Are fetishes sexual?

Here is something I just wrote in a youtube video. I like the way it came out. I really need to expand it though. It is tough to express a complex and still coherent thought in 500 characters.

Hard data is difficult to come by, but what does exists suggests that most fetishes develop before puberty. A fetish is just something weird that makes you happy. It is not that the fetish object is "sexy" but that being happy increases your libido. For vanillas as well as kinky folks, this might include dancing or walking on the beach or eating foods they enjoy.

When a person grows older they might or might not incorporate sexual activities into their fetish.

ABDL Origins

(Someone on youtube asked me to explain why people become ABDL. This is my reply.)

I've been meaning to write more extensively on this, and I'll let you know when I do, but I'll give you the short version now.

It is difficult if not impossible to say why someone becomes an ABDL. Many ABDLs attribute certain life events to it, but there is no way to tell if things had been different that they would not be an ABDL anyway.

There are many reasons that individuals give for their ABDL origins, and one person's origin story might be the opposite of another.

There are a fair number of people who had problems with bedwetting or even pants wetting. Some of these people were forced to wear diapers because of this, others wanted to wear diapers as a sensible means of protection, but were not allowed to do so.

Some people were envious of the attention a younger sibling received. Others were the "baby" of the family. Some were forced to grow up too quickly, and others were over sheltered. Some came from abusive homes, and some had typical, happy childhoods.

Part of what I would like to research is why do people get fetishes in general. From what I read on Wikipedia, most fetishes develop in early childhood. Assuming this is true you would expect fetishes to develop for objects and circumstances that are normally encountered by young children. For example, young children crawl around on the floor all the time, and feet and shoe fetishes are two of the most common fetishes.

Addressing the question of "Why do we like this?" and Mental Health

I've been wanting to write more about the psychology behind adult babies. This is a subject that is way to complicated for youtube comments. It would probably be a series of blog posts. I've been meaning to dig out my old psychology textbooks, but life is just too busy.

I just made 3 posts in reply to the last post of someone from a week ago. He questions our mental health but does not seem hostile and seems to understand that he has no facts to back up how he feels. I think he genuinely wants to understand what is going on in our heads. He just feels that there must be something wrong.

I thought the discussion got more interesting when he question if an AB would still be an AB after twenty years. At this point I am only going to post my comments and let you read between the lines to figure out what they wrote.

There are a lot of adult babies out there and different ABs give many different answers to the question why they are an AB. Assuming that an individual does attribute their fetish to a traumatic event there is no way to tell for sure if things had been different that they would have turned out AB anyway. And nearly all ABs who have psychological issues remain adult babies after they have resolved those issues.

 There are exceptions, but for the most part yes. I've been doing this for almost 20 years. I have AB friends who are in their 60s who have been doing this longer than I have, and I once saw an AB at a convention that had to be in his 80s. This is just something that some people really enjoy doing. This isn't any more likely to change than someone who enjoys certain genres of music or literature. Would you expect any different from people with other kinks such as people who enjoy spanking?

part 1 - This is a difficult issue to understand. There is not enough room in youtube comments to explain it adequately. I appreciate that you have been civil in your replies to my comments. I also appreciate the fact that many people get an uncomfortable feeling when they first learn about this fetish. You are having an emotional reaction and that is not something that you can control. This is why I try to stick to the facts.

part 2 - Your instincts are telling you that there is something wrong, but instincts can be wrong. Conc0rdance has a good video on this called "Common Sense Is Worthless in Science"
Assessing someone's mental health is a medical claim. It needs to be looked at scientifically with real world evidence, not simply declaring that someone is crazy after watching a "Reality TV" show. Unless you can provide evidence, you cannot rightly claim that there is a problem with someone's sanity.

part 3 - Curiosity is something to be admired. Asking questions is a good thing. I think that you actually are interested in real answers.
Why do people like this? The answer is complicated and in fact there are different answers for different people. Another question is why do people like anything?
It is more complicated than this but there are areas of the brain that when they light up you are happy. Any number of things can stimulate these areas and this varies from person to person.

I re-wrote the middle of part 2. Here is what I first wrote and then changed to medical claim and science:

If you are going to question a person's mental health, you have to have real world facts to support your claim that there is something wrong such as they are "a threat to themselves or others."

I liked this but felt that what I replaced it with was more in line with the idea of common sense vs science.

How to deal with trolls

What is a troll?

Here is an interaction I had on youtube about a month ago. I am posting it because it explains explicitly what trolling is.

this is weird. but it was more annoying watching... it?... colour IN THE FUCKING LINES
if you're addicted to acting like a baby, then you scribble, you fucking asshole

There is no need for you to get so upset.
This is roleplaying. Lots of people do roleplaying, AB play is just one kind of roleplaying. There are many different ways to do this roleplaying, or any other, and there is no reason it has to be realistic or logical.
If I want to play Resident Evil, or read Stephen Hawking while roleplaying as a baby that is my business. If you don't like it that is your problem not mine.
Haha! I'm having fun and you can't stop me!

NO. YOURE WRONG. THIS IS FUCKING STUPID. YOU'RE FUCKING STUPID. IF YOU'RE A BABY. YOU DONT COLOUR IN THE LINES. END OF STORY. PLAY THE FUCKING PART RIGHT, IF YOUR GOING TO GO THAT FAR INTO PLAYING THE PART
PS. YOUR DUMBASS JUST GOT TROLLED. PZ.

I've been trolled?
Are you saying that you don't really care if Adult Babies color within the lines?

that's exactly what i'm saying. it was a joke in the first place.
are you aware this is the internet?
you must be new here

Now, there are many ways that I could have responded to this. I could have explained that I was only asking because I wasn't sure if he knew what trolling means. I could have replied "I just wanted to illustrate what trolling is for the audience at home." I could have argued that since I did not become emotionally involved I was not actually trolled. Revealing yourself as a troll on your second comment is almost antithetical to the point of trolling which is to try to drag the conversation on and on making the person you are trolling more and more upset.

And that is why I am posting this here. I want to illustrate that trolls do not care about anything except making you upset. If you don't allow yourself to become upset they will find someone else to troll. And sometimes the best thing you can do is let them have the last word or even just ignore them from the beginning.

That is why at this point in the conversation I decided to just drop it. I have nothing against trolling, but I would rather they move on rather than target ABDLs. Either way there is no way to "win" an arguement with a troll, so don't bother trying. A big part of why furries get so much shit is because so many of them take the bait when they are trolled. The reality of the situation is nobody cares.

Grow Up

I was checking out some of the less active videos today and ran across something I posted 4 months ago in response to someone saying that we need to "grow up." I think my response came out well.

In the real world people do all sorts of things that are weird, that don't make sense, do not harm anyone. Adult Babies is just one among many weird activities. All over the world, and in your neighborhood people are enjoying themselves right now.

If you have a problem that is your problem not mine. I am happy with my life and I don't need anyone's approval. If you can't stand the idea of people having fun then you are the one who needs to grow up.

Emotions vs Facts (Just a couple of posts to the Youtubes)

Just a couple of posts I am making to the youtubes right now. Maybe they are just reiterations of things I've said before but I want to jot them down for now.

If someone says that they don't like something or someone, then that is their opinion, which is subjective, and cannot be verified of falsified. On the other hand, if a person says that someone is "sick" or "wrong," these are factual statements. Those making a claim are subject to the burden of proof.

I would not call them "close minded" or a "bigot" because that is an ad hominem and not relevant to the topic of discussion. What matters is they are responsible for backing up their claim.

And a separate, but very much related comment:

People have emotions and emotions are not always rational. When someone has an emotional reaction, that is not something that they can control, so I am not going to blame them for that. What matters is people's actions. 

Posting to a public forum is an action,  but merely expressing your emotions is at worst rude, and there are lots of rude people out in the real world, so I have no argument with their emotions, even if I disagree with them.

Their emotions are their problem, not mine.

The above comments were not made to anyone in particular, but are a reaction to the general discussion over the last couple days.

Here is a comment that is a direct reply to a specific post. You can read between the lines to guess what they wrote.

You might think it is "too much" but that is not your decision to make. Riley's life belongs to her. Unless she is violating the life, liberty or property of another she is free to live her life as she chooses.

If you don't like the way that she lives her life then that is OK because that is your problem, not hers and not mine. Just don't pretend that you can draw factual conclusions based entirely upon your emotions.

Does anyone think I should repost most of my comments here? Or is anyone actually reading this stuff?