The Creation of the Term "Endogenic"

[lb_lee]

EDIT: I realized I never gave the definition of endogenic, and am so embarrassed!  An "endogenic multiple" is a system who sees their multiplicity as inborn, rather than coming from other sources. ^_^ Also, the Trash Can Collective told us their system name had changed and we've updated this post accordingly.

EDIT AGAIN: Trash Can Collective is now the Lunastus Collective and we've re-updated the post.

Hi everybody, it's Sneak again, and I am on a plural history Wiki roll! ^_^ Today I learned when and how the word "endogenic" got created! :D Coincidentally, it's also right around the same time as the first citation I can find for the urban legend of "'multiple' and 'system' are DID-only words and other plurals aren't allowed to use them"! Score!

Seeing how the "endogenic" term got created to try and be a completely separate form of language from all existing plural terminology at the time to avoid spurious claims of "cultural appropriation," only to then be claimed as cultural appropriation anyway, I think this helps prove just how bad-faith the original argument is.  DID plurals, we can do better!  We SHOULD do better!

Quick Details

Coined By: the Lunastus (FKA Trash Can Collective, Alnilam)
Date Coined: 2014, August 8
Location Used: tumblr

Circumstances of Creation
On August 7, 2014, the Lunastus Collective found themselves "being told that using those terms [multiple and multiple system] is appropriative of the DID community [...] Being told [natural multiplicity] can’t possibly be a thing, and it’s trivializing DID folks to say it happens" (2014, August 7). In their attempts to avoid spurious claims of cultural appropriation and come up with "words to use for 'multiplicity', without using the word 'multiplicity', 'plurality', or anything relating to that" they came up with "the -genesis words. And we kind of liked the looks of some words, once we took of the -esis part!" (ibid). The most successful of these terms was "endogenous," which later was changed to "endogenic."

Unfortunately for TLC, coming up with a completely separate terminology utterly seperate from the rest of the plural community didn't work. For instance, the Entropy System states, "I see the word 'endogenic' as equivalent to the confederate flag. [...] It still attaches them to a problematic past and encourages oppression of a minority group." (2018, May 13) (Note: this post is factually incorrect about the history of "endogenic" and the status of non-DID plurals within plural online communities. It is cited not as an accurate source on plural history, but a source on the kind of opinions that float around the term "endogenic.")

Citations

Entropy System [theentropywe]. (2018, May 13). do you support endogenic systems? [tumblr post]. Retrieved 2019/03/14 from https://theentropywe.tumblr.com/post/173859245866/do-you-support-endogenic-systems

the Lunastus Collective [not-your-fucking-pet]. (2014, August 7). Fellow plural people? [tumblr post]. Retrieved 2019/03/14 from http://not-your-fucking-pet.tumblr.com/post/94111819808/fellow-plural-people

the Lunastus Collective [not-your-fucking-pet]. (2014, August 8). Long ramble on terminology creation [tumblr post]. Retrieved 2019/03/14 from http://not-your-fucking-pet.tumblr.com/post/94222698873/long-ramble-on-terminology-creation

Comments

[lb_lee]

I actually specifically picked that reference because that was one we were directed to as a source on endogenic history. I think that might've been part of what made me realize how badly we could use a cited, corroborated wiki of our history and stuff, because it is completely factually inaccurate and made me mad. >.<

First of all, there's a lot of presumptions bundled in to what Entropy are saying. They're equating the diagnosis of MPD/DID with trauma, and then equating both of those things to a culture that can be appropriated from! But none of those assertions are sourced or supported, because THEY'RE NOT TRUE!

Medical diagnoses are not set in stone, they're not always right, and a lot of the time, they're chosen not as identity markers but as whatever the insurance company will most likely accept. I find it SUPER-concerning when people are using such gooshy, wiggly diagnoses as not just identity markers, but also CULTURAL ones!

And to claim TRAUMA as your culture and identity just sounds like a disaster waiting to happen! If the core of your culture is suffering abuse and trauma, what happens if you move past it or leave it behind? What happens when that is no longer the sun around which your world revolves?

And also, non-trauma multiples or non-MPD/DID multiples (they aren't the exact same thing!) have been part of the online plural communities since 1994, that we're sure of! Rogan wrote a big post on it with all the citations!

I hate seeing people be mean to each other for such silly reasons!

--Sneak