Plurality Is Not Defined By Switching.

anti-endos 👏 do not 👏 own 👏 the rights 👏 to 👏 plurality 👏

starts punching and tearing at everything in a blind rage. i want AROMANTIC characters i want characters with not an OUNCE of romance about them i don't JUST want aroace characters i want AROMANTIC characters that AREN'T ASEXUAL i want people to headcanon characters as AROMANTIC not just aroace i want fandom to treat AROMANTICISM as AROMANTICISM, and not a SUBCATEGORY OF ASEXUALITY. RRRAAAAAAAAGHHHHHH

[ID: banner reading "don't tag as ace or aroace"]

Exactly, all systems are different in their own, beautiful ways.

Just like knowing an autistic person means you know one autistic person, knowing a system means you know one system. Systemhood/plurality is an incredibly diverse experience and it's impossible to get the full scope of the lives of every system out there by talking to one system, or even just a handful.

What feels restricting to one system may fit another perfectly. What feels comfortable to one system may make another feel dehumanized. Something that's a common experience in one system may be downright impossible in another. And on and on with many personal preferences and experiences.

This is fine, and normal. We're all unique, whether that's unique as individuals or unique as collectives. Just remember that the way one system works has no bearing on how another works; do not presume you know everything about systems just due to your own experiences or those you've talked to. It all depends on the system/plural/person in question.

I see people speak of Dionysus as a women’s god and I propose: Herakles as a woman’s god. Sometimes ladies need a god of masculinity to be for them you know.

Here’s my metaphor for systemhood that I tell my singlet friends.

Imagine you’re playing a first person video game. You have the controller, you control your character. It’s a normal first person game. You are an alter, the character is the body. This is fronting.

Other people live with you. Sometimes, they come into the room and sit and watch while you play. They sometimes try to guide you, give you advice on what to do next. They don’t always agree, and they can argue with each other. Other times they scream at you that you’re doing everything wrong and you suck at this game. This is co-consciousness.

Imagine how distracting it would be for people around you to tell you what to do, or to scream at each other or at you, even if they have good intentions. It wouldn’t be easy to focus on your game, would it?

Then sometimes, something happens in the game that prompts you to hand off the controller to someone else so they can play and you get a break. This is (some types of) switching. This can be good.

Other times, someone rips the controller out of your hand or fights you for it. This is (other types of) switching. And sometimes, six other players hook up their controllers, but there’s only one character to play as. So all of you have your controllers, but you’re all trying to play the same character. This is cofronting.

Imagine how difficult that would be. Imagine how hard it would be to try and play a game while someone is trying to take the controller from you, or while six other people are trying to play too.

There are also times that nobody is playing, or you can’t decide who should play. What’s happening to the character in the game? What are they doing if no one is playing? This is dissociation. The character is doing nothing. They’re stuck.

This is the best metaphor I have come up with for being a system. It’s something a lot of people get because they’ve played games before.

some kid in my art course today said, WITHOUT ANY PROMPTING, "man, i wish there was a way to like, split up your brain... Into like, different people, to handle different tasks..." And i shot up and was like "OH!! ACTUALLY-" And he cut me off with "no like yknow without trauma" And i had to force myself not to infodump tumblr plural culture and to just say "yeah theres a whole community around that, its a thing lol" and another friend told me after class that they saw me start VIBRATING cause i got so excited 😭

being plural is crazy because you do the most mundane shit and have a bunch of people making live commentary on it like they’re streamers making reaction content

- 🦇

As a traumagenic system I do not feel safe in the systempunk community, anti-endos are not our allies, they will fakeclaim you, harass you and laugh about it to your face. They don't care about us! If you want your traumagenic spaces I can understand but using those spaces to spread hate on our cousins and siblings doesn't make it a safe space, it makes it a space primed for attacks on anyone deemed "bad" or "wrong" which when you are a system... can be for any reason.

I will always be pluralpunk! I believe in a future for all of us not just the "correct" systems.

“Stop thinking of alters as separate people” this and “alters are each there own different entities that shouldn’t be blended” that

How about we let each system decide what feels best to them and stop policing systems that are already dealing with a very complex and varying disorder

Racism in the plural community is a real problem. Racism in the medical community is a real, dangerous problem.

Pour one out for DID/OSDD systems of color that go undiagnosed or misdiagnosed because the psychiatric institution dismisses them.

Pour one out for all systems of color who feel isolated because the online community often conflates plurality with whiteness.

Pour one out for systems of color who get called racist or appropriative because their systems incorporate aspects of their own culture, but people automatically assume they must be white.

Pour one out for systems of color whose voices are silenced because of their ethnicity.

Uplift non-white systems. Talk to non-white systems, not over them.