Further to the above, the current push towards infantilization is increasingly aided by a tendency to functionally define adulthood as old enough not to make [specific] mistakes, whatever that means in context. This is because, particularly when it comes to sex, bodily autonomy and relationships, an alarming number of people have foundationally misunderstood the concept of consent, in the sense of thinking that informed consent either is or should be proof against regret. Under this system, if someone regrets a particular adult choice, then it must be because they weren't sufficiently informed and thus weren't really able to consent to it in the first place, and not because - as is actually the case - consent doesn't prevent bad decisions.
Which is, for some, a disquieting thing to acknowledge, because the burden of autonomy means being responsible for your actions and their consequences, both good and bad. Self-infantilization thus becomes an attempt to sidestep that burden, arguing that, even if the person in question is legally an adult, they're not really an adult, and as such shouldn't be held to adult standards of responsibility, because their brain isn't fully developed yet or they're minor-coded or some other made-up bullshit. Which is not to say that nobody in this age bracket can ever be manipulated or lied to or taken advantage of; that can absolutely happen. But what I'm specifically referring to here is the belief that, if you just put off attempting adult responsibilities for long enough, you'll magically wake up one day and just know how to choose the right things, without ever having to go through a phase of regretting your own, clearly made choices.
What makes this even more bizarre is the fact that childhood is defined by change and learning. You might not be expected to take personal responsibility for yourself and your feelings in quite the same way as an adult is, and you definitely know less about the world, but you're still absolutely expected to exhibit growth. Which means that this specific vein of self-infantilization is also, in a very real way, premised on the false idea of teenagers and young adults as an exceptional and unnaturally static human category: one in which you're old enough to be exempted from expectations of childhood development, but young enough that it's wrong for others to expect autonomy from you, except in the specific ways that you choose to be autonomous - but if you make a mistake with that autonomy, then you're not responsible for it, because you're not a real adult yet.
Meanwhile, the truth is simply that autonomy is something you get better at with practice, and this practice of necessity involves making and learning from mistakes, such that refusing to either make adult choices once you're of age or to hold yourself responsible for them when you do is ultimately inimical to developing into a functional, knowledgeable adult. At best, it's a troubling rejection of the fact that growth is frequently uncomfortable, valuing emotional ease over personal responsibility; and at worst, it's a way to legitimize behaving like an asshole, because you're simultaneously a legal adult who gets to do all the adult things and a precious little uwu smolbean whose bad feelings must always be the fault of other people.
The point being, regret and discomfort aren't pleasant things to feel, but they're also inherent to both adulthood and emotional development, such that there's no real way to skip over them, and no age big enough to avoid them. But that hasn't stopped people from trying to find a loophole.
turnnoffyourmind
kianamaiart
kaledo-art
germansingergirl
ellievsbear
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