Somewhere between an embarrassment of riches and a straight-up embarrassment for all parties involved (including voracious viewers like myself) is the fact that three new MTV True Life episodes have aired this week. The most... eccentric of these offerings was Wednesday night’s True Life: I’m an Adult Baby, which followed three grown people who do things like wear diapers, review diapers on YouTube, get their diapers changed by other people, change their own diapers, suck on pacifiers, cuddle stuffed animals, talk in widdle baby voices, and, uh, this:


When it comes to ABDLs (Adult Baby Diaper Lovers) or “littles,” the line between fetish and way of life seems to blur—at least for those interviewed. And while this seems like a subject that would be ripe for mockery (and a lot of the episode’s imagery was absurd, on its face), there was an element of compassion in the episode that elevated it beyond standard voyeurism. Take the above Tennessee native Robert, 22, who’s still coping with his father dying when Robert was six. His former wife outed him as a little upon their separation, which resulted in ridicule, so Robert’s room of stuffed animals is his sanctuary. He says, “It’s something that makes me feel safe… where nobody or nothing can really hurt me, I guess you could say.” Listening to him share his vulnerability made my baby heart grow three sizes.

Robert found an adoptive family of sorts in fellow adult baby, Bubby Xander, and father figure Daddy Lee, and moved to Kentucky to be with them. There, they play-fought, drew on the walls as they took baths, and did more things in diapers.

I’m a sucker for a happy ending, and this was like television’s equivalent of a pacifier.