4 ms·

Purely from a logistical perspective, I feel like joined-at-the-brain would be easier.

fastball 9y ago
Yes, but logistical considerations weren't really my point. It's debatable whether these girls are one girl or two girls, from a personality / sense-of-self perspective. I personally could see myself being in a relationship with someone that had a conjoined twin. The only barriers are awkwardness and how much time I get to spend with them if the other twin has it's own SO/social life/etc. Conjoined at the brain is totally different. Are they two individuals? Are they one with different personalities? Are they the same personality with two different physical manifestations? I feel like it would just be so hard with our culture's concept of love and self. Does she love me? Do they love me? Does half of her hate me? It's just so mind-numbingly complicated.
- PhasmaFelis 9y ago
  > It's debatable whether these girls are one girl or two girls, from a personality / sense-of-self perspective. No it's not. They have externally distinguishable personalities, and they refer to themselves as separate people. I don't see any reason not to take their word for it. And even if they were one and a half people, I don't see the issue as long as all one-and-a-half of them are into it. And if they're not, it's not as if having conflicted feelings about someone is alien to normal human experience. It would certainly be an odd situation, but hardly insurmountable.
  - fastball 9y ago
    Your left and right brain would probably identify as different people if your non-dominant hemisphere could talk.
- Mz 9y ago
  I have a lot of personal issues, including being medically handicapped. One of the things I have learned in life: whatever I might dislike about myself and see as a bug, someone somewhere sees as a feature. Things like BDSM are pretty objectionable to some people. But it is something that can be hidden while someone passes for normal most of the time. Your justification of your position is exactly what I have in mind when I say that the social experience of conjoined twins must be a case of "Hell is other people. " Insert the term "man" in place of "conjoined twin" and follow it with a homophobic rant and see how you feel about your position in that light. Or "Black woman" or "Asian woman" followed by a justification of racism and laws forbidding interracial marriage.
- jrace 9y ago
  I live in the town where the twins live, and a family member has worked closely with them in school. By all accounts of those who have interacted with them they are two individuals.
  - fastball 9y ago
    People who have had their corpus callosum (the connection between the left and right hemispheres of the brain) are shown to have actions which contradict themselves (the left hand, controlled by the right hemisphere) will pick things up, and the right hand (controlled by the left hemisphere) will knock it down or choose something different from what the left brain wanted. I'm not sure this is much different.

Yes, but logistical considerations weren't really my point. It's debatable whether these girls are one girl or two girls, from a personality / sense-of-self perspective. I personally could see myself being in a relationship with someone that had a conjoined twin. The only barriers are awkwardness and how much time I get to spend with them if the other twin has it's own SO/social life/etc. Conjoined at the brain is totally different. Are they two individuals? Are they one with different personalities? Are they the same personality with two different physical manifestations? I feel like it would just be so hard with our culture's concept of love and self. Does she love me? Do they love me? Does half of her hate me? It's just so mind-numbingly complicated.

PhasmaFelis 9y ago
> It's debatable whether these girls are one girl or two girls, from a personality / sense-of-self perspective. No it's not. They have externally distinguishable personalities, and they refer to themselves as separate people. I don't see any reason not to take their word for it. And even if they were one and a half people, I don't see the issue as long as all one-and-a-half of them are into it. And if they're not, it's not as if having conflicted feelings about someone is alien to normal human experience. It would certainly be an odd situation, but hardly insurmountable.
- fastball 9y ago
  Your left and right brain would probably identify as different people if your non-dominant hemisphere could talk.
Mz 9y ago
I have a lot of personal issues, including being medically handicapped. One of the things I have learned in life: whatever I might dislike about myself and see as a bug, someone somewhere sees as a feature. Things like BDSM are pretty objectionable to some people. But it is something that can be hidden while someone passes for normal most of the time. Your justification of your position is exactly what I have in mind when I say that the social experience of conjoined twins must be a case of "Hell is other people. " Insert the term "man" in place of "conjoined twin" and follow it with a homophobic rant and see how you feel about your position in that light. Or "Black woman" or "Asian woman" followed by a justification of racism and laws forbidding interracial marriage.
jrace 9y ago
I live in the town where the twins live, and a family member has worked closely with them in school. By all accounts of those who have interacted with them they are two individuals.
- fastball 9y ago
  People who have had their corpus callosum (the connection between the left and right hemispheres of the brain) are shown to have actions which contradict themselves (the left hand, controlled by the right hemisphere) will pick things up, and the right hand (controlled by the left hemisphere) will knock it down or choose something different from what the left brain wanted. I'm not sure this is much different.