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Paraphilic infantilism, also known as autonepiophilia and adult baby syndrome is a sexual fetish that involves role-playing a regression to an infant-like state. Behaviors may include drinking from a bottle or wearing diapers. Individuals may engage in gentle and nurturing experiences (an adult who only engages in infantilistic play is known as an adult baby) or be attracted to masochistic, coercive, punishing or humiliating experiences. Diaper fetishism involves "diaper lovers" wearing diapers for sexual or erotic reasons but may not involve infant-like behaviour. Individuals who experience both of these things are referred to as adult baby/diaper lovers (AB/DL). When wearing diapers, infantilists may urinate or defecate in them.

Characteristics and behaviors

The infantilist community is described by one practitioner as made up of two main types - adult babies (adults who role play infants) and sissy babies (who role play as infants of the opposite gender). There are also individuals who wear diapers but do not act as infants, either diaper lovers who eroticize diaper wearing, or sadomasochists who use diapers as a way of enforcing dominance and submission. Though the categories are discrete, in practice the behaviors found in each group often overlap. Adult babies roleplaying as a baby or small child for erotic stimulation is considered the signature expression of paraphilic infantilism. This may involve the use of adult-sized diapers and baby clothes or toys and furniture such as a crib to lend reality to the infantilist fantasy, crawling on the floor, and some individuals may urinate or defecate in their diapers. If a partner is willing, adult babies may engage in parent-baby roleplay including being bathed, powdered and changed into diapers by one's partner, before being put to bed with a baby bottle. Thereafter the adult baby may be comforted and pampered by their partner in the role of the parent and their diapers might be changed if wet or dirty. For some infantilists, the ritual might instead involve being scolded, spanked or chastised for having wet dirtied their diapers. In this latter instance the mode of arousal is masochistic. Others may only desire gentle or nurturing treatment, based on the desire to be cared for or to "surrender the responsibilities of adult life". Some infantilists may involve masturbation and ejaculation while others may choose not to engage in sex since it is not babylike. The erotic pleasure derived from either of these forms of infantilism may replace the need for sexual intercourse in reaching orgasm.

According to Eric Hickey, infantilists are commonly male, are on average thirty-eight years of age, in steady employment, normally have an undergraduate level of education or higher and are usually married or in a stable relationship.

Research

Meaningful information on the incidence or prevalence of any of the paraphilias are lacking due to the often clandestine nature of such practices. Similarly, it has been observed that infantilism is a closeted activity and it is not well documented in the medical literature. If exceptional behaviors do not cause functional impairment, personal distress or distress to others, or have legal implications they can escape the purview of psychiatric awareness and knowledge . Additionally, infantilists may not consider themselves as suffering from a medical condition and may not want to change their behavior, a common issue among individuals with paraphilias. Individuals with paraphilic infantilism may only seek therapy for other issues, or be encouraged or coerced to seek treatment if discovered by others. Given these issues, the potential of anonymous internet surveys for data collection on infantilist communities has been noted.

Relation to other conditions

Infantilism is a diffuse phenomenon and different authorities have taken varied approaches to the question of its medical and sexological classification.

Definitions

The conventional definition of infantilism means the persistence of childlike traits in adults and medically the failure to attain sexual maturity, and "sexual infantilism" is also used medically as a synonym for delayed puberty. The term "psychosexual infantilism" was used in Freud's theory of psychosexual development to refer to individuals who had not matured through its hypothetical stages into heterosexuality. Wilhelm Stekel used "psychosexual infantilism" as a category similar to paraphilia, including paraphilic infantilism and other paraphilias and sexual orientations.

Masochism

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) states that along with other behaviors, sexual maoschists "...may have a desire to be treated as a helpless infant and clothed in diapers ('infantilism')" and this association is repeated by others.

Psychologists D. Richard Laws and William O'Donohue state that "Although infantilism is classified as a sexual masochism in the DSM-IV and DSM-IV-TR, it is questionable whether the criteria for sexual masochism are always met. For example, if the infantile role playing does not involve feelings of humiliation and suffering, then the diagnosis of sexual masochism would not be appropriate and a diagnosis of infantilism as a paraphilia is warranted." Sexologist John Money, in his book Lovemaps describes paraphilic infantilism as a possible "...adjunctive to masochistic discipline and humiliation." Sexologist William B. Arndt considers paraphilic infantilism to combine forms of fetishism, tranvestism and masochism. Sexologist Wilhelm Stekel considered sado-masochistic practices to be variant behaviour arising from psychosexual infantilism.

Pedophilia

Confusing infantilism with pedophilia is a common misunderstanding but infantilism exclusively involves role-playing with other adults and infantilists are not sexually aroused by infants while pedophiles are. Sexologist Gloria Brame states that "...infantilists who recognize and accept their sexuality - and its possible roots in infantile trauma - tend to be acutely protective of real children."

John Money states that diaper fetishists may be sexually attracted to diaper-wearing babies, a condition he calls nepiophilia, but describes infantilism as autonepiophilia in which the individual desires to be and impersonate a baby and does not desire an infant as a sexual partner.

Other conditions

In the limited number of extant medical case reports some clinicians have attempted to explain the behaviours associated with infantilism in terms of obsessive compulsive disorder, as "a concurrent cluster of symptoms found in a variety of psychiatric disorders", or as a form of autoeroticism analogous to Blanchard's concept of autogynaephilia as applied in certain cases of gender identity disorder. Psychiatrist Jay Feierman considers infantilism a form of chronophilia in which the infantilist desires a sexual partner of the same biological age, but their own "sexuoerotic age" does not match his or her own biological age (i.e. the adult infantilist wishes an adult sexual partner who treats them as a baby). A 2011 review of several case studies noted a common history of sexual abuse.

Diaper fetishism

Individuals with diaper fetishism typically do not imagine themselves as babies. Rather, they more often see themselves as adults who are drawn to wearing diapers.

John Money distinguishes between infantilism or autonepiophilia and paraphilic diaper-wearing, stating that the latter is a paraphilic fetish that manifests as an erotic attraction to an article of clothing while the former is a non-fetishistic paraphilia directed at a change of status in terms of age identity.

Cross-dressing

Infantilists, usually male, may also engage in cross-dressing and wear clothes stereotypically associated with young girls. This type of behaviour is referred to as being a "sissy baby". Masochistic infantilists may wish to be forcibly cross-dressed.

Causes

To date no broad-based scientific studies have been made on the cause, incidence and general impact of paraphilic infantilism on society at large. This may be due to both the relative rarity of the condition and because few paraphilic infantilists appear to seek professional mental health counseling, and that even fewer appear to require any type of pro-active mental health intervention. A 2002 case report by psychiatrists Jennifer Pate and Glen Goddard found little research on the topic, and they suggested the DSM lacked a category that captured their patient's disorder.

Lovemap theory

According to sexologist, John Money, normally by the age of 8, the human mind will have fully developed its lovemap, which will serve as a kind of sexual template through to the end of one's adult life. This lovemap is "a developmental representation or template in the mind and in the brain depicting the idealized lover and the idealized program of sexual and erotic activity projected in imagery or actually engaged in". Money believed all paraphilias were caused by the formation of abnormal lovemaps during the preadolescent years and that such abnormal lovemaps can be formed by any number of contributing factors or stressors during this developmental period. Money also coined the term "autonepiophilia" meaning a "diaperism" or diaper fetishism in 1984 to describe the condition. Nepon is Greek for infant.

Imprinting

It has been hypothesized that, among other possible causes, sexual templates are established by a process akin to imprinting where lack of availability of female genitals during a critical period of development causes the imprinting mechanism to instead associate with the nearest visual or olfactory approximation. In the case of infantilism, the discipline of the mother or wearing diapers may create associations between pain, humiliation and sexuality.

Erotic location target error

Another theory is that infantilism is an erotic identity disorder where the erotic fantasy is centred on the self rather than on a sexual partner and results from an erotic targeting location error where the erotic target was children yet becomes inverted. According to this model infantilism is an autoerotic form of paedophilia.

History

The first public event for adult babies was "Baby Week", occurring in San Francisco in the early 1990's. Subsequently the internet became a major forum, with numerous websites offering books, magazines, audio and video tapes and related paraphenalia, as well as a 24-hour hotline. Paraphilic infantilism has appeared as an alternative lifestyle in numerous Western countries including the United States, England, Germany and Australia. The organization "Diaper Pail Friends" was established in San Francisco, growing to approximately 3,000 members in 1995 through magazine articles, books, talk shows and the internet. The organization was studied in 1995 by a group of sexologists, though the results were not published. In 2001 the New York organization "Still in Diapers" was founded for diaper fetishists.

See also

• BDSM
• Erotic lactation

Notes

1. Corsini, Raymond J. (2002). The Dictionary of Psychology. Psychology Press. ISBN 9781583913284. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
2. ^ Russell, J (2008). Exploring Psychology As Studen Bk Aqa A. Folens Limited. pp. 200. ISBN 1850082588. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
3. ^ Hickey, Eric W. (2006). Sex Crimes and Paraphilia. Pearson Education. p. 355. ISBN 9780131703506. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
4. ^ Speaker, TJ, Psychosexual Infantilism in Adults: The Eroticization of Regression, Sausalito, CA: Columbia Pacific University, p. 93
5. ^ Brame, GG (1996). Different Loving: An Exploration of the World of Sexual Dominance and Submission. Random House of Canada. pp. 137-40. ISBN 0679769560. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
6. ^ Attention: This template ({{cite pmid}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by PMID 14594737 , please use {{cite journal}} with |pmid= 14594737 instead.
7. ^ Attention: This template ({{cite doi}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by doi:10.1007/s10508-011-9783-8, please use {{cite journal}} (if it was published in a bona fide academic journal, otherwise {{cite report}} with |doi=10.1007/s10508-011-9783-8 instead.
8. Watson, J (2005-06-09). "Baby Man". Phoenix New Times. Retrieved 2011-02-28.
9. ^ Taormino, T (2002-08-13). "Still in Diapers". The Village Voice. Retrieved 2007-05-08.
10. ^ Money 1986, p. 70.
11. Baumeister, RF (1989). Masochism and Self. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. p. 159. ISBN 0-8058-0486-2.
12. ^ Cantor, James; Blanchard, Ray; Barbaree, Howard (2009). "Sexual Disorders". In Paul H. Blaney and Theodore Millon (ed.). Oxford Textbook of Psychopathology (2nd ed.). New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 530–7. ISBN 9780195374216.
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14. ^ Stekel 1952, pp. 143–144.
15. ^ Pretlow, Robert A (2002). "The internet can reveal previously unknown causes of medical conditions, such as attraction to diapers as a cause of enuresis and incontinence". Mednet.
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19. Stekel 1952, p. vii.
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25. Money 1986, p. 259.
26. ^ Arndt, William B. (1991). Gender Disorders and Paraphilias. International Universities Press. p. 394. ISBN 9780823621507. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
27. Dailey, Dennis M. (1989). The Sexually Unusual: A Guide to Understanding and Helping. pp. 44. ISBN 0866567860. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Text "Routledge" ignored (help)
28. Tiefenwerth (2007). Criminal Sexuality and Psychopathology: Pornography as a Contributory Risk Factor in the Psycho-Social Development of Violent Sex Offenders. Proquest. pp. 111. ISBN 9780549149286. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Text "Thomas J." ignored (help)
29. Holmes, Ronald M.; Holmes, Stephen T. (2008). Sex Crimes: Patterns and Behavior. SAGE Publications. pp. 81. ISBN 1412952980. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
30. Money, John (1997). Principles of Developmental Sexology. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 255. ISBN 9780826410269. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
31. Money 1997, p. 255.
32. Croarkin, Paul; Nam, Theodore; Waldrep, Douglas (2004). "Comment on Adult Baby Syndrome (letter to the editor)". American Journal of Psychiatry. 161 (11): 2141.
33. Evcimen, Harun; Gratz, Silvia (2006). "Adult Baby Syndrome (letter to the editor)". Archives of Sexual Behavior. 35 (2): 116. doi:10.1007/s10508-005-9002-6.
34. Dickey, Robert (2007). "Commentary on "Adult Baby Syndrome" by Evcimen and Gratz (2006) (letter to the editor)". Archives of Sexual Behaviour. 36: 131–2. doi:10.1007/s10508-006-9148-x.
35. ^ Attention: This template ({{cite pmid}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by PMID 8481752 , please use {{cite journal}} with |pmid= 8481752 instead.
36. Feierman, Jay R. (1990). Pedophilia: biosocial dimensions. Springer-Verlag. p. 455. ISBN 0387972439. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
37. Attention: This template ({{cite pmid}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by PMID 5929499 , please use {{cite journal}} with |pmid= 5929499 instead.
38. Money 1986, p. 96.
39. Marx, E (2009). 101 Things You Didn't Know about Sex. Adams Media. pp. 145. ISBN 1605501069.
40. Money 1986, p. 290.
41. Money 1986, p. 34.
42. Attention: This template ({{cite pmid}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by PMID 6234812 , please use {{cite journal}} with |pmid= 6234812 instead.
43. Money 1986, p. 70.
44. Money, John (1985). The Destroying Angel: Sex, Fitness and Food in the Legacy of Degeneracy Theory, Graham Crackers, Kellogg's Corn Flakes and American Health History. Prometheus Books. p. 147. ISBN 9780879752774. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
45. Wilson, Glen Daniel (1987). Variant Sexuality: Research and Theory. Taylor and Francis. pp. 107-11. ISBN 0709936982. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
46. Kaufman, F (1997). "Our Binkies, Our Selves: The adult baby boom". Spin. 13 (7). SPIN Media LLC: 55. ISSN 0886-3032.
47. The Continuum Complete International Encyclopedia of Sexuality (pdf). The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc. 2004. pp. 1248–9. ISBN 0-8264-1488-5. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |editors= ignored (|editor= suggested) (help)

References

• Money, J (1986). Love Maps - Clinical Concepts of Sexual/Erotic Health and Pathology, Paraphilia, and Gender Transposition in Childhood, Adolescence, and Maturity. New York: Prometheus Books. ISBN 0-8290-1589-2. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Stekel, W (1952). Patterns of Psychosexual Infantilism. Washington Square Press. ISBN 0-87140-840-61952. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: length (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)

Further reading

• Love, B (1992). Encyclopedia of Unusual Sex Practices. Barricade Books. ISBN 0-942637-64-X.

• Paraphilias
• Sexual fetishism
• Sexuality and age