little space rant
this is gonna be a long post so tldr at the bottom for those who don't wanna read a big long text (entirely fair)
the context: in march of this year, i discovered (with the help of friends) that i am an age regressor. for those who aren't familiar, age regression is a legitimate, non-sexual coping mechanism/trauma response in which someone regresses to a younger state of mind in order to temporarily escape from overwhelming stress/triggers. every regressor experiences it differently, and all are valid. some regressors, myself included, call their regressed headspace "little space", which is a widely-used term in the community. i include this bit of information as a reference because i use regression and little space almost interchangeably.
now, this post is centered around the way that regression/little space are presented to the general public. too often, i have seen little space linked to the age play/ddlg community. and although these communities share similarities, they are not the same. age play is a conscious, sexual practice between two consenting adults, and little space is a trauma response and/or a coping mechanism that can be voluntary and/or involuntary. linking the two does so much damage for regressors and littles who want to use their coping mechanism, but don't for fear of being judged or ridiculed by others. this kind of correlation keeps the age regression community taboo, instead of recognizing it as a psychological response to extreme stress and trauma.
regression isn't something to sexualize. sometimes, it's being terrified because the world seems so big and you feel so small that you don't know what to do. other times, it's just wanting to be held and told that everything's going to be alright. and gosh darn it sometimes you just want to color and have a stuffie next to you. it's a completely different headspace, one where the person can't even consent to sexual activities because they're not in their normal headspace. i know this post probably won't be seen by many people, and i'm okay with that. but for those who do see this post, please share it to other spaces where relevant if you can. i don't think this kind of thing is talked about enough, and i'd like to even just start a conversation about this.
tldr: i'm an age regressor who is tired of seeing regression/little space sexualized and linked to the age play community. please don't do that, it's very harmful.
