In the context of BDSM in the broader sense, age play is when at least one of the participants takes on a role-playing character who is particularly young (e.g. baby/schoolchild) or, much less commonly, particularly old (e.g. grandma/grandpa).

Even without an elaborate role-play (with a real story), it may be possible to talk about age play if someone likes to dress accordingly (e.g. baby rompers and diapers, school uniform and pigtails, old-fashioned clothes and corsetry) and consistently or proportionately acts or feels younger or older, regardless of their actual age. As with gender play or pet play, this can go so far that it is more about living out a sense of identity than role play staged for the duration of a session.

For example, we speak of proportional behavior when an adult baby mixes its own baby food while standing upright, or when it prefers to drink latte from a feeding bottle instead of pure milk.

Age play is to be distinguished from pure fetishism for certain items of clothing, e.g. diapers with rubber panties or old-fashioned corsetry. For example, if someone likes to wear diapers but behaves in the same way as they normally would or as you would expect from an adult, they are probably just a diaper lover, diaper erotic) or simply a corsetry fetishist with corsetry and age-appropriate behavior. Of course, that’s not a bad thing either, but then it has to be distinguished from age play.

It’s not uncommon for age play and gender play to be combined - quite a few men, for example, like to become a good baby or a rebellious schoolboy.

Most of these sessions are wellness, fetish or role play sessions that do not require any special prior agreement. However, if you consciously want to cathartically deal with your own (mis)upbringing or real childhood experiences as an adult in age play, this is primarily a healing role play. If this is the case, the dominatrix recommends special planning in preparation for the session, or occasionally even insists on it.