AOAOAOOUHHHH. OOUUOUUHHHHHHHHH. yup. yupppp. I'm totally making up all my experiences. all of them. I'm definitely not part of a system even though I've been talking out loud to other voices in my mind with their own opinions since 10 and had "imaginary friends" that did things of their own accord against my will since like 7. yupp I consciously faked something I didn't even know I had at that age. yuppppp.
the way the others have totally different wants and needs and discomforts and opinions and behaviours and even gaits and ways of naturally holding their expressions? allll just me using my acting skills that I Don't Have. the glaring incongruence of Self between me and the others? that's just me changing my mind a lot. yuppppp even when it's huge things that couldn't POSSIBLY change on a day to day basis. even things that are consistent between us and have been for 7+ years.
the way I don't remember things the others have done? I'm just forgetful!! I like people to know about this Massive Permanent All Encompassing Aspect of my life so CLLLEEARLY it's all for attention. even though I am a social animal and attention can be a normal and healthy thing to seek (suddenly deadpanning the audience) do you see how stupid that all sounds. and yet. and yet. (smiles but it's not a nice smile) hey does anyone know how to believe irrefutable evidence spanning over a decade
you will live your entire life experiencing things every single day that do not make ANY sense outside of the fact that you're part of a system. and you will STILL be like "I'm making it up for attention that I don't want by faking it every single day for 7 years" I DON'T HAVE THAT KIND OF DEDICATION????? I CAN'T EVEN STICK TO A MUSIC TASTE FOR 1 YEAR. I CAN'T STICK TO A HOBBY FOR MORE THAN 2 YEARS. AND YET I GO AROUND WORRYING THAT I'VE BEEN STICKING TO A CHARADE THAT COMES WITH A PRETTY SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF DISCOMFORT AND STRESS. FOR CLOSE TO A DECADE. BROTHER WHAT ARE YOU TAAAALKING ABOUT. THIS IS JUST YOUR LIFE. IT'S REAL YOU SWEET SWEET DOOFUS
it bothers me when someone brings up misogyny in shounen anime and people shrug it off with "its designed for teenage boys, what can you expect." like well. idk i think its actually pretty important that shows for teenage boys are normal about women. i mean i think all media should be normal about women but teenagers are impressionable i think we could put a little bit of feminism in the teenage boy shows. it might do some good. you never know.
and this isnt just about shounen i just mean like. if you're excusing misogynistic writing with "well it wasn't written for girls" then i'm seriously questioning your approach to all this.
closing statement from an article about being intersex & the possible connection of gender expression and sexuality in intersex individuals, published in The Gay Liberator, 1970s
By the way it's like. Really fucked how society's thoughts on epilepsy is just "get over it." Seizures can cause permanent brain damage. Seizures can kill people. Seizures hurt like hell. Allow me to reiterate that seizures can kill people. And you're just gonna casually put flashing lights, a common trigger for seizures in your advertisement, in your animation meme, in your edit, on your billboards, without even thinking about putting a simple disclaimer? That's unbelievable. Your little anime edit could deadass cost a life and you're not gonna put a warning because it's "inconvenient" or "people like that shouldn't be on the internet" (ableist) (the problem exists outside the internet also). Or you'll give insufficient ones like putting it in the captions or only giving like one second before the flashing lights appear, meaning that the trigger's already in motion before anyone who needs the warning can read it and save themselves from literal physical danger.
We need to start commenting under other people's posts about how to properly warn for flashing lights and eyestrain. We need to be emailing and calling companies about their possibly triggering advertisements that could induce seizures. We need to stop tolerating ableism and start speaking up for the more vulnerable.
Also, stop putting epilepsy warnings. That's like saying "warning: schizophrenia" on a post including unreality or "warning: dyslexia" on a post with a typing quirk. First off, the disability mentioned isn't the only group of people that this could trigger. Second, it doesn't truly get the message across and instead makes it worse for those with the disability-- scrolling through the epilepsy tag on Tumblr should get you to view the content of other epileptic people, but no, you just get a bunch of flashing lights and eyestrain, even though you could instead tag for, oh I dunno, flashing lights and eyestrain.
Anyways this Disability Pride, and for every month that comes after, think about epileptic people and others who are triggered by flashing lights/eyestrain. Happy pride to those who experience seizures too frequently due to the unaccommodating and ableist societies we live in!
weird ass system discourse in my notifications fuck offfff. If you start bitching about endogenic systems or whatever I don't care what you're talking about if your vibes are that rancid
Now, don't get me wrong, I despise the DSM and psychiatry as a whole and all that, so this is in not support of the DSM or me saying that what the DSM is saying is true. Regardless, sometimes I'll hear sysmeds (both plural and nonplural alike) who live, die, and swear by the DSM say something or another and I'll think, "hold on, have they even actually read the book that they're propping up as infallible?"
Common sysmed arguments -- things like: "endogenic systems don't exist/All systems have DID (or OSDD)," "you can only become a system at a young age," "day-to-day amnesia is a requirement for DID," "DID is always overt/covert," "DID is rare," "DID is always a very severe disorder," "DID only first manifests/starts in children and preteens/You can't be a system if you're (under X age)," and etc -- are oftentimes aspects literally just acknowledged as possibilities in the DSM-5-TR. Everything I listed is directly stated as being possible.
Breakdowns of those things under cut:
"Endogenic systems don't exist!"
Under Risk and Prognostic Factors: "about 90% of the individuals with the disorder report multiple types of early neglect and childhood abuse." Meaning, 10% of disordered systems (ignoring the fact that systemhood can be nondisordered) haven't experienced severe or recurrent trauma.
"All systems have DID (or OSDD)!"
Diagnostic criteria C-E are all about excluding a diagnosis based on other factors. Meaning, that you can meet both criteria A (multiple identity states) and B (amnesia) without being diagnosed because your plurality is consistent with your culture, doesn't cause marked distress or impairment, or can better be explained by something else. Similar with OSDD.
"Day-to-day amnesia is a requirement for DID!"
Amnesia is required for a DID diagnosis (and keeping in mind not all systems have DID or are disordered, for the record), but that amnesia, primarily (meaning not exclusively) is in domains of "1) gaps in any aspect of autobiographical memory (e.g., important life events like getting married or giving birth, lack of recall of all school experiences before high school); 2) lapses in memory of recent events or well-learned skills (e.g., how to do one’s job, use a computer, cook or drive); and 3) discovery of possessions that the individual has no recollection of ever owning (e.g., clothing, weapons, tools, writings or drawings that he or she must have created)." You can meet criteria B without day-to-day amnesia because of long term autobiographical memory or memory loss not directly listed, for example.
"DID is always covert/overt!"
Ignoring the fact that sysmeds largely seem, hilariously, split on which it is, both are incorrect. The DSM directly states that "The overtness or covertness of these personality states varies". Also, slightly irrelevant but I thought it was interesting nonetheless: "The elaboration of dissociative personality states with different names, wardrobes, hairstyles, handwritings, accents, and so forth, occurs in only a minority of individuals with the non-possession-form dissociative identity disorder and is not essential to diagnosis" & "only a minority present to clinical attention with discernible alternation of identities" meaning "I didn't notice you switching when we were talking" isn't a valid reason to cross out diagnosis.
"DID is rare!"
"The 12-month prevalence of dissociative identity disorder among adults in a small U.S. community study was 1.5%" (1.1% in another study in Turkey). DID (going off the 1.5% number) is more common than schizophrenia (0.3%–0.7%), OCD (1.2%), Bipolar II (0.3-0.8% -- both Bipolar I and II combined barely squeeze ahead of DID at 1.7%). And, here's the kicker, DID is exactly as rare as fucking chronic major depressive disorder (also 1.5%).
"DID is always a very severe disorder!"
"In adults impairment varies widely, from apparently minimal (e.g., in high-functioning professionals) to profound."
"DID only first manifests/starts in children and preteens!/You can't be a system if you're (under X age)!"
"The disorder may first manifest at almost any age from early childhood to late life." The DSM-5 (but not the DSM-5-TR) also directly mentions leaving an abusive situation can result in DID manifesting/becoming clear where it wasn't before. This particular line is dropped in the TR but other examples like it are left in. This is what happened to me! My system manifested shortly after leaving an abusive household :)
There is just, so much more I can say here. So much fucking more. I do not care whether psychiatry acknowledges my existence, but its really interesting to me how people will tell me and those like me that we can't be systems because the DSM doesn't say so, when it literally fucking does. If you're going to a bigot, at least read the fucking book you're claiming to be an expert on.
Other neat things I found that didn't fit in anywhere else neatly:
1) "In adolescents, dissociative identity disorder commonly comes to clinical attention because of externalizing symptoms, suicidal/self-destructive behavior, or rapid behavioral shifts." DSM-5-TR
2) "Onset has also been described after prolonged and often transgenerational exposure to dysfunctional family dynamics (e.g., overcontrolling parenting, insecure attachment, emotional
abuse) in the absence of clear neglect or sexual or physical abuse." DSM-5-TR
3) "Few differences in symptom profiles, clinical history, and childhood trauma history have been found in comparisons between men and women with dissociative identity disorder." DSM-5-TR
4) The creator of IFS therapy "sees DID alters as on the same continuum as IFS parts." Wikipedia
All of this is taken from the DSM-5-TR specifically unless otherwise noted. There are more things not in the TR specifically that are in the DSM-5 that I also thought were neat but the overlap is pretty large and I'm sick of writing this and want it to end. I think a lot of systems who think that they don't qualify for either a DID or OSDD diagnosis, regardless of whether they'd want one or not, would actually qualify but have a skewed idea of what the criteria actually is because of sysmedicalists picking-and-chosing and also just straight up lying. I feel I was a part of this, for the record.
also you can read the dsm-5-tr here: link -- DID starts on page 492.
tl;dr actually read the entry if you want to speak on it. theres some neat things in their regardless of whether you support psychiatry/the DSM/the medical model of plurality.
when someone is a christian they are not constantly asked their position on the holocaust the transatlantic slave trade the extermination of native americans or any of the thousands of atrocities committed by christians so why do muslims get asked about terrorism and jewish people about israel and are grouped in with specific bad people while christians are not required to explain themselves??
Whenever people claim that plurality/systemhood/CDDs are a social contagion it always seems a bit illogical to me (on top of being bigoted) because we lived what these people claim to be "proof" that this not only happens, but is a large issue.
We weren't a system — weren't plural at all — until we learned that systemhood and plurality existed.
Before we were plural, I was just a guy who was a bit complicated. I was a guy who didn't feel like a person, who had a very inconsistent view of who I was. I was a guy who used a lot of labels to describe his queerness, but sorted these labels into different groups for no apparent reason, just because it "felt right." I was a guy who would learn about a new term and get excited because it was perfect and I loved it so much... even though it obviously didn't describe me at all. I was a guy who fell in love with and wanted to use a load of different names, while simultaneously only wanting one name. I was a guy who's voice and manner of speaking/typing was all over the place. Who's personality changed all the time. Who felt insecure and confused and empty and lonely all the time.
And then I met someone who introduced themself as a headmate and had to ask what it meant. And then I looked into this whole "plural" thing. And then was just, like, really interested in plural stuff and didn't like being called a singlet. For no particular reason.
(It's really easy to put the pieces together in hindsight — not so much when you're living it).
Who we were never changed, just what words we used and how we understood/understand ourselves. It's part of why I am so adamant that plurality and systemhood are frameworks for understanding oneself/ves and are very broad, opt-in labels.
So, whenever I hear systems/plurals and people who think system/plurals don't exist alike talk about how systems/plurals/CDDs are a social contagion (with a side of "but I'm not, I'm a real one!" from sysmeds), and they use "people who didn't identify as systems until after they learned that systems exist" as proof, I just think that they aren't really thinking about any other reason that may happen. That they are being purposefully, maliciously, and harmfully ignorant. That they don't care about much other than ostensibly being right, so long as it gives them a feeling of superiority.
Someone added in the tags, but I will also add to this post!
Marriage equality isn't fully here until people can choose not to marry, and the choice of not wanting to marry is destigmatized. Until people's choice not to marry is respected.
Marriage equality isn't fully here until people stop assuming marriage is everyone's life goal.
Marriage equality isn't fully here until people stop assuming marriage means people are romantically and sexually involved with one another.
youre monogamous? oh… it’s ethical, right? ethical monogamy? okay good for you! i mean pretty much every monogamous couple i’ve met didn’t work out but maybe you guys will beat the odds! haha. so is it a sex thing? you guys have sex with- just each other? huh. how does that work? i could never do monogamy, i’m too jealous, i’d worry my partner would leave me for someone else instead of dating us both… how do you deal with the jealousy? is it hard? like, how hard? extremely? do you think you’ll break up? i mean in the long run these things rarely work out,
the thing is I would be okay with being viewed as sexually attractive while topless. like a shirtless cis man can be a considered a hunk beefcake eye candy etc but it's not by nature r-rated. usamerican society at large is able to understand that toplessness can be sexually appealing but is not in itself a sexual act when a man does it. if I could be just casually topless on a hot day or something without the little flashing light over my head saying think of the CHILDREN I would be getting minoan with it
At Target this lady told her son he couldn’t have a Wonder Woman doll because “that’s for girls” and then bought her daughter the same one. It got me thinking about how often I see people bar young boys from appreciating girls/women as protagonists and heroes, and my own experience with it as a kid.
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