What is a diaper fetish? And does it really in to adult baby syndrome?
Often misunderstood, diaper fetishism is one of those sexual paraphilias that has a poor reputation outside of the kink community. Many people associate those that wear diapers with adult baby syndrome and media representation is usually a negative one.
As with many private fetishist practices, it is unclear just how common diaper fetishism is but there are many resources online with plenty of mainstream coverage in the porn industry. Yes, diaper porn is actually a thing!
In its most basic form, a diaper fetish involves taking sexual or erotic enjoyment from wearing diapers (or nappies). The diaper fetish is closely linked to the ABDL fetish – which stands for adult baby / diaper lovers. There are some very large communities that appeal to diaper lovers, the most famous being Daily Diapers. You’ll also find some small but active diaper porn sites where adult diaper play is showcased in video and image form.
In this diaper fetish guide, we take a closer look at the world of the diaper fetishist, including: debunking the myths of its association with adult baby syndrome, sources of niche diaper fetish porn, and our pick of the best diaper fetish communities.
What is a Diaper Fetish?
Also known as ‘diaperism’ or nappy fetishism (UK), a diaper fetish describes a person who derives sexual pleasure from wearing and/or using a diaper.
It is often confused with Adult Baby Syndrome (see below) but fetishists with this kind of fixation are often drawn to the garment itself and/or the association with infantilism.
For others it can form part of another sexual fascination such as ‘wetting’ (urination) and messing (defecation) or even role play.
Diaper Lovers (DL) and Adult Baby (AB) Syndrome
Diaper fetishism is widely seen as a combination of two forms of fetish; a paraphilic infantilism and a clothing fetish. The former, also known as adult baby syndrome or autonepiophilia, is a form of role playing which allows the subject to regress to an infant-like state.
Role play can be nurturing and gentle or can include forms of masochism and ‘corrective behaviour’. People who participate in diaper fetish play can be attracted to many different elements of the experience including, but not limited to:
- Punishment
- Humiliation
- Scat play
- Omorashi (Japanese fetish sub-culture of losing bladder control)
- Erotic lactation
- Rubber fetishism
The psychology behind autonepiophilia can be quite complex but there are relatively few studies on the subject to adequately define how and why a fetish like Adult Baby Syndrome starts.
Most researchers believe that there are links to imprinting during early childhood development between a mother and a child. Though there is no sexual links at the time, an individual’s associations with emotions like pain, humiliation or even nurturing from this time can be formed and perceived sexually in retrospect.
What is important to note is that, although there can be links between these two fetishes, a diaper fetishist is not necessarily a paraphilic infantilist.
Psychology of a Diaper Fetishist
As with many other fetishes, there are few studies that have been completed on the subject; however, there has been some research published taking the results from a study on over 1800 subjects. Originally appearing in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, the findings make for some thought-provoking reading.
The group of participants were split 139 adult women and 1,795 adult men with an average age of 31. The sexual orientation of the group was recorded as follows:
- 58% of men identified as heterosexual
- 19% of men identified as bisexual
- 34% of women identified heterosexual
- 43% of women identified as bisexual
On average, women reported an early interest in diapers from the age of 12 years old and from the age of 11 for men. Most women had been practicing the fetish for 12 years of their adult life with men for 17 years.
Over 50% of the group were in a relationship and the majority of these (83% of women and 79% of men) were honest and open about their fetish with their partner.
Across genders, the most common behaviors associated with using diapers were:
- Wetting
- Messing
- Using baby items
Men however reported wearing diapers more often than the female subjects of the group. Men also reported being more sexually aroused by wearing diapers when compared to other activities. By contrast, women found the role-play aspect of wearing diapers more enjoyable.
Encouragingly, the majority of both men (87%) and women (91%) reported that their fetish had not caused any distress or problems in their lives.
Diaper Porn and Adult Diaper Fetish Content
Most of the popular tube channels have a mix of amateur and studio porn that has been tagged with the keyword ‘diaper’, including:
There are also several niche sites that focus more specifically on diaper porn such as:
Popular Diaper Fetish Communities
In the 1990s, paraphilic infantilism came to the public attention in a big way when ‘Baby Week’ was launched in San Francisco.
At the time (well before the rise of the internet), the event was one of very few that celebrated the fetish, challenging the widespread misconceptions around the fixation.
Since then the world wide web has been the premier source of finding other fetishists and there are plenty of sites and communities offering information, resources and support to members of this alternative lifestyle.
Daily Diapers
An age-play playground, Daily Diaper is an online community offering diaper fetishists the chance to network with other diaper lovers.
It’s a free to use site and features a great range of stories, videos, photos as well as reviews of products, personals and chat/forum features. The resources range from links to other sites of interest as well as advertising from ABDL and age-play retailers.
Diaper Pail Friends (Reborn)
https://sites.google.com/site/diaperpailfriendsreborn/
Established in San Francisco, the original Diaper Pail Friends organisation was founded in 1995 and now boasts around 15,0000 members.
It’s a large repository of information and resources including retail links, chat rooms and live conferences. Easy to get started and plenty to keep you occupied DBF (R) is a great community website for AB and DL.
DL Boy
A diaper and wet community, DL Boy is a members only community that offers those with access a huge library of content, including:
- 74,000 + photos
- 170+ videos
- 180+ stories
There are more than 4800 members on the site and this provides a great forum for sharing and discussing details around the fetish of diapers and wetting.
AB Kingdom
Geared more to adult babies, AB Kingdom is an international website celebrating diapers and all those that love to wear them. There are some great resources, links and features on the site including details of events, classified ads and even some ‘How To’ guides with tips for fetishists.
The site is predominantly European and many of the listings are in French but there is an on-site translation tool.
Tykables
The first store in the world to cater exclusively for adult diaper users, Tykables was launched in 2016 much to the chagrin of the local community who objected to the paraphilic infantilism store.
The retailer stocks a wide range of wearable items for fetishists as well as diapers both for fans of wearing them as well as those adults who suffer from incontinence.
Tykables has an online store that is popular with both those who enjoy diaperism as well as those who are into the adult baby scene.
Featured image via Wikimedia Commons.
