Dimensions of Fronting
In my Manifestations post, I used fronting as a catch-all term for any sort of physical attachment to the body.
I'd like to delve into that a bit more here, exploring language to better explain individual experiences of fronting and control over the body.
This isn't really intended for every day use, but is meant to better explain plural experiences of fronting in a more clear and more precise way.
Full body vs Locational Attachment
Full body attachment is, as expected, attachment to the entire body at once.
Locational Attachment is attachment to specific body parts such as only a hand or just the legs. When referencing locational attachment, it's usually useful to refer to the part of the body one is attached to.
Efferent vs Afferent Attachment
Besides simply being locational, attachment can come in afferent and efferent forms. Some nerves send signals from the brain to the body. Other nerves in the brain receive signals from the body.
Nerves responsible for sending signals from the brain to the body are called efferent nerves. These allow you to control the body. Nerves responsible for receiving signals are afferent. These allow you to sense things through the body.
Attachment can exist in both forms separately.
If a headmate feels like they're experiencing everything happening to the body but feel like somebody else is controlling it, they're experiencing afferent attachment with efferent detachment.
If a headmate is controlling the body but feels disconnected, as if everything is happening to somebody else, this is efferent attachment with afferent detachment.
Alternative Terminology:
The terms above are more technical, designed to help conceptualize the dimensions of fronting. For everyday use, I would recommend Possession and Attunement.
Possession referring to taking control of the body, attunement to receiving signals from its senses as if they were your own.
Solitary Attachment vs Shared Attachment and Co-fronting
Any of previous attachment types may be experienced by multiple headmates at once. Multiple headmates feel like the whole body is theirs and share control over it simultaneously. Shared attachment can also be over specific limbs, where multiple headmates feel like the limb is theirs at once.
If only one headmate feels attached to the body or limb, this is solitary attachment.
When multiple headmates are controlling the body, this is usually called co-fronting.
How to use the language?
One thing I often struggle with is putting our experiences into words.
A lot of plural language is vague and has multiple conflicting meanings. Part of an issue with having such a large community made up of many smaller communities.
What one person means when they say they're fronting may not be what another means.
This allows us to more easily describe and compare different plural experiences.
For example, a distinction for our partial possession vs our proxying.
When I partially possess an arm, I fully experience that arm as if it's mine. I experience both afferent and efferent locational attachment to that specific limb. If using possession and attunement terms, this may also be considered Attuned Locational Possession or Partial Attuned Possession.
In contrast, when proxying (typing while somebody else is fronting,) I don't feel like the hand belongs to me. I send signals through them, the words typed out are mine and coming from me, but the fronter still experiences the hands as if the hands belong to the fronter. I experience a locational efferent attachment (sending motor signals) and afferent detachment (an absence of sensor signals) to the hands, while the fronter may experience afferent attachment and efferent detachment to the hands. This can also be considered a form of Unattuned Locational Possession of the hands.
Breaking it down!
Full body Attachment and Detachment:
"I'm in complete control of the body, everything that happens to it is happening to me."
Full Fronting (full body efferent and afferent attachment.)
"I'm in control but everything feels like it's happening to someone else, as if I'm outside the body."
Complete Unattuned Possession (full body efferent attachment and afferent detachment.)
"I can feel everything but it's as if someone else is controlling my actions and making me act things out."
Complete non-possessive Attunement (full body efferent detachment and afferent attachment.)
"I'm a spectator watching while someone else controls my body. Everything that happens is happening to them and I just exist in the background."
Complete Detachment (full body efferent and afferent detachment.)
Partial Attachment and Detachment:
"I have total control over this limb, and feel through it as if it's mine."
Partial Attuned Possession (localized efferent and afferent attachment.)
"I can control this limb but I feel like it's someone else's and don't feel these sensations are happening to me."
Partial Unattuned Possession.(localized efferent attachment and afferent detachment.)
"I can feel through this part of the body as if it's mine, but I have no control over it."
Partial non-possessive Attunement (localized efferent detachment and afferent attachment.)
"I can't control this limb and I feel like it belongs to someone else."
Partial Detachment (localized efferent and afferent detachment.)
Things to consider...
While writing this, there were some experiences that were hard to categorize. This is especially true of unconscious reactions. If you tickle a headmate's mindform who is co-con but not fronting, and their reaction causes the body to jolt, do these sorts of automatic and unconscious reactions constitute a form of Efferent Attachment?
This model is still not comprehensive. But I believe it's a good starting place for understanding fronting experiences.
