A man who was previously being sued for social security fraud has now been cleared and is now seeking an apology from all those who put him through this ordeal over the past few years. Stanley Thornton Jr. suffers from a rare condition called paraphilic infantilism which makes him pretend that he is a small child in need of constant attention and care despite the fact that he is a grown up man. He wears diapers, sucks on a pacifier and even wears oversized baby clothes.
Medical experts explain that he does so as a way to cope with the trauma he had to endure when he was physically and sexually abused when he was younger. Thornton’s case was brought to light by Senator Tom Coburn who demanded than an investigation be initiated to see if Thornton is indeed liable for fraud since he was caught on camera constructing a high chair as well as managing his personal website-something which a supposed child would not be able to do.
Thornton in turn explained that he depended on government support to make ends meet and if they were to cut it he would kill himself. He was later cleared of all charges and now he wants the senator to apologize as well as demands a mea culpa from Coburn since according to him, the senator’s grave allegations took the life of his roommate who was also playing the role of his mum and helped him in his everyday life.
Paraphilic Infantilism, also known as autonepiophilia and adult baby syndrome can be a sexual fetish for some that involves role-playing a regression to an infant-like state. Behaviors may include drinking from a bottle or wearing diapers. Individuals may engage in gentle and nurturing experiences (an adult who only engages in infantilistic play is known as an adult baby) or be attracted to masochistic, coercive, punishing or humiliating experiences. Diaper fetishism involves “diaper lovers” wearing diapers for sexual or erotic reasons but may not involve infant-like behavior. Individuals who experience both of these things are referred to as adult baby/diaper lovers (AB/DL). When wearing diapers, infantilists may urinate or defecate in them. There is no recognized etiology for infantilism and little research on the subject. It has been linked to masochism and a variety of other paraphilias. Though commonly confused with pedophilia the two conditions are distinct and infantilists do not seek children as sexual partners. A variety of causes has been proposed, including altered lovemaps, imprinting gone awry and errors in erotic targets, though there is no consensus. A variety of organizations exist to promote infantilism or meet with other practitioners throughout the world. The infantilist community is described by one practitioner as made up of two main types – adult babies (adults who role play infants) and sissy babies (who role play as infants of the opposite gender). There are also individuals who wear diapers but do not act as infants, either diaper lovers who eroticize diaper wearing, or sadomasochists who use diapers as a way of enforcing dominance and submission. Though the categories are discrete, in practice the behaviors found in each group often overlap. Adult babies roleplaying as a baby or small child for erotic stimulation is considered the signature expression of paraphilic infantilism. This may involve the use of adult-sized diapers and baby clothes or toys and furniture such as a crib to lend reality to the infantilist fantasy, crawling on the floor, and some individuals may urinate or defecate in their diapers. If a partner is willing, adult babies may engage in parent-baby roleplay including being bathed, powdered and changed into diapers by one’s partner, before being put to bed with a baby bottle. Some may also simulate lactation with a willing partner. Thereafter the adult baby may be comforted and pampered by their partner in the role of the parent and their diapers might be changed if wet or dirty. For some infantilists, the ritual might instead involve being scolded, spanked or chastised for having wet or dirtied their diapers. In this latter instance the mode of arousal is masochistic. Others may only desire gentle or nurturing treatment, based on the desire to be cared for or to “surrender the responsibilities of adult life”. Some infantilists may involve masturbation and ejaculation while others may choose not to engage in sex since it is not babylike. The erotic pleasure derived from either of these forms of infantilism may replace the need for sexual intercourse in reaching orgasm. A survey in a doctoral dissertation, cited by others, found that infantilists are commonly male, are on average thirty-eight years of age, in steady employment, normally have an undergraduate level of education or higher and are usually married or in a stable relationship. However, since there are so few studies of infantilists and so few women who self-identify as infantilists, it is not clear how accurate this survey was.