What is a Little?

What is a Little?

  • By Thia Thompson
  • Jan 18

Our Definition

a person who has a strong need to be coddled or cared for tenderly, and may enjoy “cute” or “childish” things; can be a term used for people who engage with age play. Is often, not always in relationship with a Dominant who identifies as a Daddy, Mommy or Caregiver.

Common Practices & Experiences 

Everyone is different! You'll see this repeated throughout our website and glossary. Common practices and experiences involving littles include, but certainly aren't limited to:

  • Identifying as a little outside of the context of a dynamic and in some instances not requiring a dynamic at all. 
  • Enjoying “cute” and “childish” things like coloring books and hair bows. 
  • Enjoying the company of other littles, with whom one can share activities with, like watching cartoons or shopping for little-themed fashion. 
  • Thriving under the care of a gentle dominant partner, who may identify as a “mommy”, “daddy”, or “caregiver”
  • Overlap with “Middles” who tend to enjoy things associated with pre-teens rather than young children. 

Real Life Examples

We're gathering short anecdotes on this topic from experienced kinksters!
If you'd like to be quoted in our glossary, please email us a single paragraph describing the practices you'd like to share, along with whatever name you'd like to be credited with.
If your definition differs from ours, tell us how and why! We want to illustrate as many sides of kink as we can to both normalize kink and the diversity within it.