Lolicon (ロリコン), also romanized as rorikon or lolicom, is, in Japanese contexts, an attraction to young (or young-looking) girl characters, or media centered around this attraction. A Japanese portmanteau of the English phrase "Lolita complex" (rorīta konpurekkusu),[a] the term describes this attraction to fictional girls[1] (see § Definition and scope), an individual with this attraction, or the lolicon genre of media such as manga and anime, in which "lolis" (childlike girl characters) are depicted in the aesthetic of "cute eroticism" (kawaii ero). While associated with pedophilia in the Japanese public imagination,[2] scholars and critics assert that lolicon, in the context of otaku (manga and anime fan) culture, is nearly always the attraction to fictional girl characters, as distinct from the attraction to realistic depictions of young girls, or real girls as such.[3][4][5]
The term lolicon, derived from the novel Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, was used in Japan in the 1970s to describe erotic doujinshi (self-published manga) depictions of young girls. Throughout the "lolicon boom" of the 1980s, the term was used among otaku to describe their attraction to bishōjo (cute girl) characters. The connotations of lolicon shifted in the 1990s after the arrest of Tsutomu Miyazaki, a child molester and serial killer who was branded an "otaku" by the press, which triggered a moral panic against otaku and media like lolicon. Use of the term to describe the attraction to fictional characters in general has largely fallen out of use, replaced by the term moe;[6] lolicon is still used among otaku to denote the attraction to childlike girl characters.[7] As used by otaku today, the term conveys an insistent distinction between fiction and reality.[8] Media in the lolicon genre historically evolved from the designs of shōjo manga, and range from mildly erotic[9][10] to pornographic.[11]
Laws have been enacted in various countries which regulate explicit content featuring fictional children or childlike characters. Some countries, such as the United Kingdom, have made it illegal to possess lolicon, while other countries, such as Japan, allow lolicon on the basis of freedom of expression.[12] Skeptics and supporters alike have debated if the lolicon genre contributes to actual sexual abuse of children or not. Studies of lolicon fans find that they are attracted to an aesthetic of cuteness rather than the age of the characters,[13] and that collecting lolicon represents a disconnect from society.[14][15]
Definition and scope
Lolicon is a portmanteau of "Lolita complex", an English-language phrase derived from Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita (1955) and introduced to Japan with Russell Trainer's The Lolita Complex (1966, translated 1969).[16][17] As used in Japanese, the term "Lolita" and Nabokov's novel are not necessarily associated with perversion and abuse as in the West, but instead with a positive idealization and romanticization of the young girl (shōjo) since the Meiji period: an "innocent and ethereal creature, who deserves adoration from others while staying entirely passive", according to Dinah Zank.[18] Researcher Perry R. Hinton argues that this culturally-specific meaning makes "maiden complex" and "shōjo complex" better re-renderings of the term in English.[19] Setsu Shigematsu writes that in its original or common sense, the "Lolita complex" is the proclivity of an older man to love and desire a young girl.[20]
As used in otaku (manga and anime fan) culture from the 1970s to the early 1980s, the meanings of the term lolicon instead related to an orientation to fiction. Akira Akagi wrote that during the 1980s, the meanings of lolicon moved away from a young girl having sex with an older man, instead describing an attraction to "cuteness" (kawairashisa) and "girl-ness" (shōjo sei) in manga and anime.[21] Kaoru Nagayama similarly argues that lolicon was less an attraction to girls than it was an attraction to "cute things";[22] other Japanese critics described it as the desire for "manga-like" or "anime-like" characters, "roundness", and the "two-dimensional", as distinct from the "real".[23] Cultural critics, including the feminist Chizuko Ueno, "understood [lolicon] to be an orientation toward fictional bishōjo (the two-dimensional) and thus distinct from sexual desire for flesh-and-blood women (the three-dimensional)".[24] At the time, all erotic works in the manga style (as opposed to the gekiga style) with cute girl characters, regardless of apparent age, were associated with the term lolicon; the term meant attraction to these characters as distinct from attraction to real women.[25] For example, the bishōjo character Lum from the manga and anime series Urusei Yatsura, an alien who appears physically to be about 17 years old, was included within this meaning of the term.[26] Synonyms of the term "Lolita complex" (rorīta konpurekkusu) in this sense included "two-dimensional complex" (nijigen konpurekkusu), "two-dimensional fetishism" (nijikon fechi), "two-dimensional syndrome" (nijikon shōkōgun), "cute girl syndrome" (bishōjo shōkōgun), and simply "sickness" (byōki).[27]
The connotation of the term lolicon changed again in the 1990s after the arrest of Tsutomu Miyazaki, a child molester and serial killer who was framed by the mass media as an otaku (see § History).[6] As the meaning of the term among the public shifted away from the otaku conception of "an orientation of desire toward fiction as such",[6] and towards a conflation with the desire for real children, it was replaced among otaku by moe as a term to describe the affective response to fictional girls in general.[6] Lolicon is still in use today among otaku, however, to denote attraction to childlike girl characters.[7][28] As a result of the Miyazaki case, the term today has developed two divergent meanings: for critics and the Japanese public at large, it is associated with pedophilia,[2] while otaku and their advocates continue to understand it as the attraction to young girl characters, as distinct from and as opposed to the attraction to real children, or to sexual predation.[3][28][29] As used in contemporary otaku parlance, the term still conveys an insistent distinction between fiction and reality[7][8] and a deliberate "break from reality",[30] though it now often refers to characters of an apparent age range below adolescence.[31]
In Japanese, lolicon can mean the attraction itself, an individual with the attraction, or the genre of media featuring eroticized girl characters.[32][33] Some otaku clarify their attraction with the term "two-dimensional lolicon" (nijigen rorikon) to highlight their orientation to fictional characters as opposed to real girls.[7] Some define these girl characters (ロリ, "loli") by their age, while others define loli characters by their appearance.[34] The terminology of lolicon in Japanese is distinct from that of pedophilia (yōji-zuki or pedofiria, more medically shōniseiai or jidōseiai) and that of child pornography (jidō poruno).[7]
History
Background
Manga (comics) emerged as mass culture in Japan after World War II due to its low cost and relatively low barrier to creative participation.[35] Japanese animation (anime) began widespread production in the 1960s, after Osamu Tezuka's television series Astro Boy (1963–1966). Manga and anime were attractive to young and amateur creators, and they saw expansions in diversity and creativity in the 1970s;[36] there was a marked preference for young and young-looking characters,[37] and little resistance to their depiction in sexual or violent scenes, or to showing such images to children and adults.[36] Sharon Kinsella attributes this to a weaker "compartmentalization" of pornography in post-war Japan, as compared to America or Britain.[38] Patrick W. Galbraith notes the influence of Tezuka's work, which was inspired by Walt Disney's but featured themes such as sex, violence, and moral ambiguity.[36]
The shōjo (young girl) was a dominant image in the mass media of Japan by the 1970s. Eiji Ōtsuka interpreted the shōjo as "representing consumptive pleasure suspended from productive functions"; other critics describe an "illusion of beauty" and a "distinct gender" that signifies an "idealized Eros".[39] Nude photographs of shōjo, conceived as fine art, gained popularity in Japan in the late 1960s: a photo collection entitled Nymphet: The Myth of the 12-Year-Old was published in 1969, and in 1972 and 1973 there was an "Alice boom" themed around Alice in Wonderland, which included nude photos. In the early 1980s, magazines with photos and essays on the appeal of young girls proliferated.[40] This boom in adult images faded in the late 1980s, due to backlash and because men "preferred two-dimensional images of shōjo".[41] The school-aged girl in a school uniform is an erotic symbol in Japan.[42]
1970s–1980s
![](https://web.archive.org/web/20210707003814im_/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/7d/Hideo_Azuma_bish%C5%8Djo.png/220px-Hideo_Azuma_bish%C5%8Djo.png)
The first usage of the term "Lolita complex" in manga was in Stumbling Upon a Cabbage Patch,[b] an Alice in Wonderland–inspired work by Shinji Wada published in the June 1974 issue of the shōjo manga magazine Bessatsu Margaret. A character describes Lewis Carroll as a man with a Lolita complex, likely an inside joke to adult male readers of the magazine who had begun reading shōjo works (targeted at young girls) earlier in the decade.[44] Wada's manga used the full phrase; its abbreviation would come later.[16] The rise of lolicon as a genre began at the Comic Market (Comiket) in 1979, where the first issue of the doujinshi magazine Cybele was published.[44] A standout work was an erotic parody of Little Red Riding Hood authored by Hideo Azuma, the "Father of Lolicon"[43] and "among the earliest male artists responding to shōjo manga".[44] At the time, the dominant style in seinen and pornographic manga was gekiga, a realistic style characterized by sharp angles, dark hatching, and gritty lines; in contrast, Azuma's work displayed light shading and clean, circular lines.[45] His combination of the round bodies of Tezuka and the round and emotive faces of shōjo manga marked the advent of bishōjo (cute girl) works and the aesthetic of "cute eroticism" (kawaii ero),[45] both major influences on lolicon and erotic manga as a whole.[43] This was a "movement to restore Tezuka-style manga drawing";[46] by erasing the human male, Azuma produced a parody and an alternative to the sexual "power fantasies" of gekiga.[47] The effect on lolicon was a move away from realism and towards an unrealistic, iconic, and deformed aesthetic.[43]
The early 1980s saw a "lolicon boom" in professional and amateur art with the creation of specialty publications dedicated to the genre, including Lemon People (from 1981) and Manga Burikko (from 1982).[48] The rise of lolicon was closely linked to the concurrent development of otaku fan culture around manga and anime;[49] the word otaku itself was coined to describe fans in Manga Burikko in 1983.[50] Burikko was originally founded as an unprofitable gekiga magazine; editor Eiji Ōtsuka transformed it into a lolicon magazine starting in 1983 and fostered a "new wave revolution", lauching the careers of many manga artists. Ōtsuka also edited Petit Apple Pie, an anthology series featuring works from the artists of Manga Burikko, but without eroticism.[51] After readers complained about images of real gravure idols featured in Burikko's opening pages, they were removed in November 1983.[52] Art in the magazine continued the trends set by Azuma rooted in the soft and round styles of shōjo manga, with fewer realistic characters and less explicit sex;[53] Ōtsuka's intention was to publish "shōjo manga for boys".[54] Lolicon magazines published both female artists such as Kyoko Okazaki, Yumi Shirakura, and Erika Sakurazawa,[53] as well as male lolicon artists like Miki Hayasaka and Aki Uchiyama , the "King of Lolicon".[55]
![](https://web.archive.org/web/20210707003814im_/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d0/Otsuka_photo1.jpg/250px-Otsuka_photo1.jpg)
Early lolicon idols in anime were Clarisse from the film Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro (1979) and Lana from the TV series Future Boy Conan (1978), both directed by Hayao Miyazaki;[56] Clarisse became particularly popular, and inspired a series of articles discussing her appeal in the anime specialty magazines Gekkan Out, Animec, and Animage,[57] as well as a trend of fan works (dubbed "Clarisse magazines")[25] that were not explicitly sexual, but instead "fairytale-esque" and "girly".[48] Many early lolicon works combined mecha and bishōjo elements;[58] Kaoru Nagayama highlights the premiere of the Daicon III Opening Animation at the 1981 Japan SF Convention as a notable example of the link between science fiction and lolicon in the nascent otaku culture of the time.[46] Anime shows targeted at young girls with young girl heroines, such as Magical Princess Minky Momo (1982–1983), gained new viewership from adult male fans, who started fan clubs[59] and were courted by creators to raise ratings.[60] Helen McCarthy suggests that the roots of lolicon anime lie in the magical girl genre, where the lines between young girls and adult women can be blurred.[61]
Although the lolicon boom in commercial eromanga only lasted until 1984,[62] the boom was the beginning of bishōjo-style eromanga, which would become the dominant style of pornographic manga.[63] Kaoru Nagayama's history puts the semantic shift of "lolicon" in manga, from referring to all bishōjo eromanga to only that with childlike heroines, around the end of the lolicon boom.[64]
1990s–present
In 1989, lolicon and otaku became the subject of a media frenzy and moral panic after the arrest of Tsutomu Miyazaki, a young man who had kidnapped and murdered four girls between the ages of four and seven and committed sexual acts with their corpses.[65] Widely-disseminated photos of Miyazaki's room revealed an extensive collection of video tapes, which included horror/slasher films on which he had modelled some of his crimes,[66] and manga, including shōjo and lolicon works.[67] Some journalists in the room later revealed that Miyazaki had owned very little adult manga, which were moved to the foreground of the photographs in order to make it appear as if he had more anime and manga than he did.[68][69] Public discourse centered primarily on Miyazaki's manga, and he was framed as "withdrawn and obsessive" otaku who had acted out his perverse desires from fiction in reality.[70] Otaku became established in the public imaginary as "socially and sexually immature manga/anime fans, or perverts, who are attracted to cute girl characters", and for others as pedophiles and potential predators.[71] Amid a growing panic over "harmful manga", in September 1990, the Asahi Shimbun published an editorial entitled "There Are Too Many Impoverished Manga", which escalated the situation and lent weight to the movement against this manga.[72] The debate on "harmful manga" resulted in local crackdowns on retailers and publishers, and the arrests of some doujinshi artists.[70][73] Responding to these crackdowns, publishers self-regulated through the establishment of labels for pornographic manga in 1991 and segregation of these manga from those for general audiences.[74] A Japanese non-profit organization, CASPAR, was founded with the goal of campaigning for regulation of lolicon.[16][75] Despite local ordinances passed against obscene manga, lolicon imagery expanded during the 1990s and became more widely accepted in manga,[76] and the early 2000s saw a renaissance of lolicon eromanga sparked by the establishment of the magazine Comic LO.[77]
In the late 1990s, Japan came under increased international pressure to criminalize child pornography, culminating in the passing of a 1999 national law that outlawed its production and distribution.[78][79] The original 1998 draft of this law specifically included fictional depictions such as lolicon manga and anime in its definition of child pornography; this text was removed in the final version,[79] and there have since been unsuccessful attempts to expand the law's purview to include works of fiction.[80] During the 2000s, a wide range of groups within Japan, including feminists, lawyers, and artists, defended the freedom to create "obscene" manga, including lolicon.[6] In 2014, Japan's parliament amended the 1999 law to criminalize the simple possession of real child pornography, and decided against criminalizing fiction such as lolicon.[78] The original 2013 draft by the Liberal Democratic Party maintained the existing, ambiguous definition of child pornography and included a provision to investigate a connection between fictional pornography and real child abuse;[81] it was protested by anime and manga industry associations, who said that it could lead to future limits on freedom of expression.[82][83] Manga artist Ken Akamatsu, then representing the Japan Cartoonists Association, said at the time that "there is [...] no scientific evidence to prove that so-called 'harmful media' increases crime".[83] The ultimately passed version of the law, which removed the provision in question, went into effect in 2015.[84][85][86]
Some prefectural and municipal laws restrict lolicon. Known as "youth ordinances", these laws restrict the general distribution of publications designated "unhealthy"; these laws and their application were strengthened throughout the 1990s and 2000s.[87] Youth ordinances do not typically single out lolicon works specifically, though this is not always the case. A proposed 2010 amendment to the Tokyo law on what material could be sold to minors included a restriction on the sale of sexualised depictions of "nonexistent youths" who appear under the age of 18.[88][89] The bill was explicitly described by Tokyo Vice Governor Naoki Inose as targeting lolicon manga not explicit enough to be considered pornographic (and thus already restricted to adults).[90] The proposed amendment was met by massive opposition from creators, academics, and fans,[91][92][93] and it was also opposed by the Democratic Party of Japan.[94] In June 2010, the bill was rejected in committee by the full Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly,[95] as was another revision instead using the phrase "depicted youth".[96][97] Despite continued opposition, a version of the bill was passed in December 2010 that restricts "manga, anime and other images" where any characters, regardless of age, are engaged in "sexual or pseudo sexual acts that would be illegal in real life" such that the depiction "glorifies or exaggerates" the acts;[91][98][99] the law does not apply to websites or digital content, and only restricts physical media such as books and DVDs.[100] In 2011, several manga were listed for potential restriction,[101] including Oku-sama wa Shōgakusei ("My Wife Is an Elementary Student"); the work had been previously been singled out and criticized on television by Inose.[90] It was later published online by J-Comi, escaping restriction.[102] The first work to be formally restricted as "unhealthy" under the expanded law was the manga Imōto Paradise! 2 in 2014, prohibiting its sale to persons under 18.[103]
In 2019, the United Nations Human Rights Committee expressed its "deep concern" about "drawings and virtual representations, depicting non-existing children or persons appearing to be children involved in sexually explicit conduct" in new guidelines related to the non-binding Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography. The Japanese government responded to the published guidelines by reiterating that the protocol is non-binding; they previously responded to a draft version by saying that "Japan believes that restriction on freedom of expression should be kept to a minimum and that highly careful consideration needs to be given to the scope of child pornography".[104]
Genre and works
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Typical works in the lolicon genre depict prepubescent (or early pubescent) girl characters, or characters who appear as such, in erotic or pornographic contexts.[31] There is significant disagreement as to whether this definition extends to childlike characters who are not clearly prepubescent, and whether it also applies to material lacking explicit sexual content.[31][105][106] Media in the lolicon genre commonly take the form of anime, manga, or video games, and are mostly consumed by young men,[20] though Kaoru Nagayama notes that the manga of lolicon artist Hiraku Machida has "resonated with female readers".[107]
Lolicon manga are usually short stories, and are often published as doujinshi (self-published works) or in magazines specializing in the genre such as Lemon People, Manga Burikko,[108] and more recently Comic LO (where "LO" stands for "Lolita Only").[109] Common focuses of the stories include taboo relationships, such as between a teacher and student or a brother and sister, while others depict sexual experimentation between children. Plot devices are often used to explain the young appearance of characters who are non-human or actually older.[16] Young girls showing their underwear are common characters[110] in "moe-style" lolicon works, which are mildly erotic and do not depict explicit sex.[9] Notable lolicon manga artists include Aguda Wanyan, Hiraku Machida, and Takarada Gorgeous.[111] Female lolicon creators include Erika Wada (whose works were under fire during the "harmful manga" panic of the 1990s),[112] Fumio Kagami,[113] and Kaworu Watashiya, creator of the non-pornographic but still controversial Kodomo no Jikan.[114]
Men began reading shōjo manga (targeted at young girls) in the 1970s, including the works of the Year 24 Group and the "girly" works of A-ko Mutsu.[115] Lolicon was influenced by male artists mimicking shōjo manga imagery,[42][116] as well as the works of women creating pornographic manga for men.[20] Zank suggests that lolicon is "rooted in the glorification of girls culture in Japan", and therefore uses the visual language of shōjo manga.[18] Several scholars and critics identify lolicon, mostly created by and for men, as a complementary phenomenon and response to yaoi, created by and for women.[117] Frederik L. Schodt and Dinah Zank suggest that Japanese laws prohibiting the depiction of pubic hair may have encouraged "erotic manga with a rorikon flavor".[118][18] Akira Akagi identified five subgenres within lolicon works of the 1980s: sadomasochism, "groping objects" (tentacles and robots in the role of the penis), "mecha fetishes" (a combination of a machine, usually a weapon, and a girl), erotic parodies of mainstream anime and manga, and "simply indecent or perverted stuff". He also notes common themes of lesbianism and masturbation.[119]
Kaoru Nagayama argues that most lolicon eromanga deal in some way with a "consciousness of sin", or a sense of taboo and guilt in consumption.[120] Some lolicon manga mitigate this by creating an "excuse" for the reader, such as the girl enjoying the experience in the end, while others represent the girl as the active partner in sex who seduces men to her, which can represent masochistic desires.[121] Other lolicon manga lean into the "pleasure of sin" and breaking of taboos, where "men are absolute evil and girls are pitiable victims who are abused and trampled upon",[122] which Nagayama says affirms the fragility of the characters and represents both masochistic and sadistic fantasies.[123] He writes that some artists, like Hiraku Machida, "face off against their inner demons" by thematically representing pedophilic desire within their manga as an "[evil or sickness] that is to be struggled with",[124] while others create manga that maintain a distance from moral questions, featuring characters who act on their desires and neither take pleasure in nor feel guilt in transgression.[125] Nagayama writes that manga depicting sex between children avoid the "consciousness of sin" via the mutual innocence of the characters, while also thematizing nostalgia and an idealized past.[126] Other manga accomplish this through characters with especially unrealistic and moe designs; for these works, he posits that "it is precisely because fiction is distinguished from reality as fiction that one can experience moe".[127]
Lolicon imagery is a common theme in Superflat, a postmodern art movement founded by Takashi Murakami. One prominent lolicon artist in the Superflat movement is Mr.[128] Female artists include Chiho Aoshima and Aya Takano.[129] Murakami has also featured the work of commercial artists outside of the movement in his exhibitions: a few of those artists whose work contains lolicon themes include Henmaru Machino (Untitled (Green Caterpillar's Girl)), Hitoshi Tomizawa (Alien 9, Milk Closet), and Bome (sculptures).[110] According to the exhibition catalogue Little Boy, Weekly Dearest My Brother is a manga and figurine series which women find cute and "an innocent fantasy", but which arouses "pedophiliac desires" among men.[130]
Analysis
Academic and critical
Lolicon has become a keyword in global discourse on Japanese media and pop culture, particularly anime and manga.[131] Anthropologist Patrick W. Galbraith criticizes the conflation of lolicon, as the attraction to stylized and two-dimensional characters, with a pathological sexual desire for real-life children.[131] He states that "from early writings to the present, researchers suggest that lolicon artists are playing with symbols and working with tropes, which does not reflect or contribute to sexual pathology or crime".[6] Psychologist Tamaki Saitō highlights the estrangement of otaku sexuality, as expressed through lolicon, from reality.[3] Critic Kaoru Nagayama asserts that the ratio of pedophiles among lolicon fans is equal to or lower than the general populace.[132]
Nagayama contends that approaches to lolicon manga that focus solely on the content (what is on the page) are incomplete in ignoring "how it is read".[133]. He writes that a readers both take on the perspectives of an omniscient voyeur and of the (multiple) characters in the work; these positions constantly change in the act of reading,[133] and the reader plays an active role in creating the fantasy.[134] He further writes that in the desire for and reading of girl characters in lolicon, readers start with the "iconography" of the girl, which then indicates the "idea" of shōjo.[132] Similarly, journalist and translator Matt Alt frames lolicon as a "fetishization of girlish naivete and innocence".[29]
Scholars also identify lolicon with sexual politics in a consumer Japanese society. Setsu Shigematsu identifies the substitution of the penis in lolicon with inanimate objects as marking readers' identification with the pleasure of the girl, as opposed to identification with a male penetrator.[13] Gō Itō describes this as an "abstract desire" where male readers project themselves onto the girl, quoting a lolicon artist who said that his manga represented how he had been "raped by society" and placed in "a position of weakness".[135] Sharon Kinsella interprets lolicon as a performance of the shōjo, in which artists and readers working through an unstable gender identity reject expectations of masculinity and embrace a feminine role.[136] Kaoru Nagayama similarly argues that men reading lolicon identify with the girl character:[134]
At the same time that the icon of girl was a sexual object, it was also simultaneously a vessel of conscious and unconscious self-projection. If one side is the more readily graspable desire of objectification and possession – I want to love a cute girl character / to hold her / to violate her / to abuse her – then the other side is the hidden desire of identification – I want to become a cute girl / to be loved / to be held / to be violated / to be abused. A surprisingly large number of people show an adverse reaction to discussions touching on gender this way, but the desire to assimilate with the girl character is an extension of the desire to possess her.
The editors of The Book of Otaku (1989) framed lolicon and the "two-dimensional complex" (nijikon) in terms of orientation and queerness, and as part of a refusal of otaku to "grow up" and "become men".[137] Akagi and Kinsella posit that lolicon reflect deep frustrations towards hegemonic gender roles and forms of sexuality.[138][139] Kinsella argues that the popularity of anime genres derived from lolicon in Western fan cultures in the 1990s suggest similar social and cultural frustrations.[140] Elisabeth Klar suggests that loli characters can have an "incredible or at least contradictory performance of age," with the character's role, body, and actions all contradicting each other: this contributes to the destabilization of both gender roles and of the naturalness of the body.[141]
Cultural critic and philosopher Hiroki Azuma argues that in otaku subculture, lolicon is the "most convenient [form of rebellion]" against society. He states some otaku feel so "excluded from society" that they "begin to feel as if they are the sort of 'no good' person who should be attracted to little girls, even for those with "no interest in pedophilia".[142] Sarah Goode describes the accumulation of lolicon as "a medium through which disaffected men may choose to express their sense of anomie and disconnection with society".[15] Sociologist Kimio Itō views the preference for young girls as sex objects in manga and anime to be due to a change in Japanese society in the 1970s and 1980s. He says that at that time, boys felt that girls were "surpassing them in terms of willpower and action". However, as the boys believed girls to be the weaker sex, the boys began focusing on young girls "who were 'easy to control'". Additionally, the young girls of lolicon exist in the media, which Itō points out is a place where one can control things however they want.[14]
Feminist critic Kuniko Funabashi criticizes lolicon manga, arguing that they discard storytelling in favor of portrayals of abuse and that they contribute to a culture of sexual violence. She further asserts that lolicon manga in which girls are unaffected or gratified after being raped ignore the real-world consequences of and trauma from rape.[143] Katharine Kittredge finds the sexual response to child characters less problematic than the passivity and lack of agency of the girl characters found in some lolicon works.[144]
Responding to the portrayal of Clarisse from Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro, Hayao Miyazaki criticized the lolicon artists and fans who idolize her in what he considers a demeaning manner. He differentiates his female protagonists, labeling those the aforementioned idolized, according to The Otaku Encyclopedia, "as pets".[16] However, some scholars, such as Tamaki Saitō and Patrick W. Galbraith, still find connections between Miyazaki and the desire for young female characters, seeing Miyazaki's rejection of lolicon as more of a cover for or denial of his own feelings.[145] Interpreting Miyazaki's own words, Galbraith suggests that the distance between Miyazaki and lolicon is not about the affection for female characters, but about the issue of "shame": Miyazaki felt that men who identified as lolicon had little shame about their feelings, while Miyazaki had more shame, distancing himself from his own feelings.[146]
Legal aspects
The legal status of lolicon media that portray children in erotic contexts has changed with time and is currently under intensive debate in Japan and throughout the world.[147][148] Kuniko Funabashi argues that lolicon manga, along with other pornographic media, contributes to sexual violence by framing girls and women in a passive role and by "presenting the female body as the man's possession and young girls in particular as being at his mercy".[149] Legal scholar Hiroshi Nakasatomi similarly argues that lolicon induces crime, violates the rights of women and children, and should be considered child pornography under Japanese law.[150] The Japanese non-profit organization CASPAR has claimed that lolicon and other anime magazines and games encourage sex crimes.[75] According to Galbraith, Yasushi Takatsuki has noted that sexual abuse of minors in Japan has declined since the 1960s and 1970s, which "roughly coincides with the increasing presence of fictional lolicon". Galbraith feels that this is not an argument that lolicon "compensates for or relieves real desires", but instead that lolicon imagery does not "reflect the desires" of readers, or inspire them to commit crimes.[76] Likewise, Hiroki Azuma contends that very few readers of lolicon manga commit crimes.[142] A report by the Sexologisk Klinik for the Danish government concluded that fictional images of the sexual abuse of minors do not contribute to the actual abuse of minors.[151] Steven Smet suggests that lolicon is an "exorcism of fantasies" that contributes to Japan's low crime rates.[152]
Dilton Rocha Ferraz Ribeiro analyzes the debate over the legal status of lolicon works in Japan and finds that both the pro-regulation and anti-regulation coalitions are relatively stable, with each reacting to actions by the other coalition.[148] Catherine Driscoll and Liam Grealy argue that these debates, including international pressure on Japan to regulate these works, create a "discourse of Japanese exceptionalism" to international norms.[153]
See also
- Shotacon – male equivalent of lolicon, focusing on young boy characters
- Gravure idol and junior idol – child or early teenager pursuing a career as a photographic model
- Lolita fashion – a Japanese fashion style and subculture
- Pornography in Japan
- Cartoon pornography
- Simulated child pornography
- Reporting of child pornography images on Wikimedia Commons
Notes
References
- ^ Galbraith 2011.
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- ^ a b c Saitō 2007, p. 227–228: "Something that deserves special mention here is otaku sexuality’s estrangement from everyday life. For example, there are many varieties of the odd sexuality (tōsaku) depicted in the eighteen-and-over genre, including an attraction to little girls that could be seen as pedophilic. It is around this issue that the revulsion directed at otaku becomes most intense. [...] But contrary to popular expectations, the vast majority of otaku are not pedophiles in actual life."
- ^ Galbraith 2017b.
- ^ Nagayama 2020, p. 129: "As stated earlier, the vast majority of creators and readers of lolicon manga are not pedophiles. Furthermore, eromanga is not a simple substitute or stand-in for reality," also see p. 118.
- ^ a b c d e f Galbraith 2016, p. 114.
- ^ a b c d e Galbraith 2017a, p. 15.
- ^ a b Galbraith 2017b, p. 68.
- ^ a b Galbraith 2011, p. 119: "[...] lolicon is not necessarily always pornographic, and in the form of 'moe-style' (moe-kei) works today consists mostly of mild eroticism (for example, glimpses of panties rather than explicit sex or vaginal penetration)."
- ^ Kittredge 2014, p. 518.
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Works cited
- Akagi, Akira (1993). "Bishōjo shōkōgun: Rorikon to iu yokubō" [The Bishōjo Syndrome: The Desire Called Lolicon]. New Feminism Review (in Japanese). 3: 230–234.
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- Funabashi, Kuniko (1995). "Pornographic Culture and Sexual Violence". In Fujimura-Fanselow, Kumiko; Kameda, Atsuko (eds.). Japanese Women: New Feminist Perspectives on the Past, Present, and Future. New York: Feminist Press at the City University of New York. pp. 255–263. ISBN 1-55861-093-6. OCLC 31970112.
- Galbraith, Patrick W. (2011). "Lolicon: The Reality of 'Virtual Child Pornography' in Japan". Image & Narrative. 12 (1): 83–119.
- Galbraith, Patrick W. (2016). ""The lolicon guy": Some observations on researching unpopular topics in Japan". In McLelland, Mark (ed.). The End of Cool Japan: Ethical, Legal, and Cultural Challenges to Japanese Popular Culture. London and New York: Routledge. pp. 109–133. ISBN 978-1-317-26937-3. OCLC 951465296.
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- Galbraith, Patrick W. (2019). Otaku and the Struggle for Imagination in Japan. Durham: Duke University Press. ISBN 978-1-4780-0509-4. JSTOR j.ctv1220mhm. OCLC 1148100778.
- Hinton, Perry R. (2014). "The Cultural Context and the Interpretation of Japanese 'Lolita Complex' Style Anime" (PDF). Intercultural Communication Studies. 23 (2): 54–68.
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- Kinsella, Sharon (2000). Adult Manga. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. ISBN 978-0-7007-1004-1. OCLC 945764581.
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- Schodt, Frederik L. (1996). "Modern Manga at the End of the Millennium". Dreamland Japan: Writings on Modern Manga. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press. pp. 33–72. ISBN 978-1-880656-23-5.
- Shigematsu, Setsu (1999). "Dimensions of Desire: Sex, Fantasy and Fetish in Japanese Comics". In Lent, J.A. (ed.). Themes and Issues in Asian Cartooning: Cute, Cheap, Mad and Sexy. Bowling Green: Bowling Green State University Popular Press. pp. 127–163. ISBN 978-0-87972-779-6. OCLC 915475502.
- Takatsuki, Yasushi (2010). Rorikon: Nihon no shōjo shikōshatachi to sono sekai [Lolicon: Japan's Shōjo Lovers and Their World] (in Japanese). Tokyo: Basilico. ISBN 978-4-86238-151-4. OCLC 456522203.
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Further reading
- Aoki, Deb (9 August 2019). "Manga Answerman - Is Translating 'Lolicon' as 'Pedophile' Accurate?". Anime News Network. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
- "A History of Shojo, Loli, and Harmful Books". ComiPress. 17 July 2007.
- Mead, Rebecca (18 March 2002). "Shopping rebellion; what the kids want. (Letter from Tokyo)". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 11 October 2008. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
- "New Law Banning Lolicon?". ComiPress. 17 November 2006.
- Otake, Tomoko (5 May 2017). "Professor examines Lolita complex by first looking at his own experience". The Japan Times. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
- Sarrazin, Stephen (2010). "Ero-Anime: Manga Comes Alive". Manga Impact: The World of Japanese Animation. London: Phaidon Press. p. 262. ISBN 978-0-714-85741-1.
- Thompson, Jason (2007). Manga: The Complete Guide. New York: Ballantine Books & Del Rey Books. p. 450. ISBN 978-0-345-48590-8.
External links
Media related to Lolicon at Wikimedia Commons