- 3 years ago
#55386
I wrote about the CGL community for my sociology final. I couldn't go very in depth without going way over the word limit, but here it is.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I chose to do a subculture project on the CG/L (caregiver/little) community. I find that while this community is quite different from society at large, it often moves towards the same goals. Particularly love, acceptance, and healthy relationships.
• CG/L is a romantic relationship dynamic where one partner takes on a nurturing, protective role and the other takes on an innocent, almost childlike role. Everyone involved in a CG/L dynamic is a consenting adult.
• While the CG/L community has many nuanced types of people, they fall into two overarching categories: caregivers (sometimes referred to as bigs or CGs) and littles. People who flip between caregiver and little also exist and are known as switches.
• The CG/L community generally follows society’s values, advocating healthy and wholesome relationships, but accept some things society often has trouble accepting; such as polyamory or gender nonconformity. Luckily, in my case, they are very accepting of monogamy as well.
Here are some things I’ve observed about language in the CG/L community
• Littles experience some form of age regression. Thus, they have a “little age” or range they tend to regress to alongside their biological age. This varies from person to person.
• A state of deep regression is often referred to as “littlespace”
• Caregivers often give their little partner cute pet names.
• Littles often have names for their caregiver as well. For example, one of my friends calls her caregiver “daddy”. Everyone involved in a CG/L dynamic is unrelated.
Regardless of culture, food seems to always bring people together and sometimes forges bonds between communities.
• Stereotypical kid foods, dinosaur nuggets for example, are very popular in the CG/L community.
• Caregivers often make food for their little, and some littles also make food for their caregiver. In fact, I made friends with a caregiver in this community partially because of our mutual cooking interest.
• Some littles who regress to a very young age have made “bottle recipes”
Many people have meaningful symbols and possessions they hold dear that have to do with their subcultures. The CG/L community is no different.
• The community has a pride symbol. Many products exist with this symbol; pins, bags, bracelets, I’ve even heard of someone having a pride symbol tattoo.
• Littles often have things like stuffed animal friends (sometimes called “stuffies”), blankets, and various other things that help them regress depending on their little age.
• Some of these items are comfort objects for things like anxiety, depression, and/or PTSD.
• Since rules are often part of the CG/L dynamic, so are penalties for violating said rules. It’s considered unacceptable for a caregiver to take away a comfort object as punishment.
Since this romantic relationship dynamic is different than an everyday “vanilla” romantic dynamic, one might wonder what sort of activities people in the CG/L community like to do. Regular couple things are very prevalent, but some other activities include
• Local community gatherings, known as munches, happen regularly to make friends in the subculture since unity is something practically every culture desires.
• There are also annual conventions in larger areas
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I chose to do a subculture project on the CG/L (caregiver/little) community. I find that while this community is quite different from society at large, it often moves towards the same goals. Particularly love, acceptance, and healthy relationships.
• CG/L is a romantic relationship dynamic where one partner takes on a nurturing, protective role and the other takes on an innocent, almost childlike role. Everyone involved in a CG/L dynamic is a consenting adult.
• While the CG/L community has many nuanced types of people, they fall into two overarching categories: caregivers (sometimes referred to as bigs or CGs) and littles. People who flip between caregiver and little also exist and are known as switches.
• The CG/L community generally follows society’s values, advocating healthy and wholesome relationships, but accept some things society often has trouble accepting; such as polyamory or gender nonconformity. Luckily, in my case, they are very accepting of monogamy as well.
Here are some things I’ve observed about language in the CG/L community
• Littles experience some form of age regression. Thus, they have a “little age” or range they tend to regress to alongside their biological age. This varies from person to person.
• A state of deep regression is often referred to as “littlespace”
• Caregivers often give their little partner cute pet names.
• Littles often have names for their caregiver as well. For example, one of my friends calls her caregiver “daddy”. Everyone involved in a CG/L dynamic is unrelated.
Regardless of culture, food seems to always bring people together and sometimes forges bonds between communities.
• Stereotypical kid foods, dinosaur nuggets for example, are very popular in the CG/L community.
• Caregivers often make food for their little, and some littles also make food for their caregiver. In fact, I made friends with a caregiver in this community partially because of our mutual cooking interest.
• Some littles who regress to a very young age have made “bottle recipes”
Many people have meaningful symbols and possessions they hold dear that have to do with their subcultures. The CG/L community is no different.
• The community has a pride symbol. Many products exist with this symbol; pins, bags, bracelets, I’ve even heard of someone having a pride symbol tattoo.
• Littles often have things like stuffed animal friends (sometimes called “stuffies”), blankets, and various other things that help them regress depending on their little age.
• Some of these items are comfort objects for things like anxiety, depression, and/or PTSD.
• Since rules are often part of the CG/L dynamic, so are penalties for violating said rules. It’s considered unacceptable for a caregiver to take away a comfort object as punishment.
Since this romantic relationship dynamic is different than an everyday “vanilla” romantic dynamic, one might wonder what sort of activities people in the CG/L community like to do. Regular couple things are very prevalent, but some other activities include
• Local community gatherings, known as munches, happen regularly to make friends in the subculture since unity is something practically every culture desires.
• There are also annual conventions in larger areas