#stop infantilization

[xia0mi-c0m]

I hate the infantilization of Beelzebub/Beel.

I hate how this fandom treats Beel like a innocent baby, HE ISN'T A BABY. Nor is he innocent. he knows about topics like sex, he is a grown ass demon. Yes, he cares about MC but saying that he is "so baby" for doing so is kinda fueling into the toxic mindset that men cannot be caring and loving without being perceived as weak and needing protection from an outside force all because they do the bare minimum for the ones they love. I've been in this fandom ever since Obey Me came out and I'm not only heavily uncomfortable but also immensely disappointed in the fandom for this infantilization that is sadly so normalized in fandoms (which, is also unnecessary to do especially since the ones they are doing it towards are grown adults who can fend for themselves and don't need any help traveling through life). He is shown to be able to show sexual desire, even when it is implied rather than outwardly expressed at times. As aforementioned, he is a grown ass man, he knows about sexual topics he is not a fucking dumbass. In fact, if you have ever read the manga or played the game, you would know he is quite smart despite people portraying him as the opposite. Don't say shit like "Stop Stereotypes" or something along those lines when you're the one fueling a mindset that is, by the name, set up to make men who are decent human beings look as if they're "weak" and/or "helpless." If not, and you continue to say it while babying grown ass adults, you're being a hypocrite by definition. So, Obey Me Fandom; Do better, stop treating Beelzebub as a "UwU Cinnamon roll who's so baby 🥺🥺🥺", he is a demon whom is on the strong side of things and can fully fend for himself and others if needed.

[giganticism]

The Hughes brothers actually are that close and obsessed with each other. You just have to accept it.

[gnar-slabdash]

The thing people don’t get is, it’s not that Parker doesn’t understand SEX, it’s just that Parker doesn’t understand INNUENDO. She’s not an innocent baby, she’s just autistic.

[vintagerobin]

I think something that's started getting lost in retellings more and more ever since they first changed Dick leaving Robin to being fired from Robin is that a primary motivator in him wanting to "get out of Batman's shadow" is the desire to be viewed as an equal. Like, even as an actual child Dick often had a very low tolerance for being viewed and treated as a child. That's remained an important underlying aspect of his character, but it'd become increasingly easier to miss as he became more and more distanced from the era when everyone knew him as a character who used to work alongside Batman with the Justice League, who used to interact with those characters as mostly equals. I'm glad we have World's Finest now to at least help bring that era back into general awareness but like. The barest hint of anyone treating him like a kid used to really annoy him, even as a kid, and he was never normal about it. And I think you lose a vital aspect of his character by removing that.

[thesauce8]

i hate when people demonize sasuke for trying to kill sakura at the bridge. she initiated both murder attempts and was in a much more sound mindset. he had finally killed the man who had his entire family murdered, was having a psychotic break, was going blind, and was exhausted. obviously when you attempt to assassinate an incredibly unstable individual, they’re going to be triggered. hell, even a well minded shinobi would probably retaliate in the same way. sakura tries to kill sasuke, but he’s the one in the wrong for…trying to do exactly what she was doing first? her lack of commitment doesn’t matter because she came at him in a way that made it pretty clear she was attempting to murder him. when she hesitates, is he supposed to just wait until she works up the balls to kill him? fuck that

[soullessjack]

a collection or mood-board of sorts

[olskuvallanpoe]

people who say kaz is a father figure to wylan are public enemy number one. like how do you not realize how patronizing that is to wylan?? he’s an insanely intelligent boy who is like one year younger than kaz. he’s not some pitiful little baby that kaz has to raise. he’s a peer. he’s kaz’s friend, not his child.

also I feel like a lot of this infantilization (subconsciously or consciously) comes from the fact that wylan is an openly gay disabled boy, but that’s a whole new convo right there on its own.

[what-would-sappho-do]

Needs:

Mad scientist Pandora

Unhinged Pandora

Insane Pandora

[happyvoltz]

can we stop babying lucy she’s not some little girl who doesn’t know anything, shes smart and self assured, sure she’s naive/sheltered, not in her maturity or intellect but rather her knowledge of a post war wasteland. shes not gonna cry if cooper tells her to shut up shes gonna lecture him about how his words hold meaning or some bs.. like guys shes not a child, shes a grown ass woman.

[retourpresdetoi]

hey mouthwashing analysts, do we maybe want to think a bit before comparing a full grown man, who is just heavily disabled, to a baby? like a literal infant? especially when there's a stronger metaphorical/psychological/symbolic avatar for the baby and pregnancy already present within the narrative? (multiple even!)

[xia0mi-c0m]

THANK YOUUUU!!!!!! Its good to find those in the fandom that have sense, and doesn’t infantilize them. I see it so much, that I avoid interacting with those that think that way, because they likely view the game in a different way than it was originally intended.

I understand some might want to pamper their favorite character, but they take it too far. These are grown demons, they lived thousands of years, they’ll know a lot more than MC. So, whenever I see people write about them being innocent to sex, I laugh and sigh in disappointment. In fact, MC would be the one who would be taught these things depending on how inexperienced they are.

It’s sad to see a game about demons, and dark content be subjugated to this censorship in fear that they might upset those who can’t handle these things. Then again those who can’t handle dark/adult themes shouldn’t be into OM, no wonder much of the game has turned into stereotypes of the characters.

REAL!! SPEAK YOUR TRUTH AND THE FACTS!!! 🗣🗣

But yeah, they take pampering WAY TOO far and I think that's what should be addressed especially since I was a victim of infantilization due people babying transfems and seeing a character be put through the same thing by the fandom is just so uncomfortable to see and even hear. Listen, I do say I want to pamper Gregory Violet from Black Butler but I'm still aware he is 18-19, has killed a man, and most certainly can fend for himself. Same goes for Satan, I love my green demon boy but he's still a grown ass adult 💀

[ovaryacted]

I’ve been laughing about this whole topic since yesterday not because it’s funny, it’s absolutely not, but because it’s fucking ridiculous that we are giving history lessons on racism and the people who have been calling this shit out for months are right and have been right despite the constant gaslighting.

Do you know how crazy it is to be a non-American 40 year old conscious human being and intentionally use racist & violent American imagery in a fic for an incredibly minuscule character played by a Latino man of color who’s the child of political refugees? Do you know how crazy it is to also have a reader-insert acknowledge the confederate flag, and still fuck the person that hangs it in their space? Like do y’all see how fucking crazy that shit is? It’s insane just typing that out. When I said y’all move like the feds in this fandom preaching about inclusion & community in one breath while doing the very thing that jeopardizes and harms those that are excluded from said “community”, I meant that shit, and I was right.

As much as we like to deny it, writers have their own motivations and intentions for creating and sharing the projects that they do. If you as a writer actively choose to add racist themes in your writing to intentionally make a character problematic, it’s a reflection of who you are, because you didn’t need to do that and yet you still decided to do it anyway. Would you as black American want to read a fic where the reader insert fucks a racist? No. Then why do you as a white person, especially a non-American, think it’s okay to do the same? Would you fuck a racist? By the way some of y’all keep dismissing the intentions, that’s up for debate because a lot of y’all would rather fetishize the shit out of that man than have a lick of common sense.

If you really are a “brilliant” writer and person, you’d practice what you fucking preached and wouldn’t need to add racism in your fics when we have enough of that shit in real life. Instead, all you are is a coward, a hypocrite, and a loser and that’s all there is to it. This goes beyond fandom and community, this is real life. And if you have a problem with BIPOC individuals in particular talking about this and setting y’all straight, I suggest shutting the fuck up and opening your ears since you’re not gonna fix your mouths to be the allies and advocates y’all say you are. 🤷‍♀️

[llannasvsp]

I don't know if I've ever mentioned this here, but I cannot express how irrationally upset the pillow mint scene in Seabound makes me. And the reason is so stupid and I'm aware of that. At first, I didn't mind the scene, and I LOVE when people use that scene to talk about how Lloyd loves mints. That's how I took that scene at first.

But THEN the people who are like "OMG MY INFANT BABY MENTALLY NINE YEAR OLD LLOYD AND HIS MINTS OMG THIS IS PROOF HE'S STILL MENTALLY A BABY" got a hold of that scene and use it to "prove" he's still mentally nine and it now makes me mad.

GROWN MEN CAN ENJOY MINTS. I need them to watch Sons of Garmadon again and tell me how he's mentally nine. Because if he's mentally nine in that season then there would be a LOT of issues with that season. Namely the fact that Harumi is like fourteen/fifteen/sixteen (I don't really know). So. Do with that what you will.

LLOYD IS A GROWN ASS MAN IT'S 2025 PLEASE LET HIM GROW UP.

[soap-is-an-artist]

Okay, I'm going to be self-indulgent and rant about something frustrating I've noticed in a couple fandoms I'm a part of. I'll put it under the cut for anyone who doesn't want to read all that

The problem that I keep noticing is that people really just don't know how to NOT infantilize every nice/sweet/even slightly innocent character. Especially if the character typically bottoms in sexual encounters. Look at this comment I found on yt for example:

Hey, you know Finn is an adult, right? That's a grown ass man. What, you think if he's alone for 15 minutes he'll set something on fire or stub his wittle toesies? Literally the first time Sunshine meets him is at the flower shop that he owns, runs, staffs, supplies. He is an entrepreneur. He is a self-employed business owner. If you think he's incapable of taking care of himself, you have not only misunderstood his character but ignored fundamental parts of his worldbuilding.

Just because he has a stutter sometimes doesn't mean he doesn't know how to talk on his own. Just because he's not an asshole doesn't mean he's unable to stand up for himself. And just because he's a bit clumsy/uncoordinated doesn't mean he shouldn't be allowed to move without supervision. Just because his interests lie in gentle, stereotypically feminine things like flowers [need to unpack why you associate that with weakness btw] doesn't mean he's an immature child who can't understand anything else. And even if all those things were true about him, he is still an adult and should be treated as such.

This isn't to dog on that one comment too strongly, it just happens to be a convenient illustration of what I'm trying to talk about. I've seen it over and over again, for many different characters. The common denominator is that all characters have innocent or sweet traits. However, that's not ALL that they are. People in fandom spaces continue to infantilize and reduce these characters to even less than their basic traits. Nuance makes characters harder to understand, I get that. But please, don't take that nuance away. Don't erase what makes them them just to make them easily digestible. Let them have a unique flavor!

They aren't babies, or children, or adolescents. They are adults. They are mature, autonomous, and nuanced characters; to treat them otherwise is a disservice to their writing. Everyone can think of a character they love whose complexity has been ground into the dirt by softbabyuwu-ification. Everyone remembers that character [let's be honest, probably multiple characters] whose fandom characterization is so bland and overly trope-cast that it's barely recognizable as the same character anymore. We've all seen it. If you've been responsible for it in the past, please consider not doing that anymore. Personally, I'm tired of characters being indistinguishable from their basic archetypes.

[before anyone asks, I'm not referring to disability headcanons. Disability ≠ infantilization. Some of my language could be construed that way but that's never been my intent]

[astrogaled]

when i think about gale dekarios i think of him in a nuanced, layered manner with crucial understanding of his character’s complexities and flaws.

however i also think of him like this

[froppygurl]

Am I the only person who isn’t on the “Infantilizing Ballister” train?

Let’s be frank here, majority of Tumblr, Pinterest, TikTok, etc. portray Ballister as some “UwU wet cat with big ol’ eyes that needs to be protected by his ferocious bf.” In my humble opinion, I find it very off-putting and rather, stereotypical of gay men. Ballister’s character is misinterpreted SO MUCH with how he’s portrayed on many social media platforms.

Even the Nimona wiki will debunk that Ballister’s misinterpretation isn’t true like at all. He’s absolutely determined as hell to achieve his goals and is a MASSIVE hardworker, he broods quite a lot which is something that people due tend to forget about, he’s incredibly smart, being able to craft a mechanical arm pit of spare parts in hideout is just brilliant, Ballister is yes, slightly awkward and can be paranoid at times, but man people really amplified those traits along with his big eyes and like basically made a completely different character out of it, and finally, he can actually defend himself and was the top of the class when the knights in his generation were cadets. On top of that, Ballister isn’t built like a twink, he’s literally buff and the end of the movie proves that even more. He has more broader shoulders than Ambrosius and just because someone is shorter doesn’t mean they’re just a “little baby.” As someone who’s on the shorter side, it kinda annoys me a little with how people who’re shorter are stereotyped like this.

This has not been the only time we’ve seen this phenomenon before with queer characters. It’s been an occurring thing for many years. One character being seen as the “Lil baby boy that needs to be protected” while the bf is seen as the “humanized dog that’s jealous over anyone who tried to even speak to the “baby boy” and is secretly a perv.” That trope has been used in MANY fandoms and Webtoons. It just throws gay men into a box and honestly it’s saddening to me. A lot of Fujoshis are at fault with this with how much they fangirl like hell over gay men and throw them in a box that appeals to their fantasies.

This is something I want to get out of my chest, because honestly it has been occurring so much I have to speak about. And before you try to make a whole argument with me, I’m going to say that yes, headcanons do indeed exist and are valid of course, but literally if the headcanons are just blatant stereotypes then honesty that’s really, really sad. Like genuinely sad.