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sobqjmv_sphinx expanded on my research and proved it was used by multiples before DesperateFans! Check it out! https://sobqjmv-sphinx.dreamwidth.org/5620.htmlWe’ve updated our own post adding this note.
sobqjmv_sphinx expanded on my research and proved it was used by multiples before DesperateFans! Check it out! https://sobqjmv-sphinx.dreamwidth.org/5620.htmlWe’ve updated our own post adding this note.
Doing these together because their histories and citations are identical.
tai'morende (noun)
Meaning: 1: originally intended to be “an alternative version of [a] character's entire world inside your head” (Eclective, 2002), but due to misunderstanding apparently became 2: a fictional character who takes on an independent life, but who doesn’t stick around for long (ibid).
dar'morende (noun)
Meaning: 1: original meaning: same as soulbond. Due to misunderstanding, it became 2: a fictional character who takes on an independent life to their creator or audience and sticks around.
Coiner: soulbonder Catherine Rain (Eclective’s 2004 glossary) on the soulbonders' Just For Writers (JFW) AOL mailing list (Eclective 2002).
When: by 1999-9-17 (Lyn)
Where: Soulbonding term, never went further.
( Their rise and fall. )
TL;DR: The only reason anyone these days knows these terms existed is because of Eclective. I can’t find anyone else using it except Lyn, once; all other citations go to Eclective's 2004 glossary. These term are the least-known a term can be and still justify being in the glossary.
( Citations )
tai'morende (noun)
Meaning: 1: originally intended to be “an alternative version of [a] character's entire world inside your head” (Eclective, 2002), but due to misunderstanding apparently became 2: a fictional character who takes on an independent life, but who doesn’t stick around for long (ibid).
dar'morende (noun)
Meaning: 1: original meaning: same as soulbond. Due to misunderstanding, it became 2: a fictional character who takes on an independent life to their creator or audience and sticks around.
Coiner: soulbonder Catherine Rain (Eclective’s 2004 glossary) on the soulbonders' Just For Writers (JFW) AOL mailing list (Eclective 2002).
When: by 1999-9-17 (Lyn)
Where: Soulbonding term, never went further.
( Their rise and fall. )
TL;DR: The only reason anyone these days knows these terms existed is because of Eclective. I can’t find anyone else using it except Lyn, once; all other citations go to Eclective's 2004 glossary. These term are the least-known a term can be and still justify being in the glossary.
( Citations )
Many-Selved Etymology: "Headmate"
Aug. 21st, 2025 07:41 pmEDIT: sobqjmv_sphinx expanded on my research and proved it was used by multiples before DesperateFans! Check it out! https://sobqjmv-sphinx.dreamwidth.org/5620.html
Hungry Ghosts have discovered they can nerd snipe us by asking us, "Hey, we heard that 'headmate' came from soulbonders, is that true?" We honestly didn't think we'd discover it, but thanks to the amazing power of ljsear.ch, we got a really good start!
Meaning: 1. (RP, original term) the relationship one role-playing character (AKA a sockpuppet or "pup") had to another, as opposed to their relationship to their player (AKA "typist"). 2. The relationship between any tenants of the same vessel.
Coiner: the DesperateFans roleplaying community on Livejournal? (First used by Pollution/mr_p_white?)
When: by 2005/4/18
( the rise of headmate )
TL;DR: the term was coined by 2005 by roleplayers (who, if any of them were soulbonders, they sure didn't fess up to it anywhere I saw) and spread through Livejournal into plural comms like plural_living within three months. It also spread via RPers, muses and muns (2006-01), soulbonders (2006-05), before finally getting picked up by multiples (2007-02). With the fall of LJ, the term spread to tumblr, where it became so widespread that even Urban Dictionary heard about it.
If you manage to kick the can back earlier than this, please let me know! RP was never my realm, and my trail goes cold there.
( Citations )
sobqjmv_sphinx expanded on my research and proved it was used by multiples before DesperateFans! Check it out! https://sobqjmv-sphinx.dreamwidth.org/5620.htmlHungry Ghosts have discovered they can nerd snipe us by asking us, "Hey, we heard that 'headmate' came from soulbonders, is that true?" We honestly didn't think we'd discover it, but thanks to the amazing power of ljsear.ch, we got a really good start!
Meaning: 1. (RP, original term) the relationship one role-playing character (AKA a sockpuppet or "pup") had to another, as opposed to their relationship to their player (AKA "typist"). 2. The relationship between any tenants of the same vessel.
Coiner: the DesperateFans roleplaying community on Livejournal? (First used by Pollution/mr_p_white?)
When: by 2005/4/18
( the rise of headmate )
TL;DR: the term was coined by 2005 by roleplayers (who, if any of them were soulbonders, they sure didn't fess up to it anywhere I saw) and spread through Livejournal into plural comms like plural_living within three months. It also spread via RPers, muses and muns (2006-01), soulbonders (2006-05), before finally getting picked up by multiples (2007-02). With the fall of LJ, the term spread to tumblr, where it became so widespread that even Urban Dictionary heard about it.
If you manage to kick the can back earlier than this, please let me know! RP was never my realm, and my trail goes cold there.
( Citations )
Sneak: This is a (forever IN-PROGRESS) hub page for all our deep dives into the origination, rise, and fall of terms used for what we loosely call "spirited" or "many-selved" folks from 1816-2016, including: various forms of medical multiplicity (dual consciousness, MPD, DID,etc.), medical backlash multiples (empowered multiples, natural multiples, endogenic multiples), plurals, soulbonders, and whatever else we trip over, just so we can have it all in one place.
We are cutting it at 2016 because that gives us a good 200 year window going back to our earliest medical multi records in English, and also because we do not want to dig into the microlabel boom. Pluralpedia is better for things like that. We might later kick the earliest year back, but I doubt we will go any further into the present than 2016.
Quick Alphabetical Index:
A ~ B ~ C ~ D ~ E ~ F ~ G ~ H ~ I ~ J ~ K ~ L ~ M ~ N ~ O ~ P ~ Q ~ R ~ S ~ T ~ U ~ V ~ W ~ X ~ Y ~ Z
Previous Glossaries Used in the Making of This Document
( A )
( B )
( C )
( D )
( E )
( F )
( G )
( H )
( I )
( J )
( K )
( L )
( M )
( N )
( O )
( P )
( Q )
( R )
( S )
( T )
( U )
( V )
( X )
( Y )
( Z )
( Previous Glossaries Used in the Making of This Document )
We are cutting it at 2016 because that gives us a good 200 year window going back to our earliest medical multi records in English, and also because we do not want to dig into the microlabel boom. Pluralpedia is better for things like that. We might later kick the earliest year back, but I doubt we will go any further into the present than 2016.
Quick Alphabetical Index:
A ~ B ~ C ~ D ~ E ~ F ~ G ~ H ~ I ~ J ~ K ~ L ~ M ~ N ~ O ~ P ~ Q ~ R ~ S ~ T ~ U ~ V ~ W ~ X ~ Y ~ Z
Previous Glossaries Used in the Making of This Document
( A )
( B )
( C )
( D )
( E )
( F )
( G )
( H )
( I )
( J )
( K )
( L )
( M )
( N )
( O )
( P )
( Q )
( R )
( S )
( T )
( U )
( V )
( X )
( Y )
( Z )
( Previous Glossaries Used in the Making of This Document )
Many-Selved Etymology: role terms
Jul. 8th, 2025 05:18 pmRogan/Mori: Lark of Hungry Ghosts asked me about the origination of plural role terms (which are apparently now this super-rigid straitjacket of How Plurals Must Be?). I dove into my records, and here's what I done found!
It's possible these terms were used earlier than I found here. These were the earliest I could find them in the multi files I have on hand.
Core: This terms looks to originate with Billy Milligan's case, in use by February 1980 in Wallace, Wallechinsky, Wallace, and Wallace's The Book of Lists #2: "In addition to his core self, Milligan has at least nine other personalities" (380) and 1981 in Keyes's The Minds of Billy Milligan. Seeing as Milligan was imprisoned for rape in 1977, it's possible "core" was used in earlier news stories about the case; I'd have to dig in. But Keyes quotes it (and "host") as being used by Cornelia Wilbur on page 50; she also treated Sybil. So: Wilbur, by 1980?
Helper: used by Ross, 1989: "Most persecutor personalities are in fact helpers who are using self-destructive strategies." (110).
Host: first attributed to Wilbur in Keyes, 1981: “the original Billy, sometimes known as the host or core personality” (50). So that explains why "host" and "core" get confused a lot in these things, it's because Wilbur conflated the two in Keyes!
Inner Self-Helper/ISH: Ralph Allison created it by 1977 in Hawkworth's The Five Of Me: "[Phil] was, in the beginning at least, hardly a personality at all, but rather what Dr. Allison refers to as an 'Ish'--an Inner Self-Helper[...] a separate personality whose sole function seems to be to prevent the other personalities from tearing the physical body apart." (20) Allison says he started treating multiples in 1972 (Hawksworth, 5), so 1972-1977.
Original:Wilbur again! She uses it in Keyes 1981 (50) and the term "original Sybil" is used a decent number of times (sorry, my ebook had no page numbers). Flora Rheta Schreiber wrote Sybil, but it seems sensible that Wilbur originated the term? So, by 1973 for adjective form, will have to dig for stand-alone noun. (EDIT 7/10/2025: INCORRECT! This term is older; "original patient" or "original personality" is used by Thigpen and Cleckley (38, 153), so I should dig into older work to see if it's used previously.
Persecutor: Used by Ross (and Norton?) in 1989: "An interesting finding (Ross & Norton, 1989b) was a clinical triad of Schneiderian made-impulses, voices in the head, and suicide attempts. This traid should alert the clinican to the possibility of MPD, especially if the made impulse is self-destructive, and the voice is commanding suicide or is hostile and critical. The triad is indicative of the actibility of a dangerous persecutor personality" (Ross, 99)
Protector: Used by Hawksworth once in 1977 (72), but Keyes uses it more formally, declaring Ragen "the protector of the family" (xv).
These therapists are not little tin gods you should worship. There's a reason Allison, Ross, and Wilbur have controversies about them! (And I'm not as knowledgeable about them as I should be because... well, read on.) So here's some information about that, as a sorta "multi beware, worship not your doctor" thing.
( Why You Shouldn't Believe Everything Doctors Say )
( Sources )
It's possible these terms were used earlier than I found here. These were the earliest I could find them in the multi files I have on hand.
Core: This terms looks to originate with Billy Milligan's case, in use by February 1980 in Wallace, Wallechinsky, Wallace, and Wallace's The Book of Lists #2: "In addition to his core self, Milligan has at least nine other personalities" (380) and 1981 in Keyes's The Minds of Billy Milligan. Seeing as Milligan was imprisoned for rape in 1977, it's possible "core" was used in earlier news stories about the case; I'd have to dig in. But Keyes quotes it (and "host") as being used by Cornelia Wilbur on page 50; she also treated Sybil. So: Wilbur, by 1980?
Helper: used by Ross, 1989: "Most persecutor personalities are in fact helpers who are using self-destructive strategies." (110).
Host: first attributed to Wilbur in Keyes, 1981: “the original Billy, sometimes known as the host or core personality” (50). So that explains why "host" and "core" get confused a lot in these things, it's because Wilbur conflated the two in Keyes!
Inner Self-Helper/ISH: Ralph Allison created it by 1977 in Hawkworth's The Five Of Me: "[Phil] was, in the beginning at least, hardly a personality at all, but rather what Dr. Allison refers to as an 'Ish'--an Inner Self-Helper[...] a separate personality whose sole function seems to be to prevent the other personalities from tearing the physical body apart." (20) Allison says he started treating multiples in 1972 (Hawksworth, 5), so 1972-1977.
Original:
Persecutor: Used by Ross (and Norton?) in 1989: "An interesting finding (Ross & Norton, 1989b) was a clinical triad of Schneiderian made-impulses, voices in the head, and suicide attempts. This traid should alert the clinican to the possibility of MPD, especially if the made impulse is self-destructive, and the voice is commanding suicide or is hostile and critical. The triad is indicative of the actibility of a dangerous persecutor personality" (Ross, 99)
Protector: Used by Hawksworth once in 1977 (72), but Keyes uses it more formally, declaring Ragen "the protector of the family" (xv).
These therapists are not little tin gods you should worship. There's a reason Allison, Ross, and Wilbur have controversies about them! (And I'm not as knowledgeable about them as I should be because... well, read on.) So here's some information about that, as a sorta "multi beware, worship not your doctor" thing.
( Why You Shouldn't Believe Everything Doctors Say )
( Sources )
There are a bunch of plural glossaries out there, but they tend to be lacking in context as to who created a term, where it came from, and how it spread. So, a few days ago, we decided to amass all the many-selved terms we could recall if not who coined it, at least a decent idea as to WHERE and WHEN it came from, with the idea of making an etymological glossary, both textual and visual (in the style of this chart of musical genres/musicians of the 1950s-1970s from Edward Tufte's Visual Explanations).
( 200 years of undignified slapfighting. God I love my job! )
But I quickly realized there was a big, glaring hole in my research: the Many Voices newsletter archives, which ranges from 1989-2012 (and also I guess that one orphaned 1986 issue of Speaking For Our Selves). 142 newsletters, none searchable or screenreadable. The thought of manually reading through, one by one, made me shudder.
But then I went, "Hey... isn't Orion Scribner unemployed right now?" So I hired them and they went and OCRed the whole kit and kaboodle! What a public service! What a mensch!
Right now, I am completely exhausted and working on my taxes, but when that's out of the way, I plan to upload all of these files to archive.org so everyone can use them. Three cheers for Orion Scribner!
( 200 years of undignified slapfighting. God I love my job! )
But I quickly realized there was a big, glaring hole in my research: the Many Voices newsletter archives, which ranges from 1989-2012 (and also I guess that one orphaned 1986 issue of Speaking For Our Selves). 142 newsletters, none searchable or screenreadable. The thought of manually reading through, one by one, made me shudder.
But then I went, "Hey... isn't Orion Scribner unemployed right now?" So I hired them and they went and OCRed the whole kit and kaboodle! What a public service! What a mensch!
Right now, I am completely exhausted and working on my taxes, but when that's out of the way, I plan to upload all of these files to archive.org so everyone can use them. Three cheers for Orion Scribner!
The Origin of "Alterhuman"
Apr. 3rd, 2025 02:50 pmHey, while searching for something else, we happened to stumble upon what looks to have been the creation of the term "alterhuman!"
Coiner: Lio of the Crossroads System (FKA Malchior, AKA tumblr user @phasmovore)
Created: 2014, September 24 (right after the genic war started)
Location Used: tumblr (spread elsewhere?)
Definition: "A category of personal identity which encompasses identification that is alternative to the common societal idea of humanity. [...] AHPI identities may include, as per personal discretion:
"-Therian, phytanthrope, otherkin, and fictionkin identities
"-Multiple, plural, median, and walk-in identities
"-Spiritual self-identities which may still include degrees of humanity such as angelics, celestials, starseeds, god shards, reincarnated gods, vampires, etc
"-Identities involving shared self-identification with nonhuman or other alternative human entities/concepts such as animal-hearted, godspouse, soulbond, and spiritual medium identities
"-Identities of alternative humanity through disassociation, trauma response, or non-neurotypical mental status." (phasmovore)
Originally written as "Alter-human/Alternative Humanity Personal Identity “AHPI,” alterhuman was intended as an umbrella term for all forms of unusual forms of humanity, since otherkin was apparently not suitable for the purpose. I'm not totally clear as to how it got spread and boosted (possibly through the Otherkin FAQ? Overlord Mordax? I dunno, tumblr is harder to trawl these days and we were never part of the alterhuman culture).
EDIT: thanks toframeacloud, it looks like mord of Alt+H (the same as Overlord Mordax? unsure) helped spread the term! Quoth Lio, "mord of Alt+H however was the major person involved in actually refining the concept and actually using it. I had just started college at the time, so I was way too busy to really do much by way of interacting with the community."
House of Chimeras's A Timeline of the Alterhuman Community goes into the history, but it didn't come out until late 2021, so can't be attributed to the term's spread.
Sources:
Lio [phasmavore], (2014, September 26). "Alter-human/Alternative Humanity Personal Identity." Crotchety Dragon on Tumblr, Retrieved from https://phasmovore.tumblr.com/post/98482696958/this-will-probably-be-my-last-post-on-semantics
Lio [x-rds]. (2023, February 19). "Just for the record" [tumblr post]. XRDS on tumblr. Retrieved from https://x-rds.tumblr.com/post/709694807213211648/problemaddtic-thelunastusco-problemaddtic
Coiner: Lio of the Crossroads System (FKA Malchior, AKA tumblr user @phasmovore)
Created: 2014, September 24 (right after the genic war started)
Location Used: tumblr (spread elsewhere?)
Definition: "A category of personal identity which encompasses identification that is alternative to the common societal idea of humanity. [...] AHPI identities may include, as per personal discretion:
"-Therian, phytanthrope, otherkin, and fictionkin identities
"-Multiple, plural, median, and walk-in identities
"-Spiritual self-identities which may still include degrees of humanity such as angelics, celestials, starseeds, god shards, reincarnated gods, vampires, etc
"-Identities involving shared self-identification with nonhuman or other alternative human entities/concepts such as animal-hearted, godspouse, soulbond, and spiritual medium identities
"-Identities of alternative humanity through disassociation, trauma response, or non-neurotypical mental status." (phasmovore)
Originally written as "Alter-human/Alternative Humanity Personal Identity “AHPI,” alterhuman was intended as an umbrella term for all forms of unusual forms of humanity, since otherkin was apparently not suitable for the purpose. I'm not totally clear as to how it got spread and boosted (possibly through the Otherkin FAQ? Overlord Mordax? I dunno, tumblr is harder to trawl these days and we were never part of the alterhuman culture).
EDIT: thanks to
frameacloud, it looks like mord of Alt+H (the same as Overlord Mordax? unsure) helped spread the term! Quoth Lio, "mord of Alt+H however was the major person involved in actually refining the concept and actually using it. I had just started college at the time, so I was way too busy to really do much by way of interacting with the community."House of Chimeras's A Timeline of the Alterhuman Community goes into the history, but it didn't come out until late 2021, so can't be attributed to the term's spread.
Sources:
Lio [phasmavore], (2014, September 26). "Alter-human/Alternative Humanity Personal Identity." Crotchety Dragon on Tumblr, Retrieved from https://phasmovore.tumblr.com/post/98482696958/this-will-probably-be-my-last-post-on-semantics
Lio [x-rds]. (2023, February 19). "Just for the record" [tumblr post]. XRDS on tumblr. Retrieved from https://x-rds.tumblr.com/post/709694807213211648/problemaddtic-thelunastusco-problemaddtic
Soulbonding Ideas from Laura Gilkey, 2002
Oct. 2nd, 2024 07:05 pmWhile digging through the archive of Laura Gilkey's website, ShiningHalf.com, I found some cool thoughts from her on soulbonding (definition here) back in 2002!
( Soulbonding and plural spectrum stuff from back in the day! )
( Soulbonding Definition )
( Footnote Digression )
( Citations )
( Soulbonding and plural spectrum stuff from back in the day! )
( Soulbonding Definition )
( Footnote Digression )
( Citations )
Sneak: While Mori was digging through old soulbonding pages for Madgic #4, we stumbled on the origin of "outsourcing"!
Coined By: Laura Gilkey (AKA Half-Esper Laura)
What it Means: It describes a soulbond (a fictional character that someone forms a relationship with) that comes from media created by an outside party.
Time Used: May 2002-?
Locations Used: Soulbonding arenas (websites, soulbonding Livejournal groups); seems to have fallen out of favor with the newer generations where soulbonding kinda got assimilated into the greater plural arena.
( Origin of the term 'outsourcing,' plus 2002-era discussions of soulbonding, plurality, and multiplicity as a greater spectrum )
Coined By: Laura Gilkey (AKA Half-Esper Laura)
What it Means: It describes a soulbond (a fictional character that someone forms a relationship with) that comes from media created by an outside party.
Time Used: May 2002-?
Locations Used: Soulbonding arenas (websites, soulbonding Livejournal groups); seems to have fallen out of favor with the newer generations where soulbonding kinda got assimilated into the greater plural arena.
( Origin of the term 'outsourcing,' plus 2002-era discussions of soulbonding, plurality, and multiplicity as a greater spectrum )
"System" in the plural slang sense is used as a stand-alone noun (or, less often in my circles, in the specific phrasing, "a multiple system" or "plural system"). People will ask us, "are you a system?" or "have you heard about systems?" In this context, a "system" roughly describes the gestalt entity that is formed by the mix of a plural's vessel, internal populace, headspace, and other internal forces at work.
So far, here is my timeline for the use of "system" in a plural context.
( EDIT AND UPDATE: Plurals have been using it since 1990, and even the most parsimonious estimate shows it was used by non-MPD plurals by 1992. )
So far, here is my timeline for the use of "system" in a plural context.
( EDIT AND UPDATE: Plurals have been using it since 1990, and even the most parsimonious estimate shows it was used by non-MPD plurals by 1992. )
Multiple
"Two or more people who use the same body; The experience of sharing the body with others." (Dark Personalities, 2001) This is far from the only way it's been defined, but it seems to be the one most in use.
Quick Details
Coined By: Shirley Ardell Mason? (AKA: Sibyl)
Time Used: 1973? - Present
Locations Used: EVERYWHERE.
Pluralwiki: Soulbonding (the term)
Apr. 18th, 2019 05:46 pmThis is kinda a big expansion of our old tumblr post, A Very Brief Sloppy History of Soulbonding. We wanted to expand it and make something proper out of it! ^_^
"If you write enough and you love what you're writing, sometimes the characters will take over and seem both real and very important to you. It's apparently a common thing. Being a bunch of confused teenagers, we labeled this phenomenon 'soulbonding'" (Scully Raincrystal, 2006 February 22).
"If you write enough and you love what you're writing, sometimes the characters will take over and seem both real and very important to you. It's apparently a common thing. Being a bunch of confused teenagers, we labeled this phenomenon 'soulbonding'" (Scully Raincrystal, 2006 February 22).
This can range from a sense of characters having their own voice, to a person from fiction becoming a fronting system member who engages in daily life. Soulbonders may cover the full plural/singlet spectrum.
Quick Details
Created By: Amanda Flowers in the JFW mailing list
Time Created: probably 1996, definitely before 1998-12-29
Location Used: Widespread--Livejournal, tumblr, websites
( Read more... )
Medicalized Multiplicity
Mar. 22nd, 2019 01:42 pmAlso, okay guys, the alphabet soup for Multiple Personality Disorder, Dissociative Identity Disorder, Dissociative Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, Otherwise Specified Dissociative Disorder, and Unspecified Dissociative Disorder is just way too much of a fucking mouthful. (And that's still not including the trance disorders and crap.) MPD/DID/DDNOS was still somewhat manageable to say, but MPD/DID/DDNOS/OSDD/USDD is absurd.
I vote we just call it all medicalized multiplicity and give up.
--Mori
I vote we just call it all medicalized multiplicity and give up.
--Mori
The History of "Singlet"!
Mar. 17th, 2019 12:37 pmHi guys! Sneak again, doing pluralwiki work! I always thought that "singlet" (a word to describe non-plurals) was so intuitive and obvious that it cropped up in many places and that finding a source would be impossible, but apparently not so! As I dug through archives of websites and old BBS records that Astraea gave us, I was able to find that actually, "singlet" had one source and it disseminated outward over the course of twenty-five years!
Time Created: between 1987 (Astraea, 2007 June 26, paragraph 7) and October 5, 1992
Location Used: Everywhere
Quick Details
Created By: "B.C." (Astraea's ex-husband)Time Created: between 1987 (Astraea, 2007 June 26, paragraph 7) and October 5, 1992
Location Used: Everywhere
( More details! )
The Creation of the Term "Endogenic"
Mar. 14th, 2019 07:05 pmEDIT: 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
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
Hi guys! While digging around for info for the plural history wiki, I discovered a surprising bit about how the term "median" was coined, and what it was used for! It's intertwined with the history of a plural group called Pavilion Hall--ostensibly it was a plural activist group, but it never really did anything. <_< Zyfron and us used to make jokes about it.
That was about ten years ago, but a little while ago, I found out that Pavilion Hall hadn't done much of ANYTHING after its first six months in existence... back in 2002! And even those first six months didn't really get a lot done! It was like a Potemkin activist group! It was so weird!
The only thing Pavilion Hall ever seemed to achieve wasn't activism at all; it was coining the term "median," and even that was kind of mean and gross! So I thought this was a weird bit of plural history trivia worth talking about!( Let's goooooo! Oh gosh this is long. )
That was about ten years ago, but a little while ago, I found out that Pavilion Hall hadn't done much of ANYTHING after its first six months in existence... back in 2002! And even those first six months didn't really get a lot done! It was like a Potemkin activist group! It was so weird!
The only thing Pavilion Hall ever seemed to achieve wasn't activism at all; it was coining the term "median," and even that was kind of mean and gross! So I thought this was a weird bit of plural history trivia worth talking about!( Let's goooooo! Oh gosh this is long. )
Digging around in Ye Olde Plural Sites, figured I'd toss some stuff up here before I forget it all.
I found the Vickis' old site from ~1998. As far as I understand right now, they may have propagated the term "midcontinuum," before "median" was in use. (And it turns out that "median" was apparently associated with Pavilion Hall, a multi "activist" group that was a rolling trash fire and had their own bizarro quasi-metaphysical explanation for what being in-between multi and singlet was. It made no fucking sense.) The Vickis might also have helped start the idea of "plural" as an umbrella term, more expansive than "multiple," a term they were using by 1/15/1998. I'll probably have to dig through the alt.support.dissociation archives to test this for sure.
Their site has some really good stuff on it! I especially want to bring attention to the following three essays:
Does it work? -- An essay that tackles the question of "I am multiple?" and fears of faking better than anything else I've seen.
The Power of Naming -- Who gets to decide what a "real" multiple is, and why?
Building Safety and Trust -- a post by BigVicki (and a couple of other ASDers) on how to build safety, trust, and communication within your system/household, especially if you've gotten off on the wrong foot.
All of these essays are highly relevant to plurals today, twenty years later, and the Vickis are one of the few systems I see talking about the in-between spaces, which I feel is much-needed. I have no idea if they're around anymore, or how to contact them, so I can't get their permission, but I plan to have these linked on the healthymultiplicity.com home page, since I feel their utility can't be denied and mustn't be lost.
I found the Vickis' old site from ~1998. As far as I understand right now, they may have propagated the term "midcontinuum," before "median" was in use. (And it turns out that "median" was apparently associated with Pavilion Hall, a multi "activist" group that was a rolling trash fire and had their own bizarro quasi-metaphysical explanation for what being in-between multi and singlet was. It made no fucking sense.) The Vickis might also have helped start the idea of "plural" as an umbrella term, more expansive than "multiple," a term they were using by 1/15/1998. I'll probably have to dig through the alt.support.dissociation archives to test this for sure.
Their site has some really good stuff on it! I especially want to bring attention to the following three essays:
Does it work? -- An essay that tackles the question of "I am multiple?" and fears of faking better than anything else I've seen.
The Power of Naming -- Who gets to decide what a "real" multiple is, and why?
Building Safety and Trust -- a post by BigVicki (and a couple of other ASDers) on how to build safety, trust, and communication within your system/household, especially if you've gotten off on the wrong foot.
All of these essays are highly relevant to plurals today, twenty years later, and the Vickis are one of the few systems I see talking about the in-between spaces, which I feel is much-needed. I have no idea if they're around anymore, or how to contact them, so I can't get their permission, but I plan to have these linked on the healthymultiplicity.com home page, since I feel their utility can't be denied and mustn't be lost.
(EDIT 7/22/2022: I have edited this entry because I considered debating whether plural culture exists as pointless hairsplitting. I also added new information from the BBS days. Apparently people still need this post, so it remains.)
There is a chestnut of misinformation on tumblr claiming that 'system' is a term made by DID folks, for DID folks, and nobody else is allowed to use it. This is often wrapped up in the idea that multiplicity is owned by people with DID/DDNOS/OSDD, and anyone else claiming it is appropriating. This is utter nonsense. I've written numerous posts on this before, but here is the more thorough breakdown, first focused on the politics of this statement, and then the history of the actual usage.
( The Politics: why this argument doesn't make sense, even under its own logic. )
( The Facts: twenty-plus years of non-DID multiples using 'system.' )
There is a chestnut of misinformation on tumblr claiming that 'system' is a term made by DID folks, for DID folks, and nobody else is allowed to use it. This is often wrapped up in the idea that multiplicity is owned by people with DID/DDNOS/OSDD, and anyone else claiming it is appropriating. This is utter nonsense. I've written numerous posts on this before, but here is the more thorough breakdown, first focused on the politics of this statement, and then the history of the actual usage.
( The Politics: why this argument doesn't make sense, even under its own logic. )
( The Facts: twenty-plus years of non-DID multiples using 'system.' )
Okay, there’s this idea I’ve seen around tumblr, so let’s get this out of the way: ‘multiple’ is not a word you can appropriate from people with DID/MPD/DDNOS.
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
