The shock value of infantilism: AB/DL practices in porn, documentaries and public perception

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article focuses on the niche pornography produced by and addressed to the ABDL (Adult Baby/Diaper Lover) community, comparing it to documentaries and other categories of porn, in order to understand the sociocultural routes and roots of AB/DL practices and to inscribe such a community in broader sociocultural trends. Through a phenomenological analysis of said media and empirical online research, the article questions the stigma associated with AB/DL, arguing that, while the eroticization of childhood is a constant of Western culture, the most shocking aspect of AB/DL sexual fantasies resides in the pleasure associated with regression and passivity. This is culturally perceived as different according to gender binarism. The second part of the article explores, therefore, the ways in which AB/DL fantasies challenge normative gender roles, and argues that their study might even have important implications in the conceptualization of sexuality and especially of sexual identities.