infantilization

Infantilization is an important concept that was pivotal to maintaining slavery - children of enslaved women would also be enslaved because both belonged to the master. Africans were considered ‘child races’, resulting in subsequent infantilization.{{cite journal |last1=Rollo |first1=Toby |title=The Color of Childhood: The Role of the Child/Human Binary in the Production of Anti-Black Racism |journal=Journal of Black Studies |date=May 2018 |volume=49 |issue=4 |pages=307–329 |doi=10.1177/0021934718760769 |s2cid=148918401 |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0021934718760769 |access-date=20 October 2022 |language=en |issn=0021-9347}} When black men respond negatively to “boy,” this is caused by infantilization. Infantilization plays a role in implicit bias, which is a modern effect caused by subjugation, primarily economically, by failing to honor the work and creativity of subjugated populations. Infantilization can be used by propaganda to remove factual contributions from subjugated communities. This is done by individuals who would rather believe something that fits within their belief system than truly hear information as it comes. {{Cite book |last=Ware |first=Mark |title=Handbook of demonstrations and activities in the teaching of psychology |date=2000 |publisher=Erlbaum |isbn=978-0-8058-3046-0 |edition=2 |volume=2. Physiological-comparative, perception, learning, cognitive, and developmental |location=Mahwah, NJ |page=281}}

Disabled individuals can be infantilized in their interactions with able-bodied and/or neurotypical people. That can occur alongside other paternalistic behaviours and denies individuals their autonomy. Infantilization is more commonly experienced by people who are visually disabled (e.g., people who are visually impaired).{{cite journal |last1=Bogart |first1=Kathleen |last2=Dunn |first2=Dana |last3=Nario-Redmond |first3=Michelle |last4=Kemerling |first4=Alexia |last5=Silverman |first5=Arielle |title=Hostile, Benevolent, and Ambivalent Ableism: Contemporary Manifestations |journal=Journal of Social Issues |date=2019 |volume=75 |issue=3 |page=726 |doi=10.1111/josi.12337|s2cid=197736429 }} Another specific disability often infantilized is autism, which is viewed as a children's disorder, with many autism organizations being run by neurotypical parents of autistic children and most charities dedicated to autism focused on children. The extreme focus on children essentially denies the existence of autistic adults within public consciousness, leading to many people unknowingly discriminating against autistic adults.{{cite journal |last1=Stevenson |first1=Jennifer L. |last2=Harp |first2=Bev |last3=Gernsbacher |first3=Morton Ann |title=Infantilizing Autism. |journal=Disability Studies Quarterly|date=2011 |volume=31 |issue=3 |pages=dsq–sds.org/article/view/1675/1596 |doi=10.18061/dsq.v31i3.1675 |pmid=25520546 |pmc=4266457 |issn=1041-5718}}

{{Further|Elder rights}}

Infantilization can happen to older adults which leads to denying them autonomy in their care, such as through being excessively controlled or being addressed with baby talk, as if they were a child incapable of understanding complex topics. This leads to a reduced quality of care. From a patient's perspective, this is seen as disrespectful and patronizing. Infantilization can also occur as an aspect of intimate partner violence, as some abusive partners substitute physical violence for psychological abuse to maintain their power.{{cite journal |title=Infantilisation among married couples in old age |journal=Slovenian Journal of Psychotherapy |date=2019 |volume=13 |issue=4 |pages=98–111|issn=1854-9373}}

{{Further|Youth rights}}

When used in reference to teenagers or adolescents, the term typically suggests that teenagers and their potential are underestimated in modern society. It can also be used to describe adolescents being regarded as though they are younger than their actual age.{{Cite book |last=Couture |first=Pamela D. |title=Child poverty: love, justice, and social responsibility |date=2007 |publisher=Chalice Press |isbn=978-0-8272-0509-3 |location=St. Louis, Mo |page=199 |language=en |lccn=2007037335 |oclc=172521705}} Infantilization may also refer to a process when a child is being treated in a manner appropriate only for younger children.{{cite journal|last1=Gresham|first1=Mary|title=The infantilization of the elderly: A developing concept|journal=Nursing Forum|volume=15|issue=2|pages=195–210|date=1976|quote=In Maternal Overprotection, Levy (1957) defines infantilization as that process occurring in childhood whereby certain activities in caring for the child are continued beyond the stage of development when such activities usually occur.|doi=10.1111/j.1744-6198.1976.tb00616.x|pmid=1049435|doi-access=free}} Robert Epstein is a notable critic of the treatment of youth and adolescents, suggesting that many public policymakers and neuroscientists utilize myths about the teenage brain in order to disenfranchise and ultimately infantilize them.{{cite journal | url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-myth-of-the-teen-brain-2007-06/ | doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0607-68sp | title=The Myth of the Teen Brain | year=2007 | last1=Epstein | first1=Robert | journal=Scientific American | volume=17 | issue=2s | pages=68–75 | bibcode=2007SciAm..17...68E | url-access=subscription }}

In property law, infantilization is defined as "the restriction of an individual’s or group’s autonomy based on the failure to recognize and respect their full capacity to reason."{{Cite journal|last=Atuahene|first=Bernadette|date=2016|title=Dignity Takings and Dignity Restoration: Creating a New Theoretical Framework for Understanding Involuntary Property Loss and the Remedies Required|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/lsi.12249|journal=Law & Social Inquiry|language=en|volume=41|issue=4|pages=796–823|doi=10.1111/lsi.12249|s2cid=151377162|issn=1747-4469}} When infantilization is coupled with property takeover, the result is a dignity taking. There are several examples of dignity takings, including wage theft from undocumented workers in which the power imbalance allows employers to rob workers of their agency and avenues for redress;{{Cite journal|last1=Marzán|first1=Rosado|last2=F|first2=César|date=2017-11-28|title=Dignity Takings and Wage Theft|url=https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=3078735|language=en|location=Rochester, NY|ssrn=3078735|journal=Chicago-Kent Law Review}} the dispossession of property from African Americans in the South Carolina sea islands by predatory tax buyers, who routinely infantilized their victims by overwhelming them with paperwork and timelines to accelerate foreclosures;{{Cite journal|last=Kahrl|first=Andrew|date=2018-03-06|title=Unconscionable: Tax Delinquency Sales as a Form of Dignity Taking|url=https://scholarship.kentlaw.iit.edu/cklawreview/vol92/iss3/11|journal=Chicago-Kent Law Review|volume=92|issue=3|pages=905|issn=0009-3599}} and the unequal division of matrimonial property in southern Nigeria after divorce that assumes women are less capable of managing property and thus infantilizes them.{{Cite journal|last=Diala|first=Anthony C.|date=2018|title=The shadow of legal pluralism in matrimonial property division outside the courts in Southern Nigeria|journal=African Human Rights Law Journal|volume=18|issue=2|pages=706–731|doi=10.17159/1996-2096/2018/v18n2a13|issn=1996-2096|doi-access=free|hdl=10566/4924|hdl-access=free}}

Adult women are frequently referred to as girls, a term that is inherently infantilizing.{{cite thesis |last=Macarthur |first=Heather Jean |date=April 16, 2015 |title= When Women are Called "girls": The Effect of Infantilizing Labels on Women's Self-perceptions|type= Master's|publisher= Pennsylvania State University |url=https://etda.libraries.psu.edu/files/final_submissions/10967}} Infantilization is such a common feature of sexism that it is one of five dimensions of sexual harassment in a Gender Experiences Questionnaire.{{cite journal |last1=Leskinen |first1=Emily A. |last2=Cortina |first2=Lilia M. |title=Dimensions of Disrespect: Mapping and Measuring Gender Harassment in Organizations |journal=Psychology of Women Quarterly |date=March 2014 |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=107–123 |doi=10.1177/0361684313496549 |s2cid=145666798 |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0361684313496549 |access-date=21 October 2022 |language=en |issn=0361-6843|url-access=subscription }}

Humanitarian aid can infantilize women who are displaced from their homes by depicting them simply as innocent victims, not as capable individuals with agency. Women refugees may also be depicted as helpless and unwanted.{{cite journal |last1=Manchandra |first1=Rita |title=Gender Conflict and Displacement: Contesting 'Infantilisation' of Forced Migrant Women |journal=Economic and Political Weekly |date=2004 |volume=39 |issue=37 |pages=4179–4186 |jstor=4415535 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4415535 |access-date=10 September 2022}}

Fictional female characters have been depicted as "overtly girly" and criticized as contributing to the infantilization of women.{{cite book |last1=Weissmann |first1=Elke |last2=Thornham |first2=Helen |title=Renewing Feminisms: Radical Narratives, Fantasies and Futures in Media Studies |date=2013 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=9780857734075 |page=231 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=awHMDwAAQBAJ |access-date=10 September 2022}}

• Condescension
• Dumbing down
• Transgenerational trauma
• Family honor

{{reflist}}

{{Youth empowerment}}

Category:Psychological attitude

Category:Ableism

Category:Ageism

Category:Misogyny