#never-alone-rants

So here's my long promised infantilization rant about Luffy. It is quite long so buckle in everyone.

Something I noticed about OP, very early on in the fandom, was that people treat Luffy like he’s a ten yr old in the body of a seventeen/nineteen yr old. This treatment can even be seen in how some bits of the fandom are upset (not all of these people, but some) with the “seriousness” of post-timeskip and look at pre-timeskip in such a “holy fun-times-silly-bit” light. They just, in summary, (and once again, not everyone, but some) don’t like that Luffy acts “more like” an adult than he did before, having thought of him as some stupid ten yr old who kinda didn’t know what he was doing.

The biggest way people infantilize Luffy is by calling him stupid and childish in the way he acts. Sure, there are moments where Luffy does show himself to be not-so intelligent and moronic, but the majority of these instances are riddled with hyperbolic phrases and actions to really drag home humour (Oda, and manga/anime creators period, really love to use hyperbolic humour in their works). For example, when Luffy goes red in the face when he “thinks” bc its “too hard.” Unfortunately, Luffy thinks all the time (all sentient species do) and so that scene is just a hyperbolic humour to sort of drive home the point Luffy’s not the most conventional or “sharpest tool” in the shed. 

They point to him struggling with words, being hyper, not understanding certain social ques and etiquette, etc. as reason why he is like a child and stupid, using examples (like those I mentioned above) as to WHY Luffy’s a kid or childish or “uwu baby.” This is an incredibly problematic way of thinking (outside of just being funny or using hyperbolic language yourself) and I’ll elaborate more below.

Artists depict a SEVENTEEN/NINETEEN year old Luffy - who is canonically very fit, well built, and while lean, is a physically/mentally matured young adult - as a skinny, small, big-eyed, innocent chubby-cheeked baby. Which when compared to the way they draw Law/Zoro/Sanji etc. really makes Luffy look TEN and not THE YOUNG ADULT HE IS. If your art style is leaning more toward how I described Luffy above, and you draw all other characters the same - you are wonderful and keep up your beautiful work. Bc you are not infantilizing and just have that kind of art style. I’m only mentioning this in regards to art that will purposely draw, for example, Zoro or Law with sharp angles, big chests, sharp jaws - as matured - and then Luffy small, skinny, and chubby/rosy cheeked beside them. This depiction makes it look like Law/Zoro/etc are standing beside an actual child - which is really not okay. 

People talk about Luffy as if he can’t take care of himself. As if Nami’s the Captain in everything but name and not Luffy bc he’s “too stupid” or “too childish.” They point to how Luffy lets Robin and Nami makes decisions, how the crew face-palms over Luffy, how they have to “hold him back” like he is some child when he is not.

I could rant to you about all the reasons WHY Luffy’s an adult - more mature even than the typically seventeen/nineteen yr old, in great detail, but I won’t bc it’s truly clear if you watch/read OP with a critical eye. I’ll just say this. He runs his crew well, he is a very talented fighter, emotionally he is able to understand and aid people extremely well, he understands injustice and such with a very good critical eye (to the point where he can’t really understand how people can be bad/mean), he is capable of understanding situations well enough to knock some sense into people (ex: Luffy telling Vivi she can’t save everyone), he can feed himself, etc. etc. etc. I could keep going, but I won’t bc I’m probably preaching to the choir. 

Anyways, people point to reasons as to why Luffy’s “childish” and “stupid” and I’m here to tell you no, he is not, and you pointing that out is a very ableist way of thinking. 

Individuals who are disabled, who are neurodivergent - as adults - are perfectly matured and capable individuals. However... society doesn’t see them as such and points to certain things and says, “Oh look. Child.” when that is not the case at all. 

Individuals with sensitivity and textural issues are called childish for cutting off tags or being “picky eaters,” wearing the same sets of clothes or eating the same meals. Yet they work and earn a living, feed themselves, do taxes, feed their families, have families, go to clubs, etc. 

Individuals who have speech disorders and/or ADHD/Autism can stutter, forget words easily, have trouble pronouncing them on a common scale, not really understand social ques, etc. Yet they go to work, have families, pay taxes, do their grocery shopping, have sex - yes, this too, etc. etc. They are adults who are mature and not children. Yet bc they might be hyper or talk too fast, or have trouble speaking “normally,” etc. they are labelled childish. 

Luffy, as a character, very much “gives off” the vibe he is neurodivergent. ADHD, Autistic, ADD, honestly you could probably identify even more with him but for the sake of “simplicity” will leave it at these. I personally headcanon Luffy as on the spectrum bc he fits that very well for me. I know others who attribute ADHD to him which fits too. ADHD and Autism can sometimes appear very similar to each other. Maybe Luffy as a character embodies both bc he has both. All the traits people point to that make Luffy “stupid” or “a child” are also traits of someone who is neurodivergent. 

Equating those traits to stupidity and/or the person being childish - and so a child - (and so incapable of taking care of themselves/reliant on others/unmatured as a person) is a very ableist way of thinking bc that is exactly what happens to neurodivergent individuals is the ableist world. 

The infantilization of Luffy, is the infantilization of neurodivergent individuals. It is a very dangerous and problematic way of thinking when one considers the impacts that the infantilization of disabled individuals has had on the community. Such a way of thinking can kill, has killed. So please stop infantilization characters, period. Especially those who are reflective (whether purposely by author, purposely by fandom, or unconsciously/unknowingly) of the disabled community. 

But to finish... If you ship Luffy with anyone or don’t ship him with anyone and draw/depict him very childish near them/compared to them, you are putting out very problematic images. Infantilization of characters who are 17/18/19+ leads to sometimes hyper-aging actual children. If one points to a 17 year old and calls them a child, a mere baby who can’t take care of themself and needs a parent all the time 24/7, or can’t make choices for themselves - then a ten year old who is a child, a baby who can’t take care of themselves and needs a parent 24/7 is unwittingly equated to that seventeen yr old. People probably don’t realise this/mean it but that is what is going on. It’s also something that more so happens in the linguistics of real life over fandom tho but this is an observation from personal experiences. Anyways a Ten yr old is not a seventeen yr old or older. They are ten. A seventeen year old can go to the mall by themself, kiss their partner, have a romantic/sexual partner. A ten yr old can not, ever. I could keep writing examples, but I hope people see where I’m going with this and get my point.

In conclusion, I guess. Stop infantilization, it is ableist and dangerous when pushed onto people/characters who are disabled and incredibly problematic and very dangerous, period. No matter who it is done to.  

This ^^ also directly interacts in a very intertwined way with the feminization of Luffy and I will be writing on that next.

Edit: 18+

I’d also like to add that if infantilization is done for safe and sane kink/fetish reasons this post is not about such practises at all! If your engaging in safe, sane, consensual, and critical kink/fetish content I’m pretty sure your doing so responsibly and with an understanding of exactly what is going on and what is potentially problematic. It’s not in my business to kink shame or anything so I thought I’d add this on for further clarification purposes.