lil place where I explain what I personally call 'spinsonas'/'fixsonas' (or if both apply, 'spinfixsonas') according to my own experience and those I've seen online
(also when I say 'interest' here I mean 'special interest or hyperfixation', and when I say 'character' I mean 'character/person')


What are spinsonas/fixsonas?

There seems to be this common experience amongst autistic people especially, where their actions, dress, voice, personality etc become heavily influenced by people or characters in their special interests or hyperfixations if they have them. These terms would be exclusive to anyone who can have special interests (autistic people) or hyperfixations

A spinsona/fixsona is a persona heavily influenced by or completely based on their special interests/hyperfixations that may be temporarily adopted (voluntarily or not) as a form of masking, for enjoyment/as a way of engaging with the interest, to socialise without feeling so much pressure, to process emotions or thoughts/experiences, and lots more! Multiple spinsonas/fixsonas could be adopted at once and switched between (eg. acting out conversations), or you could switch between a character and yourself


Is it roleplay?

Sometimes it could be! I think the distinction is blurry and it would depend on if they're 'your' actions (even if influenced by x) or if you're purposefully doing the things x would do, and if your personality or social presentation is just influenced by x or if you're specifically pretending to be x. All of these experiences I'd still consider spinfixsonas - they're just different levels of essentially the same type of connection to your interests


Why might people do this?

(using personal experiences as examples! note that lots of these are conscious examples because most of my experiences with it are conscious/a choice, not subconscious)

Masking and Dissociation: This is the most self-explanatory. People or characters can act as 'models' for masking - for example, when you're not quite sure how to fit in in a given situation but a character you like would do x (in the context of masking, it may also be a neurotypical character, or a character lots of neurotypical people like from your interest). It can also make masking less taxxing since it doubles as engaging in the interest and can be a bit of fun. It could double as a form of dissociation too, eg. 'I can't handle parties, but x character loves parties, so I can act as them and take on their confidence'

Interest Engagement: Sometimes when I can't access my interests and just thinking about them isn't enough, I'll have conversations in my head or privately out loud as characters from them as a way of engaging in them. This seeps into the online point, but I've also found joy in making an account themed around the interest and sometimes acting as or having my actions influenced by the character it's themed after - this could also look like making roleplay accounts of the character where the posts are from their perspective

Socialising: Socialising can take a lot of energy out of me and a huge chunk of that is not knowing how to act and the fear of the spotlight being 'on me' and everyone knowing it was me that messed up. Partially adopting a spinfixsona here can help preserve some of the energy I spend socialising. If I don't know what to say, I might do what a character close enough to my personality would say - I usually find that I know what they'd say better than what I'd say, even if we're really similar. Especially in text where I have more time to be worried about what to say next, this helps, and using a different name or even just profile picture online can also help it feel like there's pressure on me to personally come up with what to say

Processing Emotions/Experiences: Whether I'm trying to calm down after a meltdown or stressful day, or I need some reassurance or advice, using spinfixsonas always helps. For me, this can be switching between a character and I having a conversation (out loud in private, or just in my head), switching between several characters, or acting as one character to try and get my thoughts about things out there, find solutions, and differentiate between negative/positive thoughts. Otherwise I can find myself just sat with a ball of tangled up thoughts and nothing to do with them. It also gives me something else to focus on (eg. 'how would the conversation go between these two if this happened to one of them?') and creates an easy-to-follow dialogue in my head between what I'm feeling and what would help/why it'll be okay, and I don't have to worry about how I'm going to explain it to people when I'm already too stressed or socially drained, because I'm explaining it to 'myself'/my spinfixsona

Everyday Challenges: To help with self care or studying or other everyday things I find hard, I'll act as characters talking to one another or to me before/after/during certain tasks as a confidence-booster or to encourage me to do them. For example, I might adopt spinfixsonas to make studying more fun by having one character ask the other questions about the topic, or to motivate me to brush my teeth by having a character do it with me or another character

Online Spinfixsonas: Multiple times in my life, I've found myself making accounts online with different 'themes' in line with different interests as a way of engaging in them creatively through having an account inspired by them, and sometimes this'll impact how I act on the account (see the other points). It's an online spinfixsona! I personally don't fully roleplay as the character on these accounts but some may eg. posting from the perspective of the character

Because it's fun: Sometimes it's just fun and less stressful to view life as if you were one of your favourite characters for a little while. It doesn't always have to be because things are stressful or because I have a need to engage in the interest right now, it's just fun


Tumblr: nonconformityhub

Edit

Pub: 10 Jul 2024 21:45 UTC

Edit: 11 Jul 2024 10:43 UTC

Views: 364