Stayin Danight

[rhymer-713.livejournal.com]

We all stayed danight with dis friend of ours. His name is Ry and he's real tall. There's also Whoosh, Zaphod and Noki. They's all priddyful. Anyway we is having fum.
Gotta run,
Addee

(no subject)

[ex-visual-sy218.livejournal.com]

I would like to ask a question of the community.

My Lisa's topic of interest in her major is the portrayal of identity and how it is affected by the surroundings of an individual. This is closely related to her experience growing as a multiple.

She wishes to complete a project which will focus on experiences that she and others have had as multiples, but is confused as to how to portray it. We will work on the technical and creative aspects of the project ourselves. What I would like to ask from the community is an account of their own personal discovery of their systems. Perhaps, if it would not take too long to discuss, a brief overview of how your groups have come to be functional, and how your members compromise on a daily basis.

We will not use names, as this is a visual art project. I believe, however, that seeing the words will be of inspiration to our next project.

--Maxim

The "Original Person"

[spookshow-girl.livejournal.com]

It seems to me that quite a few people here subscribe to a paradigm in which it's easily defined who is the "original" or "host". This may work for their systems, in which it's clearly defined who is associating with the body, and who is not. It seems to me, however, that it's not nearly as universally true as some people present.

How does a person deal with a few of the systems present here, in which some may not have never had someone present who identifies with the physical appearance of the body? Does this mean that they cannot be the "original" or "body" person? Is this the case even when they aren't a multiple? Many singles do not believe their reflection is an accurate representation of who they are. Does this mean they lose all rights to their body? What kind of implications will that hold for transgendered people?

What about other systems, in which there are attributes of more than one system member present in the physical body? People who are completely unrelated to each other can look similar enough that people will confuse the two. I've personally experenced this, and I also know I'm not alone. People have gone to jail in cases of mistaken identity. It's really not all that uncommon for people to bear more than a passing resemblance to each other, so is it really that impossible for this to happen in a multiple system?

I've seen it mentioned that the person whose name is present on their identification is the original person. This has a few, IMO amusing, implications. With a little paperwork, a single person, or a multiple system, can change the name on all of their identification, including their Driver's License. It's actually not all that difficult, and many singles do so. If the name on the Driver's License is to be used as some sort of proof, couldn't anyone in the system just change the name on the relevant forms of ID so that it matches with their own personal name, and thus alter their status within the system? That could turn out to be a very bad day for the person who had originally identified as the host.

What if noone identifies with the name bestowed at birth? Plenty of singles are uncomfortable with their birth names. After all, they did not choose the name, it was chosen by their parents. If one must identify with their birth name in order to claim that they are the original inhabitant of the body, what does it mean when someone who is not multiple chooses to change their name, and no longer uses their birth name. Does this mean that they are no longer the "original" person? What if they never really identified with the name, or always hated it and avoided using it?

Conversely, what if more than one person in a system identifies with the birth name? First and last names are not universally unique. In some cases, it's not even a coincidence. In some families, it's custom to use a specific first name for all their children, such as the name of a grandmother, grandfather, or saint. They differentiate between the children using their middle names. I've encountered someone from such a family, and my sister has encountered a set of twins with the same first and last name. Given this, how impossible is it for two system members to identify with the same name, perhaps using nicknames, or chosen middle names in order to differentiate themselves in casual conversation? How is it invalid if there was a concious choice involved, as the case may be among some singles? In any case, no matter the reason: who is the original, when more than one person identifies with the name given to the body at birth?

When people assert that it is easy to identify who the body person might be, are they just taking the easy way out by denying the experiences of these corner cases? Do they for some reason believe that these issues which exist outside the context of multiplicity, somehow magically become rendered null and void once you are talking about a multiple system? Have they never encountered these issues before? If so, where are they living?

The reason I ask, is because here on Earth people don't always feel that their reflection, their driver's license, their name, or their gender at birth, are really reflective of who they are as a person, nor are they unique identifiers. There are jobs and undustries which rely on this fact. Yet somehow, some of these people have the gall to accuse others of living in a fantasy land.

--Me