In plural terms, a system is the collection of people who share a body and are multiple/median[1][2]. It is the opposite of the word singlet, which is the word for a person who does not have a system. A body can be described as having a system, and individual members can be described as being a part of a system.
The term has its roots in medical literature[3], describing a "personality system" of people diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder, then referred to as multiple personality disorder. Due to this, many people with dissociative disorders describe a system as a collection of alters in those with a dissociative disorder[4], not as any sort of plural. The question of "what is a system" causes much contention, with the term system exclusionists referring to those who believe that only systems with particular dissociative disorders are true systems - i.e., they do not consider endogenic or other-origin systems to be true systems. Due to the controversy over natural systems, the -genic suffix was created, largely as an alternative to terms such as "multiplicity" and "systems"[5]. Despite the term's medical origins, it is still broadly used throughout the plural community to describe a collection of members of all kinds of origins.
Alternative terms for those who do not wish to use the word system due to its medical origins or the controversy over self-labeling as a system without having a dissociative disorder include collective, crew, network, and many more[6].
- ↑ FAQ by headmatesfaq on Tumblr
- ↑ Plurality Playbook by FreyasSpirit and Irenes
- ↑ An Overview of the Psychotherapy of Dissociative Identity Disorder by Richard P. Kluft
- ↑ Systems and Subsystems on did-research.org
- ↑ Long ramble on terminology creation by not-your-fucking-pet on Tumblr
- ↑ Alternatives to "system" by extranth on Tumblr