Sadly, I accidentally deleted an ask regarding littlespace while trying to edit it and add on to it so I decided I needed to make a post regarding it!
Littlespace is a term that derived from the 18+ ageplay kink community. It is a term that submissives in the ageplay/cgl community use to describe the voluntary psychological shift they create themselves to motivate themselves to metaphorically feel younger and happy. Littlespace is a term to describe a certain mood; or headspace a person has while consciously being aware of their chronological age and withholding to their cognitive abilities while still being aware of age appropriate behavior that they themselves can control. It is a hobby and a coping mechanism people use to cope and distress and enjoy embracing the innocence of childhood and releasing and expressing their alter ego or the child within. It is also a type of subspace; a distinct, noticeable shift in a persons mental and physical state provoked by BDSM activities, specifically BDSM activities that fall under the subcategory of ageplay, such as ageplay itself or cgl and it’s variants and ab/dl.
Didn’t the term littlespace derive from the DID community?
The term Littlespace did not derive from mental health facilities towards those who have dissociative identity disorders. The term you are getting confused with is the term Little. In dissociative disorders a system; a person with DID or OSDD may have a child alter that they refer to as a Little because that person in their system is a child. Trauma at a young age is the cause of developing a dissociative disorder and experiencing age sliding or having a child alter, which is a form of age regression. The term littlespace has never been used in context to refer to age sliding or a child alter fronting. Littlespace is not a clinical DID or OSDD term, It has never been used by clinicians; psychologist or therapist.
Is littlespace an alternative term for regression?
No! Despite the improper use of the term littlespace on social media, littlespace is not a term to describe the regressive mindset that is due to trauma, psychiatric disorders, neurological/developmental disorders, and intellectual and cognitive disorders. Regression is a defensive coping mechanism. A defense mechanism is a automatic response or reaction of the body that is an unconscious mental process used to avoid conscious anxiety or conflict. Age regression being a defense mechanism means it can not be a deliberate activity, unlike littlespace. Littlespace is about distressing, coping, and recreation, It has nothing to do with safeguarding your mind unconsciously as an instinct learned through trauma against feelings and thoughts that are too difficult for you to cope with consciously in order to escape and protect yourself. It has nothing to do with the loss of intellectual or cognitive abilities or experiencing a dissociative intrusion or an emotional flashback due to being triggered. When a person is in littlespace they are not retreating to an earlier mental or behavioral level that is the reversion to a chronologically earlier or less adapted pattern of behavior and feeling that they have to periodically live with. Littlespace is not a defensive mechanism because it is voluntary. When people put themselves in this certain headspace as a coping mechanism or as a hobby, physically, emotionally, and mentally they do not believe they are chronologically and biologically a child.
The term littlespace has also never been used in the medical field or the medical community by psychologist, therapist, or patients. If it was an alternative term for regression or a term that was cohesive with regression it would be known by those who work with people who regress in the medical field and by the community of those who regress since regression is a psychological term. There would be a history of the term littlespace associated with trauma, psychiatric disorders, and intellectual and cognitive disorders, and it would be a term used sometimes when referring to having a dissociative intrusion or an emotional flashback. The term littlespace hasn’t been associated with regression until 2016 due to online tumblr community discourse. The CGLRE community in particular. People who use the term littlespace to identify regression are using a term that derived from a subcategory of BDSM in replace of a psychological term made to describe their experiences and they are misinterpreting the original definition of littlespace; mixing a defensive mechanism with a voluntary hobby and coping mechanism. In other words they are mixing a conscious process with an unconscious one. This is not okay. Using the term Littlespace to explain regression can also make people misconstrue the definition of regression. This should not be supported.
Is the term littlespace SFW?
No! SFW stands for safe for work. Littlespace is not safe for the work place! Since the term littlespace oriented from the bdsm kink community it makes the term littlespace inherently NOT safe for work. It is clear for people to understand that CGL (DDLG) is not safe for work because it is a subcategory of BDSM; it is inherently a Kink whether or not it’s non-sexual or not. You can not take a term that derived from a subcategory of BDSM and make it completely safe for the public. Something that is safe for work is content, actions, and speech that would hold no issues if your superviser were to find out about it. It would also be content, actions, and speech that would be okay to be shared with your boss and your coworkers. If individuals at work were to see you using an adult pacifier at work or looking at text post or photos regarding people who are not physically babies or toddlers using baby items it would be deemed as inappropriate regardless if it’s not sexual and there is no topic of BDSM mentioned. The content, actions, and speech that comes up on your search results from looking up the word littlespace could be considered obscene material because the supreme court and the states have a direct interest in public morality. Material is also considered obscene if the material appeals to prurient interest or depicts offensive sexual nature. It is clear to see that Littlespace is stigmatized to adult themes, it can be traced back to its roots, the kink community. Your boss could identify your behavior as engaging in inappropriate activity at the workplace. The first definition of littlespace that you see by looking up the term in google is “the mindset or headspace in which an adult baby or little feels most carefree, accepted, and mentally youthful. Some adult babies or littles are only in littlespace during certain times while others may always be in littlespace as part of their natural personality.” It is not okay to behave like a child at work. The bold words are also terms that can be found in the BDSM community. SFW does not mean nonsexual and non-kink, and just because your hobby or lifestyle is nonsexual and is not apart of bdsm because what you’re doing isn’t a playful usage of sexual concepts that are overt, accentuated, and unambiguously expressive of sexuality, sensuality, and intimacy doesn’t mean it will always be seen as something cute, innocent, and harmless towards an outsider. A lot of people do not find “littlespace” as something tasteful or healthy. Some alternative lifestyles are too taboo to be considered appropriate regardless if it’s non-sexual. At the workplace you want to make sure on your break you are viewing and partipating in normal mundane activity that doesn’t hold any risk towards you getting in trouble or fired from your job. You want your behavior to be considered as something society would see as normative and morally okay to do and view at work that wouldn’t require an inappropriate explanation. Unless you work at a very liberal work environment, little space is not SFW!
Disclaimer: I am not saying that it isn’t okay for people who have natural childlike personalities and characteristics to work. Nor am I saying that anyone who has childish interests or an alternative lifestyle where they like a collective of cute and playful items or they employ tendencies much younger than they chronologically are can not discreetly express or look at different interests, traits, or habits that make him/her/them unique and shows a part of who they are. For example wearing a Disney necklace or watch at work, having a childlike picture frame on your desk, having a plush keychain on your bag or briefcase, or looking up shopping photos of teddy bears or a set of colored pencils, there is nothing wrong with doing so. Littlespace isn’t about being naturally childlike though, it’s more so refers to getting yourself consciously in a chronologically younger headspace, where in that headspace role play is heavily involved and so is heavily presenting behavior people wouldn’t prescribe as age appropriate. Littlespace is a hobby and a coping mechanism, not an identity of self expression. Littlespace can be considered a act of releasing and expressing your alter ego or the child within you that you don’t normally publicly expose. It is not safe for work.
Should you support people not in kink using the term littlespace?
Supporting people who aren’t in kink using the term little space is very ambivalent. Logically people who aren’t involved in kink should not use the term littlespace because it is a term that was created in the bdsm kink community and it was inherently for people who are within the subcategories of bdsm, specifically ageplay and it’s subcategory cgl and it’s variants, and ab/dl. Using the term littlespace when you are not in kink can be considered appropriating from the BDSM ageplay/cgl/abdl kink community. Not believing the term littlespace is a kink term in itself doesn’t mean it isn’t considered one by a majority of people, especially those who are apart of the communities that created the term. Since the term littlespace is associated to an adult community and adult activities it is not safe or appropriate for minors to use this term. It is also not okay for adults who allow minors in their space to use this term. Using the term little space when you are not a submissive in bdsm allows people, including abusers and predators to misinterpret your interest and what you do. Minors should not be associated to an adult community centered around prurient interest and actions they can not consent to. (sex, fetishes, bondage, discipline, sadochism, masochism, dominance, and submission.) Using the term little space as a minor or a person not in kink is sharing a term with an adult community and it makes you associated to kink even when you aren’t a participant of it. No one wants to be responsible for jeopardizing safety if a danger were to occur from promoting this behavior. More than anything safety should be more important than the popularity of a term or liking how a term sounds. It doesn’t make sense to use the term little space in an environment surrounded by kinksters who also use that term. Separating non-kink communities and labels from kink communities and labels is important for safety and educational purposes. When people use the term littlespace when they are not a submissive in kink they are misconstruing the definition of the term. It is also not ethical to tell an entire community that has established something years ago that certain terminology isn’t theirs anymore just because you want what they have. You can not reclaim terminology that wasn’t yours or your community’s to begin with.
On the other hand, the word little is an adjective. According to context the definition of the word little is something small in size; not big; not large; tiny. It is small in number, or small in amount or degree; small in condition, distinction, or scope. It means young. Lastly it can be referred to something or someone that is pleasingly small. The word space is a noun. According to context the definition of space is a continuous area or expanse which is free, available, or unoccupied; it is a place that is available for a particular purpose. It is also the freedom or opportunity to express oneself, resolve a personal difficulty, be alone, etc. by distancing yourself from other people or things in order to remain comfortable. There should be no problem supporting nonsexual roleplayers and people who have childlike personalities that naturally employ childlike tendencies, characteristics, and interest using the term littlespace as long as they are using this term in appropriate places where the meaning of this term will not be misconstrued. Language is fluid and it is everchaging depending on what’s said and what’s understood. A word or acronym being used a certain way does not mean it’s connected to another group that uses that term the same way, regardless if it’s similar. A lot of words share similar or identical spelling but mean completely different things! The definition of the word littlespace has changed drastically over time. It has adapted to the wants of others in a different environment. This is called semantic change. Semantic change is a form of language change regarding the evolution of word usage. The term littlespace has also gone through what is called polysemy. Polysemy is the coexistence of many possible meanings for a word, phrase, or concept. Polysemous words share the same or related origins or roots according to history.
The following sentences contain some examples of polysemy:
He drank a glass of milk.
He forgot to milk the cow.
The enraged actor sued the newspaper.
She ran to get the groceries.
I finally get the joke you told the other day.
They fixed a date for the wedding.
People should be able to call their environments and creations whatever they want to call their environments and creatons. It is inappropriate to label something a child made or is doing as a kink if a child were to tell you they named their environment or creation as something and they explained to you in an appropriate way why they chose that name. As an adult you should keep that to yourself. It is wrong to project your kink on to minors and unconsenting individuals. Interpretatng words involves much more than etymology and definitions. It’s also about context and conventions and how the word is used and what it is intended to convey. Littlespace is a well established term that is understood and is respected as not associated to kink. Despite its origin and many submissives in kink still using the term littlespace how it was originally intended: as a form of subspace or a term to express indulging in the fetish and sexual activity of ageplay the term littlespace is only refered to describe the voluntary psychological shift a person creates themselves to motivate themselves to metaphorically feeling younger. Littlespace is a word to describe a headspace people have as a hobby and a coping mechanism used to cope and distress and embrace the innocence of childhood. It is not a term owned or used only by participants of the kink community anymore. Online today it is used more by those not within the subcategories of BDSM, and a vast majority within these subcategories see littlespace as something non-sexual. As long as people understand the origin of the term littlespace for safety reasons and kink spaces are separated from non-kink spaces anyone should be able to use the term littlespace. No one can claim the name of something that is now considered as an entire concept and use it to exclude others. So many people have sentimental value to the term littlespace. Littlespace for a lot of individuals is a term that helps them feel calm and grounded and many people have memories attached to the term. It is not fair to take that away from others since the term is polysemous now. If people using the term littlepace aren’t causing harm to anyone and It is not illegal for those not in kink to use this term then people need to ageee to disagree and leave them alone by not interacting with each other.
How can I use the term littlespace safely if I’m not a participant of kink?
Using the term littlespace as a minor or a person not in kink is best off of social media and only around people you trust who feel the same way you do about the term. If you are already using the term littlespace on social media it’s best you do so in an environment where the term will not be mixed in with how those in kink use this term. This means it is best to use this term on social media platforms where you can make your account private, such as Instagram and Twitter. Not using the tag littlespace itself and not allowing those who can’t see the that the term littlespace is polysemous in your interaction criteria (DNI) is also important. If you are a minor, no adults in kink communities should be following you. As always you have to continuously be careful on the internet. Please remember internet safety! Always block those that make you uncomfortable. 💗 Please be careful.
*People will still be uncomfortable regardless of either way you decide to use the term (for kink purposes or for non-kink purposes) Please treat others how they should be treated and respect everyone! If you don’t have anything informative or nice to say don’t say anything at all.
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