Lolicon - Wiki

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Definition and scope

Lolicon is a Japanese portmanteau of "Lolita complex" (ロリータ・コンプレックス, rorīta konpurekkusu), an English-language phrase derived from Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita (1955) but in Japan more associated with Russell Trainer's The Lolita Complex (1966, translated 1969),[5] a work of pop psychology in which the author uses the term to describe adult male attraction to pubescent and pre-pubescent females.[6] In Japanese, the phrase was adopted to describe feelings of love and lust for young girls over adult women,[7] which remains the phrase's common meaning.[8] Due to its association with otaku (manga and anime fan) culture, however, the term today is more often used to describe desires for young or young-looking girl characters (ロリ, "loli") which are generally understood to exist and be satisfied in fiction,[9] though the meaning of the term remains contested[10] and for the public at large still carries a connotation of pedophilia.[11][12][a] Lolicon also refers to sexualized works which feature such characters, and fans of these works and characters.[15] It is distinct from more formal words for pedophilia (yōji-zuki or pedofiria; clinically, shōniseiai or jidōseiai[b]) and child pornography (jidō poruno[c]).[10]

The meaning of lolicon in the otaku context developed in the early 1980s, during the "lolicon boom"[d] in adult manga (see § History). According to editor and critic Akira Akagi, the term's meaning moved away from the sexual pairing of an older man and a young girl, and instead came to describe desire for "cuteness" and "girl-ness" in manga and anime.[16] Other critics defined lolicon as the desire for "cute things",[17] "manga-like" or "anime-like" characters, "roundness", and the "two-dimensional", as opposed to "real".[18] At the time, all eroticism in the manga style featuring cute girl (bishōjo) characters was associated with the term,[19] and synonyms of "Lolita complex" 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).[20][e] As character body types in erotic manga became more varied by the end of the lolicon boom, the scope of the term narrowed to more young-looking depictions.[21][22]

Lolicon became a keyword in debates after the 1989 arrest of Tsutomu Miyazaki, a serial killer of young girls who was portrayed in media reports as an otaku (see § History).[23] As lolicon was conflated with desire for real children in debates on "harmful manga",[f] the early meaning was replaced among otaku by moe, which refers to feelings of affection and love for characters more generally.[23] Like moe, lolicon is still used by otaku to refer to attraction that is consciously distinct from reality;[23] some otaku identify as "two-dimensional lolicon" (nijigen rorikon)[g] to clarify their attraction to characters.[10] The term has become a keyword in criticism of manga and sexuality within Japan,[24] as well as globally with the spread of Japanese popular culture.[25]