Infantilization

Definition of infantilization and infantilization of women

The infantilization of women refers to when others, particularly men, treat adult women as children, most often concerning sexism or misogyny. Common manifestations are linguistic, such as oversimplifying explanations (mansplaining), using demeaning nicknames, or suggesting that the infantilized person wouldn't understand a topic without reason. This also involves which social spheres they can occupy, such as which jobs they can hold, and regulating appearances. Psychologically, infantilizing someone else conveys a sense of superiority over the other person, causing psychological damage, and is often frustrating to the infantilized person who internalizes sentiments of inadequacy. It is a gendered practice that is linked to patriarchal structures that situate men in default positions of power. In patriarchal societies, men are seen as the rightful occupants of power and therefore make it easier for men to infantilize women than vice versa because they automatically have more social agency and authority than women. Women have historically been infantilized in western civilizations due to their stipulated roles as lesser than a man's, eliciting women at a disadvantage to change the structure. Treating women as children is linked to objectification as it establishes an unequal power dynamic, stripping a woman of her liberation. Often women are infantilized in the workplace because of the historical impediment to entering the professional realm. Men infantilize women more, but women can also infantilize other women. 'The Second Sex' by Simone de Beauvoir, argues that sexist treatment of women, including infantilization, conceptualizes women as the "other" and men as "normal". Sexual Infantilization has sexual implications because it's a paraphilic fetish. Paraphilia is a sexual attraction to something that does not usually carry a sexual connotation. Paraphilic infantilization is the fetishization of childlike behaviors, which involves adults roleplaying as children or babies. These implications can problematize other non-sexual infantilizing behaviors by reifying sexual relationships that are typically heterosexual.