Hello

[amonite.livejournal.com]

Hello, I have looked over this community from time to time, but never really thought about joining it. Now, I think I would like to.

My name is Corda, and I share a body with Jenai (lj newmoon17). We fought at first, but get along now. She usually fronts, because I have an accent that is hard to hide.

Her family does not know about me, nor do we plan on telling them. Many of her friends do know, however, and surprisingly many of them turned out to be multiple as well. It seems many young teens this day and age are - but in our culture, it is no wonder it is not a common known fact.

I would like to experience more of life, but usually accede to Jenai's descisions on when I can be out. Apparently I have a tendency to intimidate some people - probably because they are nto used to seeing Jenai display a spine. I do wish she would remember to let me be the one to eat, my taste sense is superior, and food is good - especially French Onion sunchips...they are strangely addicting - I do get to front around a half hour to an hour a day, and am always aware. At night we switch back and forth to dream, often even both dreaming at the same time, which makes some interesting stories.

We can present an integrated front, which we call Keza (after a former identity who vanished before fully emerging). One of our friends calls us 'Kanni' which is nice as well. We can also go into 'robot mode' of a sorts, with Jenai backing up from fronting and staying with me, so we both are observing, and can send commands to the body. It is very useful when playing acting games requiring bluffing.

Jenai loves a man I do not, and I love a man that she does not (though she has a crush). It makes things akward, as the man I love does not know I exist, literally. And the man she loves is not interested in a relationship beyond the mere physical. He does know I exist, tho has not officially met me.

The teens we have told have been very understanding, and no one so far has reacted poorly. But it is the adults I know that I fear to tell, even the man I care about most.

Comments

[eridanusus.livejournal.com]

Guys are dickwads anyway.

(ramon: no, that's just dat. he likes to project. ha.)

Yea, thanks for the support there mate. Smart ass.

Dat

[inautopianworld.livejournal.com]

Most of the girls over here agree with Dat ;-)

[amonite.livejournal.com]

Dat was my first friend, he is silly but not a dickwad.

I will probably get more time out over the summer, which will be fun. We are assistant director to a day camp which the man I care for directs.

[eridanusus.livejournal.com]

I got called an upstanding member of alt.support.dissociation the other day, too. What's wrong with the world when no one recognises my absolute depravity??? lol
Camp sounds like fun. Gonna be looking after kids, or doing admin stuff, or what?

[amonite.livejournal.com]

It is not an overnight camp - the kids travel to the theater during the day. I assistant direct for one of them - in that I will be helping the director, and doing various other tasks, such as helping stage the piece and pick ouyt the cast list. For the other two daycamps we will be helping with art and outside games.

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

LMAO!!!! Oh MAN... you just made my entire WEEK.
*laughing all over the floor*

If they only knew that you're a valued member of an online community run by the dreaded astraea...

Well, fear not! Your depravity is recognised and duly honoured!

[zenboiuke.livejournal.com]

As one of the resident NON-dickwads ;) I know it's frightening to 'come out' when you're not sure of the reception you'll receive, especially in a society that has such narrow views of what is 'acceptable' or 'normal' but I would never personally want to have an intimate relationship with someone who did not love & accept me for me.

It's great that you have friends who understand & who can relate. I was the first among many of my friends to step forward & state that 'I' was 'we' but it turned out many people I know are in the same boat, and had just been too afraid to say anything.

Anyway, welcome! ^_^

~Kier

[amonite.livejournal.com]

It is surprising how many people are. A lot of Jenai's younger friends (between 12-16 or so) have turned out to be multiples as well. Some of them do not recall what happens when another identity is out, and some do. Several of them used to be, but not anymore. In the younger generation, the count is surprisingly high.

[zenboiuke.livejournal.com]

I am wondering if this is a phenomenon like empathy or psychometry, that used to be prevalent thousands of years ago before civilizations became so technologically oriented, and which is being rediscovered today in the 'underground' of controversial subcultures?

It was SO funny when I decided to tell my friends... I hated keeping something so important to myself and the other people in-house a secret from people who were supposed to care about me, so I took a deep breath & 'came out'. I was stunned to hear that not only was I not alone in my 'not-aloneness' LOL, but I believe my plural-spectrum friends outnumber my singlet friends. Other than in the obvious sort of way ;P

~Kier

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

Most likely, it has more to do with religion and social control than anything else. If plurals weren't a problem, then there wouldn't have been any need to "correct" them. The Holy Roman Empire may have discouraged multiplicity because one soul per body was easier to keep track of. Plurals never stopped existing, but without cultural permission they had no way to identify themselves to themselves, let alone to anyone else, and if they had they'd have been "diagnosed" as being possessed.

The Egyptians were probably more open-minded about multiplicity than anyone, with their concept that everyone has several souls. Queen Hatchepsut went on record as having fourteen.

Belief in things like empathy, psychometry, channeling etc. tend to fall in and out of favour with the dominant culture depending on whether or not it is useful to those in power for the people they rule to believe in it.

Technology need not impede a society's ability to hold onto its faith in magic. Look at the Balinese, especially North Bali.

[sethrenn.livejournal.com]

A couple of us have run around with theories on how modern society might encourage multiplicity in some sense-- like, there's so much information we have to deal with and process on a daily basis that it's easier to handle with more than one person doing the job.

Granted, it's very common for young teenagers to go through phases of identity experimentation (and older people, but it's most often associated with adolescents). I suspect that some of them are just sort of trying on multiplicity as a phase (like the ones you mentioned who said they used to be plural). This isn't to say none of them are for real-- I'm sure some of them are.

[amonite.livejournal.com]

In our sociological psychology class there was a section on the 'dissolution of the self'. While it did not go indepth, it did point out the trends of modern society for most people to develop multiple selves. While it stopped short of recognizing them as unique identities, it basically described how today's society contributes to many selves forming. Influence from media, varying pressures, the conflict between interests and opposrtunities, and the exposure tro a wide variety of experiences and ideas were all cited as contributing to this. Had it been taken farther, multiple personalities might be recognized as normal and commonplace. As it was, I think the author was treading on thin ice trying not to offend any of the modern schools of thought on the matter.

[sethrenn.livejournal.com]

Had it been taken farther, multiple personalities might be recognized as normal and commonplace. As it was, I think the author was treading on thin ice trying not to offend any of the modern schools of thought on the matter.

That's probably exactly what s/he was doing. I've always thought that multiplicity should properly be studied as an issue of personality, not of pathology. No one wants to actually say the dreaded words, though, after all the controversy and scandals-- they all seem to stop just short of acknowledging it. (There are a few books which do deal with multiplicity in this vein; Sandy Stone's The War of Desire and Technology is one, and William James actually devoted an entire chapter to the issue of personality and whether we just have one.)

[pengke.livejournal.com]

People don't pay as much attention to accents as you'd think. Most likely no one would even notice and if they did they'd never make the jump to you being a separate person.

[amonite.livejournal.com]

When I am out, I get many queries as to why I am talking in a 'british accent' although it is not british. And some adults have found it quite annoying. Although, if I do not talk much, it does take them a while to notice - and since most of my social life is at the local theater, not many of the actors care.

[zenboiuke.livejournal.com]

Accents can be sex~ay & exotic *grin*

I have noticed that many of us have slightly different accents as well. I thnk one reason it's difficult for a lot of the others to front is because they are not used to hearing themselves speak with this body's voice, or see themselves moving using the body, and it's VERY disorienting to the point where they are so distracted by the 'off' sensation that they almost can't function. On one end, Jack looks the most like the body, but when one of the girls wants to front the results are tragically hilarious ~_~;;;

~Kier

[sethrenn.livejournal.com]

Some of us had that problem at first-- embarassment over the body's voice not sounding like theirs. Our voice doesn't seem to fluctuate over a very wide range, so there's a limit to how different we can sound without sounding 'forced.' Very few of us can be identified on the basis of voice.

What it kind of seems to come down to is that if someone is interested in fronting, they'll find a way to work through issues with the body or voice. One of the people we're told is most recognisable is neither female nor sounds anything like this body's voice. But it's true that it's disorienting-- in our case some people have ended up feeling like cheap fakes because they 'couldn't even do their voice right.'

[zenboiuke.livejournal.com]

*nods* Yes... some are so distracted by the dissonance between their voices/appearance & the body's that they can't communicate effectively. It reminds me of how I used to feel trying to express myself through the body before I took steps to convert if from female to male. Ugh... those days were NOT fun ><;; so I can completely sympathize with how the others must feel.

At least with writing they can format their text to identify themselves the way a 3D person might be identifiable through appearance or voice. Necessity is the other of invention & all that ;)

~Kier

[sethrenn.livejournal.com]

*nods* We kind of try to go for a 'gender-neutral' appearance when we can, but it's often not easy. There's not much we can do with the body right now because we have a mix of genders in frontrunners.

[zenboiuke.livejournal.com]

Sign up to be a Calvin Klein model *grin*

~Kier

[shatterstorm.livejournal.com]

We're lucky that way - this body's voices cover quite a range. (and volume, our "outdoor" voice is amazing!) Over the phone, strangers typically respond to the age and gender of the person fronting unless they're expecting a particular someone. We find it bemusing that most of our genderless folk are assumed to be male. *shrug*

[ninalyn.livejournal.com]

We've noticed this, too, that people don't notice different accents even when they're blatently obvious to us. It's kind of interesting. Our current SO, though, noticed right away on our first date. It was a little strange.

/end ramble.

[ninalyn.livejournal.com]

Also wanted to say welcome to you. :)