I know a lady who travelled with her partner last year to China because she really, really, really loves pandas. Panda hats, panda stuffies and I’m fairly sure panda colouring books and picture puzzles. Get her on to the topic and her eyes light up and you can see the 10 year old girl shining through them.

There’s no doubt she’s a little, but in a profile she would never define herself as being “into ageplay”. It just wouldn’t fit.

It’s common for people to lump the two together, but they’re actually distinct (but certainly overlapping) things.

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LITTLES AND AGEPLAY?

For littles, it’s as if some part of their personality never grew up, all the time, whether they are in a relationship or are dressing the part. Ageplay is taking on the role of a younger (or occasionally older) person, usually, but not always, to emphasise power differentials in a power dynamic scene or relationship.

Ageplay is the broader of the two. There are many fetishes that have something to do with a younger mindset: diapers, age regression, fur-babies, littles, middles and many more. If you play a cheerleader/coach or student/headmistress game, or don pigtails and school uniform and tell your Daddy you’ve been very naughty, you have created an ageplay scene.

I mention littles in the ageplay grouping because many littles do enjoy fun playtimes where they can act out and express that part of their personality. That’s something they love to do, but most will tell you that it’s not what being a little is. In fact, many littles never ageplay at all.

So, many littles — but not all — also engage in ageplay. Many ageplayers — but not all — have an inherently childlike “little” aspect of their personality.

An identity that shares similar distinctions to littles and ageplay is therians (who feel they are part animal on some level) and furries (who may enjoy dressing up as and acting like animals, but don’t necessarily feel like they are animals). Again, there is lots of overlap between the two categories.

YKIOK

“Kink” is a broad umbrella, and it’s often not easy to understand another person when you don’t share the same affiliations or interests. Littles are often misunderstood. They’re sometimes lumped together with brats (not true), considered risky to invite to parties in case they “play up” (not true) or thought of as being immature (again, not true).

Littles are not delusional. They will tell you that being a little doesn’t negate the fact that they are their actual age, that they’ve got extensive vocabulary, or that they can make adult decisions on their own.

So, keep an open mind. You might find that littles make the funnest friends eva!!