Lolicon

Lolicon art usually mixes children's features with erotic tones.

Lolicon (ロリコン, Rorikon^?), also romanized as lolikon, is the equivalent (contraction from the Japanese language) of the phrase Lolita complex ('Lolita complex'). In Japan, the term describes a person with a sexual preference for young girls who are not usually of legal age or childish-looking adult women. It is also used when referring to the lolicon manga and anime genre, where childish-looking female characters called lolis are depicted in a kawaii and erotic manner, in an art style similar to shōjo manga. Outside Japan, "lolicon" it has a less common use and usually refers to gender.

The phrase "Lolita complex" is a reference to the book Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov but in Japan more associated with The Lolita Complex by Russell Trainer (1966). In Japanese, the phrase was adopted to describe predominant feelings of love and lust towards girls and adolescents, rather than adult women. It was first used in Japan in the 1970s, and its use quickly expanded to describe drawings or erotic illustrations of girls captured in amateur comics or dōjinshi. In the 1980s, lolicon manga began to be widely distributed in pornographic manga anthology magazines. The rise of the genre is closely linked to the development of otaku culture, especially in the early 1980s during the & #34;lolicon explosion" in the realm of adult manga, where the term was adopted in the nascent otaku culture to denote the attraction to early bishōjo (cute girl) characters. Later, as bishōjo designs became more varied, the meaning of lolicon was narrowed down to refer only to younger-looking characters.

In 1989, after a serial killer named "the Otaku Killer" was discovered to be a fan of lolicon, the genre and its fans received suspicion and accusations from Japanese society. Some critics of the lolicon genre claim that encourages child sexual abuse, while others say there is no evidence for this claim. Most cultural critics emphasize it as something other than attraction to young girls or real girls. Studies have indicated that attraction al lolicon is based on an aesthetic or appearance of cuteness, and not on the age of the characters, while others show that collecting lolicon represents a disconnection from society.

Description and characteristics

Lolicon is a Japanese acronym for "Lolita complex" (ロリータ・コンプレックス, rorīta konpurekkusu), an English phrase derived from Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita (1955) but in Japan more associated with Russell Trainer's The Lolita Complex (1966, translated 1969). A work in folk psychology in which the author uses the term to describe the attraction of adult men to pubescent and prepubescent women. In Japanese, the phrase was adopted to describe young men's feelings of love and lust toward women adult, which remains the common meaning of the phrase. However, due to its association with otaku (manga and anime fans) culture, the term is more often used today to describe the wishes of characters young or young-looking females (ロリ, "loli") who are generally understood to exist and are satisfied in fiction. And to the general public it still has a connotation of pedophilia. Lolicon also refers to to sexualized or erotic works that present such characters and fans of these works and characters. It is distinct from the words for pedophilia (yōji-zuki or pedophyria; clinically, shōniseiai or jidōseiai) and child pornography (jidō poruno).

The meaning of lolicon in the otaku context developed in the early 1980s, during the "lolicon boom" in the adult manga. According to editor and reviewer Akira Akagi, the meaning of the term shifted away from the sexual partner of an older man and a girl, and instead came to describe the desire for 'tenderness' of a child. and "femininity" in the manga and anime. Other academic critics defined lolicon as the desire for "cute things," "manga-like" or "anime", "roundness" and "two-dimensional", as opposed to "real". At the time, all manga-style erotica featuring cute girl (bishōjo) characters was associated with the term. As the body types of characters in erotic manga became more varied at the end of the lolicon boom, the scope of the term narrowed to younger representations.

The kawaii (cute) style is extremely popular in Japan, where it is present in many of the manga/anime styles. The school-age girl in a school uniform is also an erotic symbol in Japan. Japan. In Japan there are people who can date teenagers through terekura (telephone clubs), Sharon Kinsella noted an increase in unsubstantiated accounts of school prostitution in the media in the late 1990s, and speculated that these unverified reports developed in counterpoint to the increased reporting of comfort women. She speculated that, "It may be that the image of cheerful girls selling themselves out voluntarily cancels out the other guilty image." Lolicon is a widespread phenomenon in Japan, where it is a frequent subject of academic articles and criticism, thus, many General bookstores and newsstands offer illustrated lolicon material, but there has also been police action against lolicon manga.

Regarding the accusation that lolicon is prone to sexual crimes, cultural critic Hiroki Azuma says that very few readers of lolicon manga commit crimes and that in Otaku culture, lolicon is the "most convenient form of rebellion" against society. Milton Diamond and Ayako Uchiyama note a strong correlation between the dramatic increase in pornographic material in Japan from the 1970s onwards and a marked decline in reported sexual violence, including crimes and assaults on children under 14 years of age, they cite. Similar conclusions as Denmark and West Germany. In their summary, they state that the concern that countries with wide availability of sexually explicit material experiencing higher rates of sexual offenses was not validated and that the reduction in sexual offenses in Japan during that period may have been influenced by a variety of factors. of factors that have been described in their study.

Eiji ⋅tsuka, editor of Manga Burikko.

Lolicon manga are usually short stories, published as dōjinshi (self-published works) or in lolicon magazines such as Lemon People, Manga Burikko i> and Comic LO. Common focuses of these stories include taboo relationships, such as relationships between father and daughter, teacher and student, or brother and sister, while others feature sexual experimentation between girls. Some lolicon manga crossover with other hentai genres, such as crossdressing and futanari. Argumentative devices are frequently used to explain the youthful appearance of various characters. Schoolgirls accidentally showing their underwear are characters. common in the lolicon genre. In the lolicon fandom, males are in the majority. But there is also a side where women are also supporters of the genre. In the manga and anime, there is a variant of yuri called Onee-loli, focused on tender and pure lesbian relationships between older females and lolis.

Loli Characters

A "loli" In Japan and the culture related to anime and manga, it refers to a fictional female character with a childish or youthful appearance who, despite their appearance, are not always minors or pre-adolescents, lolis usually represent childhood, innocence, tenderness or carefree in the anime and manga.

Lolicon is loosely defined. Some define their characters by age, while others define their characters by appearance (those who are small and flat-chested, regardless of age). Lolicon works often depict female characters as innocent, precocious, and sometimes, flirtatious, the characters can appear in borderline or directly sexual situations, although the term can be applied to works without either (see § Relationship with moe).

According to Kaoru Nagayama, manga readers define lolicon works as those "with a heroine younger than a high school student", a definition that can range from characters under 18 for "general society", to characters "younger than school age". Elisabeth Klar observes that female characters in lolicon can display a " contradictory performance of age" in which her body, behavior, and role in a story conflict, one example being the archetype roribabā[s] ("grandma Lolita"), a female character who speaks with the mannerisms of an old woman. Curvy hips and other secondary sexual characteristics appear similarly in some of the characters in the genre. Plot devices often explain the youthful appearance of characters who are not human or are actually much older.

Media

Lolicon manga, often published as dōjinshi or compiled in anthology magazines, is consumed primarily by male audiences, though Nagayama notes that Hiraku Machida's works have "resonated with female readers" and " won the support of women". Other notable artists include Aguda Wanyan and Takarada Gorgeous. Female creators of lolicon works include Erika Wada and Fumio Kagami.

Imagery of Lolicon is a prominent theme in Superflat, a manga-influenced contemporary art movement founded by Takashi Murakami. Notable Superflat artists whose works feature lolicon imagery include Mr. and Henmaru Machino. Murakami himself did a lolicon-inspired photo shoot with Britney Spears for the cover of Pop magazine.

Nagayama argues that most pornographic lolicon manga deals with a sense of taboo and guilt in its consumption. Some manga achieve this by portraying the girl enjoying the experience at the end, while others depict the girl as the sexually active partner who seduces men towards her. In other lolicon manga, where "men are absolute evil and 'girls' they are unfortunate victims", they indulge in the "pleasure of sin" through the breaking of taboos that, according to him, affirms the fragility of the characters. He posits that manga depicting child sex avoids "sin consciousness" through mutual innocence, while also thematizing nostalgia and an idealized past, while other lolicon manga achieve this through character designs especially unrealistic and moe, where 'it is precisely because fiction is distinguished from fiction'. fact as fiction that one can experience the moe.”

Relationship with moe

In the 1990s, lolicon imagery evolved and contributed to the main development of moe, the widespread affective response to fictional characters (typically bishōjo characters in manga, anime, and video games) and their associated design elements. The bishōjo character's form went from niche otaku publications to mainstream manga magazines, and saw explosive popularity in the decade with the rise of bishōjo games and anime series such as Sailor Moon and Neon Genesis Evangelion, which pioneered anime. media and merchandising based on fans' affection for their female leads. Moe characters, who tend to be physically immature female characters exemplified by their cuteness, are ubiquitous in contemporary manga and anime, moe's response it is often defined with an emphasis on platonic love. Unlike lolicon works, sexuality in moe is dealt with indirectly or not at all. absolute.

AnimeNation's John Oppliger identifies Ro-Kyu-Bu!, Kodomo no Jikan, and Moetan as examples of series that challenge the distinction between moe and lolicon through the use of sexual innuendo, commenting that they "satirize chaste holiness. of the moé" and "mocking viewers and the arbitrary delimitations that viewers assert".

Legality and censorship

Child pornography laws in some countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, have been expanded since the 1990s to include sexually explicit depictions of fictional child characters, while other countries, including Japan and the United States, exclude fiction from the relevant definitions.

In 1999, Japan passed a national law criminalizing the production and distribution of child pornography. The original draft of the law included depictions of fictitious children in its definition of child pornography; after "criticism by many in Japan", this text was removed in the final version. In 2014, Japan's parliament amended a 1999 law to criminalize possession of child pornography; 2013 submitted by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which kept the existing legal definition, included a provision for a government investigation into whether manga, anime and computer-generated images "child pornography-like" were related to child sexual abuse, which would be followed by a later ruling on the regulation. This provision was opposed by anime and manga artist and publisher associations, who argued that the regulation would infringe on freedom of expression and negatively impact in the creative industry and cited a lack of existing evidence linking fiction and crime. The provision was removed from the final version of the law that came into effect in 2015.

Lolicon media is a common target of local ordinances in Japan restricting the distribution of materials designated as "harmful to the healthy development of youth," which were enforced throughout the 1990s and 2000. A proposed 2010 amendment to Tokyo's law on material prohibited for sale to minors (described by Lieutenant Governor Naoki Inose as targeting non-pornographic lolicon manga, writing that "We had a regulation for eromanga but not for lolicon") restricted representations of "non-existent youth" who appeared under the age of 18 and were portrayed in 'anti-social sexual situations'. Under massive opposition from manga creators, academics, and fans, the bill was rejected in June 2010 by the Assembly Tokyo Metropolitan, however, a revision was passed in December 2010 restricting "manga, anime and computer games" in which any character engages in "sexual or pseudosexual acts that would be illegal in real life" depicted in a way that "glorifies or exaggerates" such acts. In 2011, several manga were listed for restriction, including Oku-sama wa Shōgakusei ('My wife is an elementary school student'), which Inose had previously criticized on television. It was later published online by J-Comi, bypassing the restriction.

Sexualized portrayals of young girl characters have also been subject to censorship and restrictions outside of Japan. In 2006, North American publisher Seven Seas Entertainment licensed the Kodomo no Jikan manga series for release under the title Nymphet, but canceled its plans in 2007 after cancellations from vendors. In a statement, the company noted that the manga "cannot be considered appropriate for the US market by any reasonable standard". In 2020, Australian Senator Stirling Griff criticized the Australian Classification Board for awarding ratings to manga and anime depicting "child exploitation" and called for a review of the ratings regulations, later in the year the board banned the import and sale of three volumes of the No Game No Life light novel series for their sexualized portrayal of young characters.

Discussion

In explaining the exclusion of lolicon from Japan's 2014 amendment to child pornography laws, a LDP lawmaker stated that "manga, anime and CG child pornography does not directly violate the rights of girls or the children. It has not been scientifically validated that it even indirectly causes harm. Since it has not been validated, punishing people who see it would be going too far,' his statement echoes the arguments of activists. Statistically, the sexual abuse of minors in Japan has declined over the decades. from the 1960s and 1970s, while the prevalence of fictional lolicon has increased; Patrick W. Galbraith interprets this as evidence that lolicon images do not necessarily influence crime and argues that the characters do not represent necessarily real boys or girls, but what McLelland calls a "third gender", while Steven Smet suggests that lolicon is an "exorcism of fantasies" which contributes to Japan's low crime rates. Galbraith further argues that otaku culture collectively promotes a media literate and ethical position of separating fiction and fact, especially when the combination of the two would be dangerous. Drawing on his fieldwork as an anthropologist, he writes that the sexual imagination of otaku, including lolicons, "leads not to 'immoral acts,' but to ethical activities." A report The Sexologisk Klinik's 2012 report for the Danish government found no evidence that cartoons and drawings depicting fictional child sexual abuse encourage real abuse. Scholar Sharalyn Orbaugh argues that manga depicting underage sexuality can help victims of child sexual abuse overcome their own trauma, and that there is greater harm in regulating sexual expression than the potential harm caused by such manga.

Legal scholar ''Hiroshi Nakasatomi'' argues that lolicon can distort the sexual desires of readers and that it violates the rights of children, a view shared by the non-profit organization CASPAR (founded after the Miyazaki case), some critics, such as the non-profit organization profit Lighthouse, claim that lolicon's works can be used for child bullying and that they create a culture that accepts sexual abuse. Guidelines released in 2019 by the United Nations Human Rights Committee The United Nations encouraged states parties to include explicit drawings of fictional children in laws against child pornography, "particularly where such depictions are used as part of a process to sexually exploit children". Feminist Kuniko Funabashi argues that lolicon manga contributes to sexual violence by portraying girls passively and by "presenting the female body as the possession of men." legal Shin'ichirō Harata argues that child pornography laws should not bridge fact and fiction, but also that fans should not dismiss the ambivalence represented by lolicon. He describes the practice of keeping the two apart as the "moe ethic"; or "otaku responsibility".

Dilton Rocha Ferraz Ribeiro analyzes the debate over the legal status of lolicon works in Japan and finds that both pro-regulation and anti-regulation coalitions are relatively stable, with each reacting to the actions of the other coalition. Catherine Driscoll and Liam Grealy argue that these debates, including international pressure on Japan to regulate these works, create a "discourse of Japanese exceptionalism" before international standards.

Critical comment

Cultural critics responding to lolicon generally emphasize it as distinct from attraction to actual young girls. Anthropologist Patrick W. Galbraith finds that "from earliest writing to the present, researchers suggest that artists lolicon play with symbols and work with tropes, which does not reflect or contribute to pathology or sexual crime". Psychologist Tamaki Saitō, who has done clinical work with otaku, notes the move away from lolicon desires of reality as part of a strict distinction for otaku between "textual and real sexuality", noting that "the vast majority of otaku are not pedophiles in real life". manga researcher Yukari Fujimoto argues that lolicon's desire "is not for a child, but for the image itself," and that this is understood by those "raised in the Japanese culture of drawing and fantasy". Cultural historian Mark Mc Lelland identifies lolicon and yaoi as "self-consciously anti-realistic" genres, given the rejection by fans and creators of "three-dimensionality" in favor of "two-dimensionality", and compares lolicon with the yaoi fandom, in which, for the most part, female and heterosexual fans consume representations of male homosexuality that "lack a correspondent in the world. real world". Setsu Shigematsu argues that lolicon reflects a shift in "erotic investment" from reality to "two-dimensional figures of desire".

Most scholars also identify lolicon as a form of self-expression by its male creators and consumers. Sociologist Sharon Kinsella suggests that for fans of lolicon, "the infantilized female object of desire [...] has crossed over to become an aspect of their own image and sexuality". penetrator common to pornographic gekiga: "Lolicon readers don't need a penis for pleasure, they need the ecstasy of the girl. [...] They identify with the girl, and get caught up in a masochistic pleasure". Manga critic Gō Itō sees this as an "abstract desire", citing the lolicon artist who told him that "he was the girl in her manga", reflecting a feeling of being "violated by society, or by the world". Kaoru Nagayama posits that lolicon readers take a more fluidity that alternates between that of an all-knowing voyeur and the multiple characters in a play, reflecting an active reader role and projection towards female characters. Writing in The Book of Otaku (1989), feminist Chizuko Ueno argued that lolicon, as an orientation toward the fictional bishōjo, is "completely different from pedophilia," and he characterized it as a desire to "be part of the cute world of shōjo." by male shōjo manga fans who "find being a man too much".

Responding in 1982 to Clarisse's popularity from his film Lupine III: Castle of Cagliostro, Hayao Miyazaki criticized artists and fans who idolized her in ways he considered demeaning, saying that he "hates men who use the word lolicon". Despite her apparent rejection, Saitō and Galbraith still find connections between Miyazaki and the desire for young girl characters. Interpreting Miyazaki's own words and his recognition of eroticism as key to his creative process, Galbraith suggests that the distance between Miyazaki and the lolicon boom was due to "shame": criticized men who were open and playful about lolicon desire for having little shame, while being embarrassed by his own 'longing' for lolicon. of female characters.