[Liz+4]

Do most of us have parts that are all the same gender as the body, or Do others here have opposite gender parts too? How does all this impact sexuality?
There is one guy, and four females here in a female body.

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by Liz+4

Do most of us have parts that are all the same gender as the body, or Do others here have opposite gender parts too? How does all this impact sexuality?
There is one guy, and four females here in a female body.

my own internal system only had female parts and I am biologically female.

here in my location statistics\demographics by mental health providers show that the multiple gender parts is a very rare thing. the going consensus \theory here in that children rarely think in terms of gender other than their biological gender so when under extreme trauma that childs brain creates alternate personalities based on what they have stored with in their brains (their emotions, memories, life events and traumas....) since I was a female body and I knew nothing about being a boy, and was not treated like I was a boy by any of my family, friends ...I had no memories emotions events from my life stored in my brain for my brain to create alternate personalities from when ever I dissociated.

Im not saying it doesnt happen in my location because out of the many that I know who have DID some do have multiple gender alters.

that said if I had to guess those would be less than a handful of people with DID that I know who have both male female transgendered parts.

what I can tell you on this issue is that each persons internal system is comprised in what ever ways they needed in order to survive the extreme trauma at such a young age. some internal systems my very well have system of many different kinds including opposite gendered depending upon that persons culture, and such.

for example I did not have opposing gendered alters but I did have animalistic alters which is consistent with my native american culture. the animal like alters did not have animal bodies due to they resided with in a human biological body, they just had the characteristics \sense of agency of my cultures animal icons.

you will find many members here have a variety internal systems comprised in such a way that enabled that member to survive their traumatic childhoods, some have animalistic parts and others have opposite gendered parts, some have LGBT alters, ...... all that have their own sense of agency (what that alter's job, purpose, reason for being created are, how they perceive their self and the world around them....you can read more about this in the links at the bottom of my post)

I'm pretty confident Im a mish mash of genders - but I don't really know the other parts of me that well, and my T only says 'I just see you as a whole' so I have no idea if he could identify more clearly whats in there or not *shrug*.

I guess I know Im a mish mash. But I don't have names or anything.

[finding_my_way]

i have both male and female that range from young to olderish/no age, but still more females than males.

as for sexuality, i would say it goes either way, so bisexual. i don't know if it is related to particular alters or not. it's just what i've always identified as, but there are times where there is an attraction to one gender and not the other or no attraction to either gender as well...though i would think that is more a normal human being type of thing and not specifically DID. i am not in a relationship either though, so at least that is one less thing to add to the mix...

Hey hon, this body is like male but we are mostly fems. The males are worker drones while we gals rule the roost.....this by vote makes us transgendered.

But, it's been mostly the guys way for ever...and boy did they screw that up, so it's "our" turn! Lol

Our sexual alters are both but has been male dominated out of social fear. Now that's past...

Oh btw....the littles are like boys and girls. But they don't present unless a basic need is like really wanted.

[Liz+4]

Thank you for the clear explanation! So, it reads like you don't have parts anymore, is that right? How did that happen? What is it like?

Originally Posted by Liz+4

Thank you for the clear explanation! So, it reads like you don't have parts anymore, is that right? How did that happen? What is it like?

Oh no...we have hundreds on hundreds of parts, but we are more female then male. The guys were camoflage to hide our system....but they are so lacking in most basic human emotions. Grunt here grunt there, no laugh no cry, but they are awesome craftsman, but still....drones.

This kinda pisses them off, but they get it. Unfortunately, when they get drunk or messed up....we end up in jail! Boys.

Obtw...the body is like 48 years, so....science has their own opinions.

[Luce]

I think most of the people I know who have DID have at least some alts of the opposite gender.

My best deduction of our situation is that we were born transgendered but beat up not because of it, but by happen stance?

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by Liz+4

Thank you for the clear explanation! So, it reads like you don't have parts anymore, is that right? How did that happen? What is it like?

yes I am one whole person again all my alters have integrated\became one with me again to be one whole person due to their job, purpose reason for being created was no longer needed for my survival. I now do everything that the alters did for me. Everything they were became one whole person with me.

[Liz+4]

Originally Posted by amandalouise

my own internal system only had female parts and I am biologically female.

here in my location statistics\demographics by mental health providers show that the multiple gender parts is a very rare thing. the going consensus \theory here in that children rarely think in terms of gender other than their biological gender so when under extreme trauma that childs brain creates alternate personalities based on what they have stored with in their brains (their emotions, memories, life events and traumas....) since I was a female body and I knew nothing about being a boy, and was not treated like I was a boy by any of my family, friends ...I had no memories emotions events from my life stored in my brain for my brain to create alternate personalities from when ever I dissociated.

Im not saying it doesnt happen in my location because out of the many that I know who have DID some do have multiple gender alters.

that said if I had to guess those would be less than a handful of people with DID that I know who have both male female transgendered parts.

what I can tell you on this issue is that each persons internal system is comprised in what ever ways they needed in order to survive the extreme trauma at such a young age. some internal systems my very well have system of many different kinds including opposite gendered depending upon that persons culture, and such.

for example I did not have opposing gendered alters but I did have animalistic alters which is consistent with my native american culture. the animal like alters did not have animal bodies due to they resided with in a human biological body, they just had the characteristics \sense of agency of my cultures animal icons.

you will find many members here have a variety internal systems comprised in such a way that enabled that member to survive their traumatic childhoods, some have animalistic parts and others have opposite gendered parts, some have LGBT alters, ...... all that have their own sense of agency (what that alter's job, purpose, reason for being created are, how they perceive their self and the world around them....you can read more about this in the links at the bottom of my post)

Are just one now, Amanda Louise? How/when did that happen? What is it like?

more girls than boys, our outside is a girl. but we do have a handful of boys in there.

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by Liz+4

Are just one now, Amanda Louise? How/when did that happen? What is it like?

Yes I am one whole person now. all my alters have integrated \merged \became one with me. it happened naturally as each alters job, purpose reason for being created was no more they became one with me. it happened after many years of therapy and learning therapy techniques like grounding, breathing, learning how to handle my problems, memories and emotions rather than separating (dissociating) them away from me, ....

what was it like ... it was nothing like you see in movies where the movies have alters dying, screaming, going away. the best way to describe it is its a knowing \remembering\experiencing life and emotions..

think about a time when you were with your friends and your friend said something that made you remember something, or made you feel like laughing..

thats what it was like... instead of being afraid of thunder storms and dissociating I was able to think ... its only thunder, .... and use my breathing and staying present in the moment rather than dissociating.

when talking with people I could remember what we did together.

Im not saying it was all a piece of cake because I went from having no feelings, no memories (because they were dissociated, the psychological term for this is dissociative amnesia which is a normal part of having DID) to being able to feel a whole range of emotions. instead of hearing thunder and then becoming aware that I am sitting under a blanket (rainy's sense of agency) I would actually be feeling that anxiety to its fullest. total panic and it was up to me to feel that and control my behavior\reactions by breathing and accepting that at that moment it was ok to feel what I was feeling, and remain grounded in the present moment.

think about a time when you did something that was new to you. thats what it was like...having full range of emotions and feeling them and not having an alter suddenly take over was new ground. so yea theres an adjustment period. but my opinion it was and is well worth it.

[TrailRunner14]

What you describe amandalouise, seems to be what is happening with me now.

It's like I'm going back and finding these "parts" of me and where they were frozen. Understanding and feeling what the feeling/emotion was in that particular moment. My body experiences the feelings right now, but the emotion part is still a numbness. It may be because I can't see past the moment before the damage was done. Not sure about what it will look like to get the actual emotions. Fearful/curiousness.

As I've found these "parts" they do seem to be an actual part of "me." Existing with me and me understanding whey they "are"

[Shaly78]

Female host, there are alters that wanna get into women, male and female....I don't know if there is ever opportunity there will be opportunity. I will just say that....Will I be open about it, I doubt it. It is like I don't want to say either way what the future will hold. All other alters have fused that were into porn. For now, I date guys most of us.

we are an all female system.

no men allowed here

Everything we experience has a new feel, nothing tied to the old. Its like being born again over and over so that the past is never revisited.

We are much younger than the body is older...sux.

we're an all female system.

and i'm not entirely sure how we'd feel if we had males either.. i'm glad we don't.

[Liz+4]

T asked why Steven is a male when everyone else and the body are female. It was a surprising question. One little one got her needs met and grew up but she has a job to did as a grownup now instead of going away.

[Luce]

Not long ago it seemed like one of our system members had 'grown up' and we asked what it was like to be older and the system member replied "Now I can get a girlfriend". We were like "Oh!" . It hadn't occurred to us that a young 'boy' would identify as being a man.
So I guess we have some stuff to figure out around that.

[Luce]

Originally Posted by Liz+4

T asked why Steven is a male when everyone else and the body are female. It was a surprising question. One little one got her needs met and grew up but she has a job to did as a grownup now instead of going away.

But back to your post... there will be a reason for it. Do you know what that reason is? (rhetorical question, no need to answer here). We know why our boy system member was a boy. Don't know why he now considers himself to be a man though.

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by Liz+4

T asked why Steven is a male when everyone else and the body are female. It was a surprising question. One little one got her needs met and grew up but she has a job to did as a grownup now instead of going away.

yes that is a surprising question isnt it. Im guessing your T wants to know how and why Steven perceives "himself" as a male, my suggestion is since you have co consciousness (otherwise you would not know any information about the alters) ask Steven to tell you or write down or tell the therapist how and why he became male, how and why he perceives himself as male and what his sense of agency is.

as for the alter that grew up and didnt go away. alters with DID do not go away, die and other such things. when their sense of agency is no longer needed to be kept separate they integrate \become one whole person with the one they reside with in (body born or alter), since she did not become one whole person with the body born or another alter Im guessing her sense of agency is still needed for everyones survival.

my suggestion is ask her why she did not become one with an alter or the body born/ physical body person.