative Identity Disorder (which is itself a diagnosis that tends to raise eyebrows in the psychological community). While plurality/multiplicity does bring several subsets under one umbrella, as you say, it's also worthwhile to be attentive to the umbrellas from which it's attempting to extract itself.

[caudelac]

I have very mixed feelings about it. It's odd putting it this way, but I had a borderline case of DID when I was in high school-- some serious thought-disorder and lost time stuff. I have had pretty much good experiences with people I have known who identify as plural, and heard some horror stories, so I figure its like everything else-- somewhere between romantic and scary, but ultimately, good for some and bad for others. I dunno.

[gileonnen]

*hugs* Thank you for sharing your experience--I'm sorry that it was a frightening one!