PSA: Stop Infantilizing C!Slimecicle

PSA: Stop Infantilizing c!Slimecicle

I’m making this post because it frustrates me a lot. Treating c!Slime as a child harkens back to some very shitty and ableist opinions about autistic adults and I’m begging this fandom to stop.

c!Slime is not a child. He is explicitly an adult. Other characters don’t treat him like a child. The only reason any of you see him as childlike is because of the autistic traits he shows.

While I don’t think the coding was intentional, it is extremely strong and is there regardless.

Let me explain. Canonically, c!Slime doesn’t understand human social cues. He is seen as naive, innocent, and gullible. He takes everything literally and doesn’t understand non-literal meanings. He seeks sensory stimulation through repeated phrases and the pressure of enclosed spaces. He tends to overshare and struggles to understand social boundaries. He doesn’t understand personal space, and greets people and says goodbye by kissing them, not seeming to understand that this isn’t normal. He lacks typical fear when put in dangerous situations. He copies other people’s mannerisms to better pass as human.

These aren’t child-like traits. These are autistic traits. And the entire narrative of pretending to be human just drives this home more - it mirrors the real experience of how many autistic adults have to “mask” being autistic.

Regardless of intent, c!Slime is coded as an autistic adult. Not just in a way where you can interpret him that way, but in a way where this is the strongest interpretation.

And this is the problem. Autistic adults constantly have to face infantalization as allistics don’t see us adults. They see us as mentally being children. They see us as lesser.

This is why I’m begging you guys to stop treating c!Slime like a child. Because to the autistic people in this fandom, it’s extremely uncomfortable.

Stop calling him c!Quackity’s son, stop treating him like an “innocent little baby”. Stop making jokes where the punchline is him not understanding an “adult” topic or complex social situations. Stop making jokes where the punchline is that he needs a babysitter.

Because while c!Slime isn’t canonically autistic, he is so strongly coded as such that treating him like a child in this way feels really uncomfortable. And I know I’m not the only autistic person who sees it this way.

Allistics can reblog, do not clown on this post or I will bite you