Ageplay or age play is a form of roleplaying in which an individual acts or treats another as if they were a different age. The practice can be regressive, in which the goal is to re-experience childhood, or sexual, recreating a sexual relationship with people of the pretend and/or true ages. Generally this can involve someone pretending to be younger than they actually are, but more rarely can involve assuming an older role.

Ageplay is often carried out by those who are aware of and have formed a positively reinforced connection with the inner child

Inner child

Inner child is a concept used in popular psychology and Analytical psychology to denote the childlike aspect of a person's psyche, especially when viewed as an independent entity. Frequently, the term is used to address subjective childhood experiences and the remaining effects of one's childhood...

 part of their psyche.

Sexual ageplay

Sexual variations may include among other things such as incest play, in which individuals recreate and sexualize roles within a family, and Daddy's girl fetishism in which real or imagined age differences are the basis of the roleplaying and the female is portrayed as the younger partner.

Ageplay is not considered to be related to pedophilia

Pedophilia

As a medical diagnosis, pedophilia is defined as a psychiatric disorder in adults or late adolescents typically characterized by a primary or exclusive sexual interest in prepubescent children...

 by professional psychologists.

Sexual ageplay itself does not involve the sexual attraction to biologically underage people. Rather, when a consenting adult takes on the roleplaying mindset of a young person, it is motivated by re-experiencing emotional states and social interactions of one's youth, which also happen to be pleasurable in a sexual context to the participants. For example, roleplaying a "teacher/student", "daddy/daughter", "mother/son" or "doctor/patient" theme, during sexual activity, may be common in sexual ageplay.

While roleplaying as a younger person is common in sexual ageplay, participants may roleplay together as if they were adults of an older fictitious age.

One specific form of sexual ageplay may involve paraphilic infantilism, where a person is aroused by roleplaying as or with a person who acts like a baby. This form of ageplay was briefly shown in episode #16 "Gene Shelly" during season 5

Nip/Tuck (season 5)

The fifth season of Nip/Tuck premiered on October 30, 2007 and concluded on March 3, 2009. The unusually lengthy interval, for an American series, was a direct result of the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. The season consisted of 22 episodes....

 of Nip/Tuck

Nip/Tuck

Nip/Tuck is an American drama series created by Ryan Murphy, which aired on FX in the United States. The series focuses on McNamara/Troy, a plastic surgery practice, and follows its founders, Sean McNamara and Christian Troy...

, the popular American television series.

Non-sexual ageplay

In non-sexual ageplay, people act as if they were a different age without the involvement of sexual acts, often with the goal of reliving childhood.

Ageplay is also commonly done by child

Child

Biologically, a child is generally a human between the stages of birth and puberty. Some vernacular definitions of a child include the fetus, as being an unborn child. The legal definition of "child" generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger than the age of majority...

ren when they play games such as "house

House (game)

House, also referred to as "playing house", is a traditional game where children or adults take on the roles of a nuclear family, which typically consists of a father, mother, a child/children, a baby, and a cat/dog....

" and take on roles of a nuclear family

Nuclear family

Nuclear family is a term used to define a family group consisting of a father and mother and their children. This is in contrast to the smaller single-parent family, and to the larger extended family. Nuclear families typically center on a married couple, but not always; the nuclear family may have...

, which typically consists of a father, mother, a child or children, and/or a baby.