From what we’ve observed on tumblr in the multiplicity community, we’ve noticed that systems whose body or core/host is FAAB (female assigned at birth) tend to have a majority of male headmates, and then the majority of those male headmates tend to be queer in some way. We’re wondering what your thoughts are on this topic, and if you’ve noticed this as well.

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I personally have experienced this in my own system. We do have a fair amount of female identified people in my headspace, but the majority are, in fact, males who are queer. It’s a smallish majority, but it’s still definitely noticeable. I know at least three other systems IRL who are like this too, and all the “cores” are FAAB. I’ve also definitely noticed it around tumblr, from what I can tell. I don’t know what exactly the cause would be, though, or if there is a cause. Maybe seeing other systems with the same thing influences us, and we have sort of gravitated in that direction? I dunno. But it’s interesting to speculate.

- Ariane, Four Quadrants System

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We have to be very cautious with an observation like this, I feel, because there is the danger of making comparisons with the stereotype of women fetishising gay men and using them for entertainment purposes. As a (gay) transman myself, I would react very poorly to being compared with such a stereotype, naturally.

I don’t think there’s any concrete answer to the question of why this occurs. It might be something to do with upbringing or ‘female’ socialisation. It might, in terms of fictives, be something to do with how male characters are commonly much more fleshed-out and 3 dimensional in general than female characters, due to an unfortunate trend for female characters to serve primarily as the sex appeal. I think that’s probably a much more likely explanation than a female socialisation one, though it is possible that subconsciously, female-identified FAAB persons have that notion of desiring male friends in order to provide that 'other viewpoint’ to the world, and male-identified FAAB persons just want some more guys to hang out with. (Genderqueer FAAB, I’m not sure about!) I mean, women are constantly bombarded with this idea of 'needing’ a man, whereas there’s less social advertising to suggest that men 'need’ women, if you understand me.

In the end, no one can really know, and I hope I haven’t offended anyone with what I just said.

- Ryn, Aristocracy System

(ETA: This post also holds an interesting point.)