Clearing Up Misconceptions About the Term Willogenic
I've noticed a lot of people, especially outside the willogenic community, have ideas about willogenic plurality and the willogenic community, that I feel do not align with the truth. So, I thought I'd share what I know about it.
What Does Willogenic Mean?
The term willogenic refers to a form of created plurality, in which, to some degree, a system or headmate/alter is willed into creation. In the community, this is used to refer not just to entirely intentional creation of an entirely new alter, but also intentional influence on alter/headmate formation in general, such as trying to influence what traits a new alter/headmate forms with, and elaboration of existing headmates/alters with less of a sense of their identity (such as fragments). Not everyone who intentionally influences these things identifies those alters/headmates as willogenic, but there is a portion of the willogenic community that identifies as willogenic for those reasons.
Where Did This Term Come From?
The term willogenic was coined around 2021, as a term for intentionally created plurality that moved away from tulpamancy. The original coining post is no longer up, but an archive of the term dating to late November can be found here. Unlike some other forms of created plurality such as tulpamancy, the term willogenic originated from within plural spaces, and thus came from communities of people that primarily were already plural prior to the coining of the term.
As mentioned in the previous section, the term willogenic came from plural spaces. There are systems & plurals who consider their origin to be entirely willogenic, but those are far from the only people using the term. Many people who use it were plural for other reasons before engaging in any intentional creation or influence of alter/headmate formation.
Additionally, willogenic is not a soley endogenic term. There are many in the community who are traumagenic, including people who have a CDD and also identify as willogenic to some degree. There are those who partially or wholly identify as willogenic, who believe their willogenic origin itself to be based in trauma, and don't consider their willogenic origins to be endogenic either.
Overall, the term willogenic is a broad term, with a very diverse community behind it, that has a large range of experiences. People who identify as willogenic are not a monolith, and many of the common assumptions about those who use the term do not hold true for many people in the community.
If you don't know something about someone who uses a term, or about the term itself, ask someone about it. It is never too late to learn something new.
