Lolicon

{{Short description|Genre of sexualized young or young-looking female characters}} {{Pp|small=yes}} {{Pp-move}} {{Italic title}} {{Good article}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Redirect|Lolita complex|the psychological phenomenon of sexual attraction to early adolescents|Hebephilia}} [[File:Lolicon Sample.png|thumb|A manga-style depiction of young girls wearing lingerie. ''Lolicon'' artwork often blends childlike characteristics with erotic undertones.]]{{Anime and manga}} In Japanese popular culture, {{Nihongo|'''''lolicon'''''|{{wikt-lang|ja|ロリコン}}|rorikon|}} is a genre of fictional media which focuses on young or young-looking girl characters, particularly in a sexually suggestive, fetishistic or erotic context. The term, a portmanteau of the English-language phrase "Lolita complex", also refers to desire and affection for such characters ({{wikt-lang|ja|ロリ}}, "lolis"), and their fans. Associated mainly with stylized imagery in manga, anime, and video games, ''lolicon'' in ''otaku'' culture is generally understood as distinct from desires for realistic depictions of young girls, or real young girls as such,{{sfn|Galbraith|2016|pp=113–114|ps=: "Given its importance, it is not surprising that ''lolicon'' has been well researched in Japan over the course of decades, which has led to numerous insights. [...] Characters are not compensating for something more 'real,' but rather are in their fiction the object of affection. This has been described as 'finding sexual objects in fiction in itself', which in discussions of ''lolicon'' is made explicitly distinct from desire for and abuse of children."}}<ref>{{harvnb|McLelland|2011b|p=16|ps=: "Japanese scholarship has, on the whole, argued that, in the case of Japanese fans, neither the Loli nor the BL fandom represent the interests of paedophiles since moe characters are not objectified in the same manner that actual images of children can be, rather they express aspects of their creators' or consumers' own identities."}}</ref>{{sfn|Kittredge|2014|p=524|ps=: "The majority of the cultural critics responding to the Japanese ''otaku''{{'s}} erotic response to ''lolicon'' images emphasize, like Keller, that no children are harmed in the production of these images and that looking with desire at a stylized drawing of a young girl is not the same as lusting after an actual child."}} and is associated with ''moe'', or affection for fictional characters, often ''bishōjo'' (appealing girl) characters in manga or anime.

The phrase "Lolita complex", derived from the novel ''Lolita'', entered use in Japan in the 1970s. During the "''lolicon'' boom" in erotic manga of the early 1980s, the term was adopted in the nascent ''otaku'' culture to denote attraction to early ''bishōjo'' characters, and later only to younger-looking depictions as ''bishōjo'' designs became more varied. The artwork of the ''lolicon'' boom, which was strongly influenced by the styles of ''shōjo'' manga, marked a shift from realism, and the advent of "cute eroticism" (''kawaii ero''), an aesthetic which is now common in manga and anime broadly. The ''lolicon'' boom faded by the mid-1980s, and the genre has since made up a minority of erotic manga.

Since the 1990s, ''lolicon'' has been a keyword in manga debates in Japan and globally. Child pornography laws in some countries apply to depictions of fictional child characters, while those in other countries, including Japan, do not.<ref name="McLelland 2016" /> Opponents and supporters have debated if the genre contributes to child sexual abuse. Culture and media scholars generally identify ''lolicon'' with a broader separation between fiction and reality within ''otaku'' sexuality.

==Etymology and definition== ''Lolicon'' is a Japanese abbreviation of "Lolita complex" ({{lang|ja|ロリータ・コンプレックス}}, ''rorīta konpurekkusu''),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nihon Kokugo Daijiten |title=ロリコンとは？ 意味や使い方 |trans-title=What is "lolicon"? Meaning and usage |url=https://kotobank.jp/word/%E3%83%AD%E3%83%AA%E3%82%B3%E3%83%B3-663979 |access-date=2023-07-19 |script-website=ja:コトバンク |website=Kotobank |language=ja |quote=〘名〙 「ロリータコンプレックス」の略。([noun] abbreviation of "Lolita complex")}}</ref> an English-language phrase derived from Vladimir Nabokov's novel ''Lolita'' (1955) and introduced to Japan in Russell Trainer's ''The Lolita Complex'' (1966, translated 1969),{{sfn|Takatsuki|2010|p=6|ps= , cited in {{harvnb|Galbraith|2011|p=94}}.}} a work of pop psychology in which it is used to denote attraction to pubescent and prepubescent girls.<ref>{{cite book |last=Stapleton |first=Adam |date=2016 |editor-last=McLelland |editor-first=Mark |title=The End of Cool Japan: Ethical, Legal, and Cultural Challenges to Japanese Popular Culture |chapter=All seizures great and small: Reading contentious images of minors in Japan and Australia |pages=134–162 [136] |location=London and New York |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-26937-3}}</ref> In Japanese, the phrase was adopted to describe feelings of love and lust for young girls over adult women,{{sfn|Nagayama|2020|p=117}} which remains the term's common meaning.{{sfn|Shigematsu|1999|p=129}} Due to its association with ''otaku'' culture, the term is more often used to describe desires for young or young-looking girl characters ({{lang|ja|ロリ}}, "lolis") in manga or anime, which are generally understood to exist within fiction.{{sfn|Galbraith|2021|p=163}} However, the meaning of the term remains contested;{{sfn|Galbraith|2017|p=119}} in contemporary Japan, it is a colloquialism lacking a strict clinical definition and is frequently applied as a derogatory or stigmatizing label.<ref>{{cite book |last=Miura |first=Kōkichirō |script-title=ja:構造的差別のソシオグラフィ |title=Kōzō-teki sabetsu no soshiogurafi |trans-title=Sociography of Structural Discrimination |publisher=世界思想社 (Sekaishisōsha) |year=2006 |language=ja}}</ref> It carries a connotation of pedophilia for much of the public.<ref>{{harvnb|Galbraith|2019|pp=65, 68–69}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Galbraith|2023|p=3|ps=: "Today, ''lolicon'' is understood in at least three ways: as a subgenre of or tag for pornographic comics and cartoons specifically interested in young characters; as more generalized interest in manga/anime-style cute girls; and as something synonymous with child abuse material. It is also used casually to refer to men interested in younger women and girls."}}</ref>{{efn|Translator Matt Alt states that the term is treated as "something of a four-letter word [...] virtually synonymous with pedophilia",<ref name="Alt 2014" /> and Patrick W. Galbraith similarly writes that {{"'}}lolicon' is often almost synonymous with 'pedophilia' for critics today".{{sfn|Galbraith|2019|p=65}}}} ''Lolicon'' also refers to works, particularly sexually suggestive or erotic, which feature such characters, and their fans.{{sfn|Galbraith|2012|p=348}} ''Lolicon'' is distinct from words for pedophilia (''yōji-zuki'' and ''pedofiria''; clinically, ''shōniseiai'' and ''jidōseiai''){{efn|''yōji-zuki'' ({{lang|ja|幼児好き}}); ''pedofiria'' ({{lang|ja|ペドフィリア}}); ''shōniseiai'' ({{lang|ja|小児性愛}}); ''jidōseiai'' ({{lang|ja|児童性愛}})}} and for child pornography (''jidō poruno'').{{efn|{{lang|ja|児童ポルノ}}}}{{sfn|Galbraith|2017|p=119}}

The precise origin of the term's modern Japanese usage remains unclear. While Russell Trainer's book described a bilateral phenomenon, early 1970s Japanese media shifted the focus exclusively to the male gaze. Tatsuhiko Shibusawa pioneered this formal critical discussion in his 1972 essay ''Shōjo Korekushon Josetsu'' (Introduction to Girl Collection){{efn|The essay was originally published in September 1972 under the title "Fanmu Anfan no Rakuen" ({{lang|ja|ファンム・アンファンの楽園}}, "Paradise of the Femme Enfant") in ''Geijutsu Seikatsu'' ({{lang|ja|芸術生活}}) and ''GQ'' No. 3, before being compiled into the 1985 book ''Shōjo Korekushon Josetsu''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Shibusawa |first=Tatsuhiko |year=1985 |script-title=ja:少女コレクション序説 |title=Shōjo Korekushon Josetsu |trans-title=Introduction to Girl Collection |publisher=Chuokoron-Shinsha |series=Chūkō Bunko |language=ja |isbn=978-4122012004}}</ref>}}, which argued that the "Lolita phenomenon" ({{lang|ja|ロリータ現象}}) should be analysed from the perspective of the adult male rather than the young girl. Manga artist Shinji Wada is subsequently credited with an early conceptual usage of the terminology in his 1974 manga ''Kyabetsu-batake de Tsumazuite'' ({{lang|ja|キャベツ畑でつまずいて}}, "Stumbling in the Cabbage Patch").{{sfn|Takatsuki|2009|pp=6, 32–33}}{{efn|The manga originally appeared in the June 1974 issue of Shueisha's ''Bessatsu Margaret'' ({{lang|ja|別冊マーガレット}}).<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Wada |first=Shinji |date=June 1974 |script-title=ja:キャベツ畑でつまずいて |title=Kyabetsu-batake de Tsumazuite |trans-title=Stumbling in the Cabbage Patch |magazine=Bessatsu Margaret |publisher=Shueisha |language=ja}}</ref>}} The exact origin of the abbreviation ''lolicon'' is also unknown, though it was likely modeled after ''mazakon'' (mother complex). Secondary sources note the abbreviation began appearing in underground magazines in the late 1970s;{{sfn|Takatsuki|2009|pp=6, 32–33}} an early attested use of the contraction appears in the December 1978 amateur publication ''Alice'' ({{lang|ja|愛栗鼠}}).<ref>{{cite book |author=Umino Hiruko (海野蛭子) |date=December 1978 |script-title=ja:愛栗鼠 |title=Arisu |trans-title=Alice |page=25 |language=ja |quote=男なら、ロリコンなら... [If you are a man—if you are a lolicon...]}}</ref>

While originally popularized in Japan as a pop-psychological diagnosis for a real-world attraction to underage girls, the modern usage of the term stems from its ironic appropriation by early subcultural fans in the late 1970s. Male consumers of ''shōjo'' manga and anime self-consciously adopted the label to describe their aesthetic attraction to fictional, two-dimensional girls.{{sfn|Galbraith|2019|pp=26–28}} By reclaiming a pathologized term, these early adopters deliberately distinguished their media consumption from mainstream adult sexuality and the normative expectations of Japanese societal maturation. Consequently, within anime and manga fandom, ''lolicon'' strictly refers to the genres and character archetypes of this fictional media, rather than the clinical definition of pedophilia.

This semantic shift was facilitated by how Nabokov's work was interpreted by the emerging subculture. Writing at the height of the early boom in 1982, cultural critic {{ill|Ei Takatori|ja|高取英}} observed that Japanese fans deliberately distanced their identity from Nabokov's protagonist, Humbert Humbert. Takatori argued that while Humbert represented a physical, predatory reality, the Japanese youth of the "''lolicon'' boom" identified instead with a romanticized image of Lewis Carroll—whom they viewed as a platonic observer devoted purely to two-dimensional photographs and illustrations. By framing their consumption as a "2D complex" disconnected from physical reality, early manga fans were able to detach the term from the real-world pathology of the novel, using it instead to describe a platonic, aesthetic adoration for fictional girls.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Takatori |first=Ei |date=December 1982 |script-title=ja:若者を覆う"ロリコンブーム"の仕掛人 |title=Wakamono o ōu "rorikon būmu" no shikakenin |trans-title=The Masterminds of the "Lolicon Boom" Sweeping the Youth |magazine={{ill|Tsukuru (magazine)|lt=Tsukuru|ja|創 (雑誌)}} |pages=140–147 |publisher=Tsukuru Shuppan |language=ja}}</ref>

The term subsequently spread rapidly, cementing itself in the public lexicon during the early 1980s "''lolicon'' boom"{{efn|{{lang|ja|ロリコンブーム}}, ''rorikon būmu''}} in erotic manga (see {{section link||History}}). According to Akira Akagi, the meaning of ''lolicon'' within this ''otaku'' context 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.{{sfn|Akagi|1993|p=230|ps=, cited in {{harvnb|Galbraith|2011|p=102}}.}} Others defined ''lolicon'' as a desire for "cute things",{{sfn|Nagayama|2020|page=87}} "manga-like" or "anime-like" characters, "roundness", and the "two-dimensional" as opposed to the "real".{{sfn|Galbraith|2019|p=21}} At the time, all eroticism in the manga style featuring ''bishōjo'' (cute girl) characters was associated with the term,{{sfn|Galbraith|2016|p=113}} 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'').{{efn|''nijigen konpurekkusu'' ({{lang|ja|二次元コンプレックス}}); ''nijikon fechi'' ({{lang|ja|二次コンフェチ}}); ''nijikon shōkōgun'' ({{lang|ja|二次コン症候群}}); ''bishōjo shōkōgun'' ({{lang|ja|美少女症候群}}); ''byōki'' ({{lang|ja|病気}})}}{{sfn|Galbraith|2019|p=54}} As character body types within erotic manga became more varied by the end of the ''lolicon'' boom in 1984, the scope of the term narrowed to younger-looking depictions.{{sfn|Nagayama|2020|p=121}}{{sfn|Galbraith|2023|p=3}}

''Lolicon'' became a buzz word after the 1989 arrest of Tsutomu Miyazaki, a serial killer of young girls who was portrayed by the Japanese media as an ''otaku'' (see {{section link||History}}).{{sfn|Galbraith|2016|p=114}} As ''lolicon'' was conflated with pedophilia in the public debates on "harmful manga",{{efn|''yūgai komikku'' ({{lang|ja|有害コミック}}) or ''yūgai manga'' ({{lang|ja|有害漫画}})}} its meaning was replaced among ''otaku'' by ''moe'', which refers to feelings of affection for characters more generally.{{sfn|Galbraith|2016|p=114}} Like ''moe'', ''lolicon'' is still used by many ''otaku'' to refer to attraction which is consciously distinct from reality;{{sfn|Galbraith|2016|p=114}} some ''otaku'' identify as "two-dimensional ''lolicon''" (''nijigen rorikon''){{Efn|{{lang|ja|二次元ロリコン}}}} to specify their attraction to characters.{{sfn|Galbraith|2017|p=119}} The term has become a keyword in criticism of manga and sexuality within Japan,{{sfn|Galbraith|2021|p=47}} as well as globally with the spread of Japanese popular culture.{{sfn|Galbraith|2016|p=110}} As the term spread internationally, the English borrowing ''lolicon'' narrowed specifically to denote an attraction to two-dimensional girls in anime and manga, whereas the Japanese term broadly encompasses live-action subjects as well.{{efn|In English, the term "Lolita" on its own is also frequently used to refer to Lolita fashion, a distinct Japanese subculture, rather than the psychological complex.}}

==History== ===Background=== The foundational concept of the "Lolita complex" was introduced to the Japanese public via the 1959 translation of Vladimir Nabokov's 1955 novel ''Lolita'' by {{ill|Yasuo Ōkubo|ja|大久保康雄}}, followed by the 1962 domestic release of Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation. As the term entered the cultural lexicon, early 1970s Japanese media began to critically examine the "Lolita phenomenon" as a specific sociological trend. In August 1971, Lewis Carroll scholar {{ill|Yasunari Takahashi|ja|高橋康也}} discussed the "Lolita complex" in relation to Carroll in the literary magazine ''Gakutō'' ({{lang|ja|學鐙}}), establishing an academic expertise that would later see him featured in a 1981 "Lolita" special issue of the anime magazine ''{{ill|Animec|ja|アニメック}}'' during the height of the ''lolicon'' boom.<ref>{{ill|Yasunari Takahashi|lt=Takahashi, Yasunari|ja|高橋康也}} (August 1971). ''Gakutō'' ({{lang|ja|學鐙}}). {{in lang|ja}}</ref> The formal theoretical discussion of the subject was further expanded by Tatsuhiko Shibusawa in his 1972 essay ''Shōjo Korekushon Josetsu'', which argued the phenomenon should be analyzed from the perspective of the male gaze.{{efn|The essay was originally published in September 1972 under the title "Fanmu Anfan no Rakuen" ({{lang|ja|ファンム・アンファンの楽園}}, "Paradise of the Femme Enfant") in ''Geijutsu Seikatsu'' ({{lang|ja|芸術生活}}) and ''GQ'' No. 3, before being compiled into the 1985 book ''Shōjo Korekushon Josetsu''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Shibusawa |first=Tatsuhiko |year=1985 |script-title=ja:少女コレクション序説 |title=Shōjo Korekushon Josetsu |trans-title=Introduction to Girl Collection |publisher=Chuokoron-Shinsha |series=Chūkō Bunko |language=ja |isbn=978-4122012004}}</ref>}}

Simultaneously, the image of the ''shōjo'' (young girl) rose to prominence in mainstream Japanese mass media in the 1970s as a symbol of cuteness and innocence. This was heavily driven by the "idol boom" ({{lang|ja|アイドルブーム}}), characterized by the debut of young, "girl-next-door" pop singers such as Agnes Chan in 1972 and Momoe Yamaguchi in 1973. The massive commercial success of these idols normalized the public consumption of adolescent, "immature" female aesthetics for a male audience. This real-world idol culture emerged alongside the broader development of ''kawaii'' (cute) consumer culture, fueled by the unprecedented prosperity of the Japanese economic miracle. Sociologically, the ''shōjo'' was framed as a liminal figure; suspended between childhood and adulthood, she was viewed as exempt from the traditional domestic and reproductive expectations of adult Japanese women (the "good wife, wise mother" ideal), representing instead a realm of carefree, aesthetic consumption. Cultural critic Eiji Ōtsuka traces the origins of this non-reproductive purity to the modernization of Japan, arguing that patriarchal society sought to preserve young women's bodies as "unused" commodities during a moratorium period prior to marriage. Ōtsuka posits that to resist being reduced to mere tools for childbirth, the ''shōjo'' instinctively rejected maturity and embraced a "latent asexuality".<ref name="Otsuka1989">{{cite book |last=Ōtsuka |first=Eiji |author-link=Eiji Ōtsuka |year=1989 |script-title=ja:少女民俗学 世紀末の神話をつむぐ「巫女の末裔」 |title=Shōjo minzokugaku: seikimatsu no shinwa o tsumugu "miko no matsuei" |trans-title=Folkloristics of the Girl: "Descendants of Shrine Maidens" Who Spin Myths of the End of the Century |publisher=Kobunsha |language=ja |isbn=978-4334060428 |pages=18–20, 44, 200–201}}</ref> Consequently, he described the ''shōjo'' as representing an "idealized Eros"—an eroticism entirely detached from reproductive functions and adult female sexuality, attributes that became heavily attached to imagery of younger girls over time.{{sfn|Galbraith|2011|p=87|ps=, citing Ōtsuka, Eiji ({{lang|ja|大塚英志}}) (1989). ''Shōjo minzokugaku'' ({{lang|ja|少女民俗学}}) [Folkloristics of the Girl]. Tokyo: Kōbunsha ({{lang|ja|光文社}}), p. 73.}}

Parallel to this mainstream idol culture, ''shōjo'' manga (marketed to girls and young adult women) underwent a renaissance in which artists, such as those of the Year 24 Group, experimented with new narratives and styles, and introduced themes such as psychology, gender, and sexuality.{{sfn|Galbraith|2019|p=20}} These developments attracted adult male fans of ''shōjo'' manga, who crossed gendered boundaries to produce and consume it.{{sfn|Galbraith|2016|pp=111–112}} The academic terminology was subsequently adopted conceptually in manga via Shinji Wada's ''Kyabetsu-batake de Tsumazuite'' ({{lang|ja|キャベツ畑でつまずいて}}, "Stumbling in the Cabbage Patch"), published in the June 1974 issue of the ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Bessatsu Margaret''. In the story, the protagonist Shinji Iwata—an apparent stand-in for the author depicted holding a copy of the 1972 literary magazine ''Bessatsu Gendaishi Techō: Lewis Carroll'' ({{lang|ja|別冊現代詩手帖 ルイス・キャロル}})—claims that Lewis Carroll proposed to a seven-year-old Alice, labeling him a "typical Lolita complex". This romantic framing is immediately rejected by a female classmate who punches Iwata, shouting, "Liar! You have a Lolita complex!"—demonstrating the early application of the psychological term as a pejorative label for a person. To clarify the jargon for his readers, Wada explicitly defined the unfamiliar term in a marginal footnote as an "abnormal personality of liking only small children".{{sfn|Galbraith|2019|p=28}}{{efn|Wada's manga is cited by the Lewis Carroll Society of Japan as a pivotal text in cementing the modern Japanese subcultural association between Carroll and the Lolita complex.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kinoshita |first=Shinichi |year=2004 |script-title=ja:日本のサブカルチャーにおける《ルイス・キャロル＝ロリータ・コンプレックス》像の定着史 |title=Nihon no sabukaruchā ni okeru "Ruisu Kyaroru = Rorīta Konpurekkusu" zō no teichakushi |trans-title=The History of the Establishment of the Image of "Lewis Carroll = Lolita Complex" in Japanese Subculture |journal=Mischmasch |volume=7 |pages=74–95 |publisher=Lewis Carroll Society of Japan |language=ja |url=http://www.hp-alice.com/lcj/subculture.html}}</ref>}}{{Efn|See {{format linkr|Lewis_Carroll#Speculation of sexual conduct by scholars (1940s onwards)}}.}} Early ''lolicon'' artwork was heavily influenced by male artists mimicking these ''shōjo'' aesthetics,{{sfn|Schodt|1996|p=55}}{{sfn|Kinsella|1998|pp=304–306}} as well as erotic manga created by female artists for male readers.{{sfn|Shigematsu|1999|p=129}}

The boundaries of erotic media during this era were also influenced by the global sexual revolution. In the West, the 1960s counterculture's dismantling of sexual taboos led to the commercial production of illicit pornography depicting minors, such as the films of the Color Climax Corporation, which occasionally circulated covertly into Japan.<ref>Taylor, Max; Quayle, Ethel (2003). ''Child Pornography: An Internet Crime''. Psychology Press. p. 43.</ref><ref>Sheldon, Kerry; Howitt, Dennis (2007). ''Sex Offenders and the Internet''. John Wiley & Sons. p. 75.</ref> In Japan, however, early nude photographs of ''shōjo'' were typically conceived within the bounds of fine art or naturalism. The pioneering 1969 {{ill|nude photography of young girls|lt=photo collection|ja|少女ヌード写真集}} titled ''Nymphet: The Myth of the 12-Year-Old'' ({{lang|ja|ニンフェット 12歳の神話}}) was photographed by Kazuo Kenmochi, a specialist in youth sex education.{{efn|In 1968, Kenmochi had published ''Guidance to Maturity: Swedish Sex Education'' ({{lang|ja|成熟への導き : スエーデンの性教育}}).}} Rather than catering to a ''lolicon'' audience, Kenmochi published the naturalistic photos strictly within the progressive context of "sexual liberation" ({{lang|ja|性解放}}).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Aoyama |first1=Tomoko |last2=Shimizu |first2=Akiko |last3=Saida |first3=Yūko |year=1994 |script-title=ja:少女像の系譜 |trans-title=Genealogy of the Shōjo Image |language=ja |page=139}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Takatsuki |first=Kōji |year=2009 |script-title=ja:ロリコン |trans-title=Lolicon |language=ja |page=50}}</ref> Following this, in 1972 and 1973, there was an "Alice boom" in nude photography themed around ''Alice in Wonderland''; editor Shigeo Kuwabara ({{lang|ja|桑原茂夫}})—later credited by critics as the "mastermind" of this movement—published the 1972 Lewis Carroll special issue of ''Bessatsu Gendaishi Techō'' and edited Hajime Sawatari's seminal 1973 photo book ''Shōjo Alice''.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Takatori |first=Ei |date=December 1982 |script-title=ja:若者を覆う"ロリコンブーム"の仕掛人 |title=Wakamono o ōu "rorikon būmu" no shikakenin |trans-title=The Masterminds of the "Lolicon Boom" Sweeping the Youth |magazine={{ill|Tsukuru (magazine)|lt=Tsukuru|ja|創 (雑誌)}} |pages=140–147 |publisher=Tsukuru Shuppan |language=ja}}</ref>{{sfn|Takatsuki|2010|pp=50, 55|ps=, cited in {{harvnb|Galbraith|2011|pp=94}}.}} Specialty adult magazines carrying nude photos, fiction, and essays on the appeal of young girls emerged in the 1980s;{{sfn|Takatsuki|2010|pp=47|ps=, cited in {{harvnb|Galbraith|2011|pp=94–95}}.}} this trend faded in the late 1980s, due to backlash and because many men preferred images of ''shōjo'' in manga and anime.{{sfn|Takatsuki|2010|pp=64–65|ps=, cited in {{harvnb|Galbraith|2011|p=95}}.}} The spread of such imagery, both in photographs{{sfn|Galbraith|2011|p=94}} and in manga,{{sfn|Schodt|1996|pp=54–55}} was further facilitated by Japanese censorship laws; while depictions of mature genitalia and pubic hair (''{{ill|hair nude|lt=hair nudes|ja|ヘアヌード}}'') were strictly restricted by {{ill|Article 175|ja|わいせつ物頒布等の罪}} of the Penal Code<ref>{{cite web |title=Penal Code (Act No. 45 of 1907) |url=https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/3581/en#je_pt2ch24at2 |website=Japanese Law Translation |publisher=Ministry of Justice |language=en, ja}}</ref>, depictions of prepubescent girls were generally exempt from these obscenity regulations, creating a legal loophole that allowed publishers to expand the market.{{sfn|Schodt|1996|pp=54–55}}<ref name="Fukushima 1995">{{cite book |last=Fukushima |first=Akira |year=1995 |script-chapter=ja:ロリータ・コンプレックス |trans-chapter=Lolita complex |script-title=ja:現代性科学・性教育事典 |title=Gendai seikagaku, seikyōiku jiten |trans-title=Encyclopedia of Modern Sexology and Sex Education |publisher=Shogakukan |pages=539–541 |language=ja |isbn=4-09-837291-6}}</ref>{{efn|When obscenity enforcement against depictions of pubic hair was partially eased in 1991, facilitating a trend of "{{ill|hair nude|ja|ヘアヌード}}" photo books, depictions in manga and anime continued to be regulated.{{sfn|Galbraith|2011|p=118}}}}

===Origins in dōjinshi (late 1970s)=== [[File:Hideo Azuma bishōjo.png|thumb|left|Front page of Hideo Azuma's first contribution to ''{{ill|Cybele (dōjinshi)|lt=Cybele|ja|シベール (同人誌)}}'', an erotic parody of "Little Red Riding Hood". Critic Gō Itō identifies the work as a comment on a "certain eroticism" in the roundness of Osamu Tezuka's characters.{{sfn|Galbraith|2011|p=95}}]]

The rise of ''lolicon'' as a genre began at Comiket (Comic Market), a convention for the sale of ''dōjinshi'' (self-published works) founded in 1975 by adult male fans of ''shōjo'' manga. Concurrent with Comiket's founding, the earliest use of the terminology within amateur circles appeared in the inaugural issue of the foundational ''dōjinshi'' anthology ''{{ill|Manga Shin Hihyō Taikei|ja|漫画新批評大系}}'', published by the seminal circle {{ill|Meikyū|ja|迷宮 (同人サークル)}} (Labyrinth). This issue featured {{ill|Hiroo Harada|ja|霜月たかなか}}'s manga ''Poru no Ichizoku'' ({{lang|ja|ポルの一族}})—a direct parody of Moto Hagio's pioneering ''shōjo'' manga ''The Poe Clan'' ({{lang|ja|ポーの一族}})—which specifically employed the term "Lolita complex", demonstrating the early crossover between male parody creators and mainstream ''shōjo'' aesthetics.

In the late 1970s, the term was self-consciously adopted within these subcultural spaces to describe an attraction to young girl manga and anime characters, as well as to film actresses, idols, and subjects of art-nude and erotic photography. By ironically applying a pop-psychological diagnosis to themselves, early adopters distinguished their media consumption from both mainstream adult sexuality and normative maturation. According to commentator Hara Maruta ({{lang|ja|原丸太}}), as cited in a 1982 analysis by critic Ei Takatori, the first dedicated ''lolicon'' ''dōjinshi'' was the literary fanzine ''Alice'' ({{lang|ja|愛栗鼠}}, ''Arisu''), published in December 1978 by {{ill|Ken Hirukogami|ja|蛭児神建}}.<ref name="Takatori 1982">{{cite magazine |last=Takatori |first=Ei |date=December 1982 |script-title=ja:若者を覆う"ロリコンブーム"の仕掛人 |title=Wakamono o ōu "rorikon būmu" no shikakenin |trans-title=The Masterminds of the "Lolicon Boom" Sweeping the Youth |magazine={{ill|Tsukuru (magazine)|lt=Tsukuru|ja|創 (雑誌)}} |pages=140–147 |publisher=Tsukuru Shuppan |language=ja}}</ref>

However, it was the subsequent publication of the manga-focused ''dōjinshi'' ''{{ill|Cybele (dōjinshi)|lt=Cybele|ja|シベール (同人誌)}}'', launched in April 1979 by Hirukogami and a group of male artists, that is widely credited with shattering amateur censorship taboos and triggering the broader boom.{{sfn|Galbraith|2019|pp=26–28}} Its standout creator was Hideo Azuma, who is known as the "Father of ''Lolicon''".{{sfn|Galbraith|2011|p=95}} Prior to ''Cybele'', the dominant style in ''seinen'' (marketed to men) and pornographic manga (''hentai'') was ''gekiga'', characterized by realism, sharp angles, dark hatching, and gritty linework.{{sfn|Galbraith|2019|pp=28–30}} Azuma's manga, in contrast, adopted a "dreaming boy" ({{lang|ja|夢見る少年}}, ''yumemiru shōnen'') aesthetic that heavily mimicked the sensibilities of ''shōjo'' manga; his works displayed light shading and clean, circular lines, which he viewed as "thoroughly erotic" and sharing with ''shōjo'' manga a "lack of reality".{{sfn|Galbraith|2019|pp=28–30}} Azuma's combination of the stout bodies of Osamu Tezuka's works and the emotive faces of ''shōjo'' manga marked the advent of the ''bishōjo'' and the aesthetic of "cute eroticism" (''kawaii ero'').{{efn|{{lang|ja|かわいいエロ}}}}{{sfn|Galbraith|2019|p=31}} While erotic, ''lolicon'' manga was initially mainly viewed as humorous and parodic, but a large fan base soon grew in response to the alternative to pornographic ''gekiga'' that it represented.{{sfn|Galbraith|2011|p=95}}{{sfn|Galbraith|2019|p=32}} Erotic manga began to move away from combining realistic bodies and cartoony faces towards a wholly-unrealistic style.{{sfn|Galbraith|2011|p=95}} ''Lolicon'' manga played a role in attracting male fans to Comiket, whose participants were 90 percent female in 1975; by 1981, the proportion of male and female participants was equal.<ref name="Lam 2010">{{cite journal |last1=Lam |first1=Fan-Yi |title=Comic Market: How the World's Biggest Amateur Comic Fair Shaped Japanese ''Dōjinshi'' Culture |journal=Mechademia |date=2010 |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=232–248 [236–239]}}</ref> ''Lolicon'' manga, mostly created by and for men, served as a response to ''yaoi'' manga (featuring male homoeroticism), mostly created by and for women.{{sfn|Galbraith|2019|p=33}}

===Commercial boom (early to mid-1980s)=== The early 1980s saw a "''lolicon'' boom" in professional and amateur art, driven largely by adolescent and young adult males who, according to psychiatrist {{ill|Akira Fukushima|ja|福島章}}, demonstrated a preference for fantasy characters over women their own age.<ref name="Fukushima 1995" /> Contemporary 1980s magazine articles frequently elaborated that this "failure to mature" stemmed chiefly from the demands of Japan's rigorous entrance-exam system, which kept adolescent boys socially isolated from girls their own age and worsened male-female relations, as well as from overprotective mothers (''kyōiku mama''). However, retrospective psychohistorical analyses situate this rejection of adulthood within the broader cultural disillusionment that followed the collapse of Japan's radical student movements in the early 1970s. As the politically engaged youth culture gave way to the apathetic "{{ill|''shirake'' generation|lt=''shirake''|ja|しらけ世代}}" (uninterested generation), theorists such as psychoanalyst {{ill|Keigo Okonogi|ja|小此木啓吾}} identified a growing "moratorium mentality" (1978) among young adults.{{sfn|Azuma|2009|pp=28–29}}{{efn|Okonogi's theory was popularized in his 1978 book ''Moratoriamu ningen no jidai'' ({{lang|ja|モラトリアム人間の時代}}, "The Age of the Moratorium Man").}} Rather than transitioning into the rigid corporate conformism of the salaryman, these early subcultural adopters retreated into the safety of fictional frameworks and media consumption as a deliberate rejection of normative masculine responsibilities.{{sfn|Galbraith|2019|pp=58–60}} This collective psychological withdrawal laid the behavioral groundwork for the broader ''otaku'' identity.

The popularity of ''lolicon'' within this nascent community attracted the attention of publishers, who founded specialty publications dedicated to the genre. This era was defined by the "two great ''lolicon'' magazines": ''Lemon People'' (launched in 1981 by Amatria) and ''Manga Burikko'' (launched in 1982 by Self Publishing).{{sfn|Galbraith|2011|p=97}} Other magazines of the boom included {{Ill|Manga Hot Milk|lt=''Manga Hot Milk''|ja|漫画ホットミルク}}, ''Melon Comic'',{{Efn|{{lang|ja|メロンCOMIC}}}} and ''{{Ill|Halfliter|lt=''Halfliter''|ja|ハーフリータ}}''.{{sfn|Galbraith|2011|p=117}} Because the development of the genre and the emergence of ''otaku'' fan consciousness were so deeply intertwined, the word ''otaku'' itself was formally coined in the pages of ''Burikko'' in 1983.{{sfn|Galbraith|2011|pp=96–99}}{{sfn|Galbraith|2019|p=55}} Originally founded as an unprofitable ''gekiga'' magazine, ''Burikko'' was transformed into a ''lolicon'' magazine in 1983 by editor Eiji Ōtsuka,{{sfn|Nagayama|2020|p=92}} whose intention was to publish "''shōjo'' manga for boys".{{sfn|Nagayama|2020|p=190}}{{efn|Ōtsuka also edited ''Petit Apple Pie'', an anthology series featuring works from the artists of ''Manga Burikko'' without eroticism; it is also remembered as a ''lolicon'' publication.{{sfn|Nagayama|2020|p=92}}{{sfn|Galbraith|2019|p=271}}}} Reflecting the influence of ''shōjo'' manga, there was an increasingly small place in ''lolicon'' artwork for realistic characters and explicit depictions of sex;{{sfn|Galbraith|2011|p=102}} in 1983, ''Burikko''{{'s}} editors yielded to reader demands by removing photographs of gravure idol models from its opening pages, publishing an issue with the subtitle "Totally ''Bishōjo'' Comic Magazine".{{sfn|Galbraith|2011|p=101}} ''Lolicon'' magazines regularly published female artists, such as Kyoko Okazaki and Erika Sakurazawa,{{sfn|Galbraith|2011|p=102}} and male artists such as {{ill|Aki Uchiyama|ja|内山亜紀}}, dubbed the "King of ''Lolicon''", who produced 160 pages of manga per month to meet demand.{{sfn|Galbraith|2016|pp=113, 115}} Uchiyama's works were published both in niche magazines such as ''Lemon People'' and in the mainstream ''Shōnen Champion'', moving the terminology firmly into the mainstream lexicon.{{sfn|Galbraith|2016|p=115}} The first-ever pornographic anime series was ''Lolita Anime'', an OVA released episodically in 1984 and 1985.{{sfn|Galbraith|2019|p=40}}

[[File:大塚英志.jpg|thumb|Eiji Ōtsuka, editor of the ''lolicon'' magazine ''Manga Burikko'', played a key role in the ''lolicon'' boom.]]

Iconic characters of the ''lolicon'' boom include 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.{{sfn|Galbraith|2019|pp=98–99}} Clarisse was especially popular, and inspired a series of articles discussing her appeal in the anime specialty magazines {{Ill|Gekkan Out|lt=''Gekkan Out''|ja|月刊OUT}}, {{Ill|Animec|lt=''Animec''|ja|アニメック}}, and ''Animage'',{{sfn|Takatsuki|2010|pp=97–98|ps= , cited in {{harvnb|Galbraith|2011|p=96}}.}} as well as a trend of fan works dubbed "Clarisse magazines"{{sfn|Galbraith|2016|p=113}} which were not explicitly sexual, but instead "fairytale-esque" and "girly" in nature.{{sfn|Galbraith|2011|p=97}} Many early ''lolicon'' works combined mecha and ''bishōjo'' elements;{{sfn|Nagayama|2020|p=90}} the premiere of the ''Daicon III Opening Animation'' at the 1981 Japan SF Convention is one notable example of the prominence of science fiction and ''lolicon'' in the nascent ''otaku'' culture of the time.{{sfn|Nagayama|2020|p=89}} 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{{sfn|Galbraith|2019|pp=37–38}} and were courted by creators.{{sfn|Galbraith|2011|p=98}}

===Miyazaki incident and decline (late 1980s)=== The ''lolicon'' boom in commercial erotic manga began to decline after 1984.{{sfn|Nagayama|2020|pp=91–92}} Near the end of the boom, because "readers had no attachment to ''lolicon'' per se" and "did not take [young girls] as objects of sexual desire",{{sfn|Nagayama|2020|p=92}} a majority of readers and creators of erotic manga moved towards the diversifying ''bishōjo'' works featuring "baby-faced and big-breasted" characters, which were no longer considered ''lolicon''.{{sfn|Nagayama|2020|pp=121, 138}} At Comiket, ''lolicon'' manga declined in popularity by 1989 following developments in erotic ''dōjinshi'', including new genres of fetishism and the growing popularity of softcore erotica popular with men and women, particularly in ''yuri'' manga (featuring lesbian themes).<ref name="Lam 2010" /> However, the definitive end of the genre's mainstream visibility was brought about by the 1989 arrest of serial killer Tsutomu Miyazaki. Known as the "Otaku Murderer", Miyazaki's massive collection of videotapes included ''lolicon'' anime and ''dōjinshi'', triggering a nationwide moral panic.{{sfn|Galbraith|2011|p=103}} The subsequent media backlash and "otaku bashing" stigmatized the subculture, directly associating the genre with criminality and pedophilia. This intense public scrutiny effectively forced ''lolicon'' underground, leading to strict self-censorship among artists and causing publishers to either drastically rebrand or cancel their remaining specialty magazines.{{sfn|Kinsella|1998|p=307}}{{sfn|Galbraith|2019|p=62}}

===1990s–present=== Following the media backlash and moral panic of the late 1980s, the 1990s saw local crackdowns on retailers and publishers of "{{ill|harmful manga|ja|有害コミック騒動}}" ({{lang|ja|有害コミック}}), as well as the arrests of several manga artists.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gravett |first=Paul |title=Manga: Sixty Years of Japanese Comics |title-link=Manga: Sixty Years of Japanese Comics |publisher=Laurence King Publishing |year=2004 |isbn=1-85669-391-0 |location=London |page=136 |author-link=Paul Gravett}}</ref>{{sfn|Schodt|1996|pp=55–59}} In February 1991, three comic shop managers were arrested for selling ''lolicon dōjinshi''.<ref name=Orbaugh>{{cite journal |last=Orbaugh|first=Sharalyn|title=Creativity and Constraint in Amateur Manga Production|journal=US-Japan Women's Journal|year=2003|volume=25|pages=104–124}}</ref> Despite this intense public scrutiny, ''lolicon'' imagery expanded, adapted, and became more acceptable within mainstream manga in the 1990s,{{sfn|Galbraith|2011|p=105}} and the early 2000s saw a renewed boom in the dedicated specialty genre sparked by the magazine ''Comic LO''.{{sfn|Nagayama|2020|pp=134–135}}

Conversely, the real-world photography and live-action video sectors were systematically dismantled. Following the 1989 backlash, domestic photo shoots became exceedingly difficult, prompting producers to relocate shoots to Southeast Asia and Russia. This underground market was effectively destroyed by the 1999 enactment of the {{ill|Act on Punishment of Activities Relating to Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, and the Protection of Children|ja|児童買春、児童ポルノに係る行為等の規制及び処罰並びに児童の保護等に関する法律}}, which banned the domestic sale of such media. In response, producers shifted to the "junior idol" industry, distributing non-nude {{ill|Image video|lt=image videos|ja|イメージビデオ}} of prepubescent and adolescent girls. However, regulatory tightening continued; in 2007, publishers such as {{ill|Shinkosha|ja|心交社}} were arrested after courts ruled that DVDs featuring elementary and middle school girls in skimpy swimwear and underwear shot from extreme low angles constituted child pornography. A 2014 revision to the Child Pornography Act further intensified the crackdown on junior idol media, resulting in the removal of such DVDs from major physical retailers and online bookstores.

==Media== [[File:Hakurei Shrine Reitaisai in Taiwan 3 (1).jpg|thumb|261px|''Lolicon'' fan-doujinshi being sold at the Hakurei Shrine Reitaisai in Taiwan 3, themed after characters from Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya and Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha, among others]] ''Lolicon'' media is loosely defined. Some define its characters by age, while others define its characters by appearance (those which are small and flat-chested, independent of age).{{sfn|Galbraith|2021|p=163}} ''Lolicon'' works often depict girl characters as innocent, precocious, and sometimes flirtatious;<ref name="Aoki 2019">{{Cite web |last1=Aoki |first1=Deb |title=Manga Answerman - Is Translating 'Lolicon' as 'Pedophile' Accurate? |url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/answerman/2019-08-09/.149914 |website=Anime News Network |access-date=16 June 2021 |date=9 August 2019 |archive-date=7 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210607164618/https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/answerman/2019-08-09/.149914 |url-status=live}}</ref> characters may appear in borderline or outright sexual situations, though the term can be applied to works with neither.<ref name="Aoki 2019" /> According to Kaoru Nagayama, manga readers define ''lolicon'' works as those "with a heroine younger than a middle school student", a definition which can vary from characters under age 18 for "society at large", to characters "younger than gradeschool-aged" for "fanatics", and to "kindergarteners" for "more pedophiliac readers".{{sfn|Nagayama|2020|pp=118–119}} Girl characters in ''lolicon'' can display a contradictory performance of age in which their body, behavior, and role in a story conflict;<ref>{{Cite book |last=Klar |first=Elisabeth |url= |title=Manga's Cultural Crossroads |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-50450-8 |editor-last=Berndt |editor-first=Jaqueline |location=New York |page=132 |chapter=Tentacles, Lolitas, and Pencil Strokes: The Parodist Body in European and Japanese Erotic Comics |editor-last2=Kümmerling-Meibauer |editor-first2=Bettina}}</ref> for example, ''lolibaba''{{efn|{{lang|ja|ロリババア}}, ''roribabā''}} ("Lolita granny") characters speak and behave with the mannerisms of older women, which runs in contrast with their appearance or other aspects of their behaviors that may be seen as youthful.{{sfn|Galbraith|2021|p=129}} Curvy hips and other secondary sex characteristics similarly appear as features in many of the genre's characters.{{sfn|Galbraith|2011|pp=109, 115}} Plot devices often explain the young appearance of characters who are non-human or actually much older, although this is not always the case.<ref name="Galbraith 2009">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Lolicon |encyclopedia=The Otaku Encyclopedia: An Insider's Guide to the Subculture of Cool Japan |last=Galbraith |first=Patrick W. |year=2009 |url=https://archive.org/details/otakuencyclopedi0000galb/page/128/ |publisher=Kodansha International |location=Tokyo |isbn=978-4-7700-3101-3 |pages=128–129}}</ref>

Akira Akagi identifies themes in ''lolicon'' manga including sadomasochism, "groping objects" (alien tentacles or robots in the role of the penis), "mecha fetishes" (combinations of a machine and a girl), erotic parodies of mainstream manga and anime, and "simply indecent or perverted stuff", also noting common themes of lesbianism and masturbation.{{sfn|Akagi|1993|pp=230–231|ps=, cited in {{harvnb|Shigematsu|1999|pp=129–130}}.}} Media scholar Setsu Shigematsu argues that forms of substitution and mimicry enable ''lolicon'' to "transform straight sex into a parodic form".{{sfn|Shigematsu|1999|pp=129–130}} More extreme works depict themes including coercion, rape, incest, bondage, and hermaphroditism.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Matthews |first1=Chris |title=Applied Ethics: Old Wine in New Bottles? |date=2011 |publisher=Hokkaido University |editor1-last=Center for Applied Ethics and Philosophy |location=Sapporo |pages=165–174 [165–167] |chapter=Manga, Virtual Child Pornography, and Censorship in Japan |access-date=12 July 2021 |chapter-url=http://caep-hu.sakura.ne.jp/files/appliedethics_2011.pdf#page=174 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210712040126/http://caep-hu.sakura.ne.jp/files/appliedethics_2011.pdf#page=174 |archive-date=12 July 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> Nagayama argues that most pornographic ''lolicon'' manga deal with a "consciousness of sin", or a sense of taboo and guilt in its consumption.{{sfn|Nagayama|2020|p=122}} Some manga manage this by portraying the girl as enjoying the experience in the end, while others represent the girl as the active partner in sex who seduces men to her.{{sfn|Nagayama|2020|pp=123–125}} Other ''lolicon'' manga, where "men are absolute evil and girls are pitiable victims", indulge in the "pleasure of sin" through the breaking of taboos,{{sfn|Nagayama|2020|p=127}} which he argues affirms the fragility of the characters.{{sfn|Nagayama|2020|pp=127–128}} He posits that manga depicting sex between children avoid the "consciousness of sin" via mutual innocence, while also thematizing nostalgia and an idealized past,{{sfn|Nagayama|2020|pp=132–134}} while other ''lolicon'' manga accomplish this through characters with especially unrealistic and ''moe'' designs, where "it is precisely because fiction is distinguished from reality as fiction that one can experience ''moe''".{{sfn|Nagayama|2020|p=136}}

''Lolicon'' manga, often published as ''dōjinshi'' or compiled in anthology magazines,{{sfn|Galbraith|2011|p=90}} is mostly consumed by male audiences,{{sfn|Shigematsu|1999|p=129}} though Nagayama notes that the works of {{ill|Hiraku Machida|ja|町田ひらく}} have "resonated with female readers" and "earned the support of women".{{sfn|Nagayama|2020|pages=47, 131}} Other notable artists include Aguda Wanyan, {{ill|Takarada Gorgeous|ja|ゴージャス宝田}},{{sfn|Nagayama|2020|pp=125–129}} and female creators Erika Wada{{sfn|Nagayama|2020|p=123}} and {{ill|Fumio Kagami|ja|かがみふみを}}.{{sfn|Nagayama|2020|p=192}} ''Lolicon'' imagery is a prominent theme in Superflat, a manga-influenced art movement founded by Takashi Murakami. Superflat artists whose works incorporate ''lolicon'' include Mr. and Henmaru Machino.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Darling |first=Michael |date=2001 |title=Plumbing the Depths of Superflatness |journal=Art Journal |volume=60 |issue=3 |pages=76–89 [82, 86] |doi=10.2307/778139 |jstor=778139}}</ref>

=== Relation to ''moe'' === In the 1990s, ''lolicon'' imagery evolved and contributed to the mainstream development of ''moe'', the generalized affective response to fictional characters (typically ''bishōjo'' characters in manga, anime, and computer games) and its associated design elements.<ref name="Alt 2014">{{cite magazine |last1=Alt |first1=Matt |date=15 October 2014 |title=Pharrell Williams's Lolicon Video |url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/pharrell-williamss-lolicon-girl |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813191257/https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/pharrell-williamss-lolicon-girl |archive-date=13 August 2021 |access-date=7 August 2021 |magazine=The New Yorker}}</ref>{{sfn|Galbraith|2012|pp=348–351}} The ''bishōjo'' character form moved 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 ''Neon Genesis Evangelion'', which pioneered media and merchandising based on fan affection for their female protagonists.{{sfn|Galbraith|2019|pp=113–115}} ''Moe'' characters, which tend to be physically immature girl characters exemplified by cuteness,{{sfn|Galbraith|2012|pp=351, 354}} are ubiquitous in contemporary manga and anime.{{sfn|Galbraith|2012|p=344}} In contrast to ''lolicon'', sexuality in ''moe'' is treated indirectly<ref name="Alt 2014" /> or not at all;<ref name="Oppliger 2013">{{cite web |last1=Oppliger |first1=John |date=1 November 2013 |title=Ask John: Are Moé and Lolicon the Same Thing? |url=https://www.animenation.net/blog/ask-john-are-mo-and-lolicon-the-same-thing/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190713200720/https://www.animenation.net/blog/ask-john-are-mo-and-lolicon-the-same-thing/ |archive-date=13 July 2019 |access-date=29 September 2021 |website=AnimeNation}}</ref> the ''moe'' response is often defined with emphasis on platonic love.{{sfn|Galbraith|2012|p=356}} John Oppliger of ''AnimeNation'' identifies ''Ro-Kyu-Bu!'', ''Kodomo no Jikan'', and ''Moetan'' as examples of series which challenge the distinction between ''moe'' and ''lolicon'' through use of sexual innuendo, commenting that they "satire the chaste sanctity of the ''moé'' phenomenon" and "poke fun at viewers and the arbitrary delineations that viewers assert".<ref name="Oppliger 2013" /> "''Moe''-style" ''lolicon'' works depict mild eroticism, such as glimpses of underwear, and forgo explicit sex.{{sfn|Galbraith|2011|p=119}}

== Legality == {{See also|Legal status of fictional pornography depicting minors}}

Child pornography laws in some countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, have expanded since the 1990s to include sexually explicit depictions of fictional child characters, while those in other countries, including Japan, exclude fiction from relevant definitions.<ref name="McLelland 2016">{{cite book |last=McLelland |first=Mark |date=2016 |editor-last=McLelland |editor-first=Mark |title=The End of Cool Japan: Ethical, Legal, and Cultural Challenges to Japanese Popular Culture |chapter=Introduction: Negotiating 'cool Japan' in research and teaching |pages=1–30 [11] |location=London and New York |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-26937-3}}</ref> In 1999, Japan passed a national law criminalizing the production and distribution of child pornography.<ref name="BBC 2015">{{cite news |last1=Fletcher |first1=James |date=7 January 2015 |title=Why hasn't Japan banned child-porn comics? |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30698640 |access-date=5 March 2021 |archive-date=13 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210313094611/https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30698640 |url-status=live}}</ref> The law's original draft included depictions of fictional children in its definition of child pornography; after "criticism from many in Japan", this text was removed in the final version.{{sfn|Nagayama|2020|p=109}} In 2014, Japan's parliament amended the 1999 law to criminalize possession of child pornography;<ref name="BBC 2015" /> the 2013 draft introduced by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which maintained the existing legal definition, included a provision for a government investigation on whether manga, anime, and computer-generated images "similar to child pornography" were connected to child sexual abuse, which would be followed by a later decision on regulation.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hodgkins |first1=Crystalyn |title=Japan Animation Creators Assoc. Adds Opposition to New Child Porn Revision Bill |url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-05-30/japan-animation-creators-assoc-adds-opposition-to-new-child-porn-revision-bill |website=Anime News Network |access-date=20 September 2021 |date=30 May 2013 |archive-date=21 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210921040559/https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-05-30/japan-animation-creators-assoc-adds-opposition-to-new-child-porn-revision-bill |url-status=live}}</ref> This provision was opposed by manga-related organizations, including the Japan Cartoonists Association, which argued that regulation would infringe upon freedom of expression and negatively impact the industry.<ref name="Rocha Ferraz Ribeiro">{{Cite journal |last=Rocha Ferraz Ribeiro |first=Dilton |date=2021 |title=An advocacy coalition analysis of the game RapeLay: the regulation of sexual violence and virtual pornography in Japan |journal=Civitas - Revista de Ciências Sociais |volume=20 |issue=3 |pages=454–463 |doi=10.15448/1984-7289.2020.2.30279 |doi-access=free}}</ref> The provision was removed from the final version of the law, which took effect in 2015.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hiroshi |first=Kawamoto |date=5 June 2014 |title=Japan nears outlawing possession of child pornography |url=http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201406050010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151120174421/http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201406050010 |archive-date=20 November 2015 |access-date=28 June 2021 |website=The Asahi Shimbun}}</ref>

''Lolicon'' media is a common target of local ordinances in Japan which restrict distribution of materials designated "harmful to the healthy development of youth",{{sfn|McLelland|2011a|p=5}} which were strengthened throughout the 1990s and 2000s.{{sfn|Nagayama|2020|pp=238, 242–243}} An amendment proposed in 2010 to the Tokyo law on material banned from sale to minors (described by Vice Governor Naoki Inose as targeting non-pornographic ''lolicon'' manga, writing that "We had regulation for ''eromanga'', but not for ''lolicon''"){{sfn|Nagayama|2020|p=244}} restricted depictions of "non-existent youths" who appeared under age 18 and were portrayed in "anti-social sexual situations".{{sfn|McLelland|2011a|pp=3–4}} After heavy opposition from manga creators, academics, and fans,{{sfn|Galbraith|2011|p=115}}{{sfn|Nagayama|2020|p=246}}<ref>{{cite news |last=Loo |first=Egan |date=15 March 2010 |title=Creators Decry Tokyo's Proposed 'Virtual' Child Porn Ban (Update 7) |work=Anime News Network |url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-03-15/creators-decry-tokyo-proposed-virtual-child-porn-ban |url-status=live |access-date=28 November 2010 |archive-date=25 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170925133942/http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-03-15/creators-decry-tokyo-proposed-virtual-child-porn-ban}}</ref> the bill was rejected in June 2010 by the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly;<ref>{{cite news |last=Loo |first=Egan |date=16 June 2010 |title=Tokyo's 'Nonexistent Youth' Bill Rejected by Assembly |work=Anime News Network |url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-06-16/tokyo-nonexistent-youth-bill-rejected-by-assembly |url-status=live |access-date=28 November 2010 |archive-date=23 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170723181522/http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-06-16/tokyo-nonexistent-youth-bill-rejected-by-assembly}}</ref> however, a new revision passed in December 2010 which restricts "manga, anime, and computer games" where any characters engage in "sexual or pseudo sexual acts that would be illegal in real life" depicted in a way that "glorifies or exaggerates" such acts.{{sfn|McLelland|2011a|pp=11–12}} In 2011, several manga were listed for restriction, including ''{{ill|Oku-sama wa Shōgakusei|ja|奥サマは小学生}}'' ("My Wife Is an Elementary Student");<ref>{{cite news |last=Loo |first=Egan |date=16 May 2011 |title=1st Manga to Be Restricted by Revised Tokyo Law Listed (Updated) |work=Anime News Network |url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2011-05-16/1st-manga-to-be-restricted-by-revised-tokyo-law-listed |url-status=live |access-date=5 October 2021 |archive-date=21 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210921134146/https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2011-05-16/1st-manga-to-be-restricted-by-revised-tokyo-law-listed}}</ref> it was published online by J-Comi, avoiding restriction.<ref>{{cite news |last=Loo |first=Egan |date=3 October 2011 |title=Akamatsu's J-Comi Site Posts Adult Manga Restricted by Tokyo Law |work=Anime News Network |url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2011-10-03/akamatsu-j-comi-site-posts-adult-manga-restricted-by-tokyo-law |url-status=live |access-date=14 May 2013 |archive-date=23 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171023230505/http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2011-10-03/akamatsu-j-comi-site-posts-adult-manga-restricted-by-tokyo-law}}</ref>{{efn|The first work to be formally restricted as "harmful" under the expanded law was the manga ''Imōto Paradise! 2'' in 2014.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nelkin |first=Sarah |date=12 May 2014 |title=Imōto Paradise! 2 Manga to Be Restricted as 'Unhealthy' in Tokyo |url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2014-05-12/imoto-paradise-2-manga-to-be-restricted-as-unhealthy-in-tokyo |url-status=live |access-date=28 June 2021 |website=Anime News Network |archive-date=18 June 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140618034001/http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2014-05-12/imoto-paradise-2-manga-to-be-restricted-as-unhealthy-in-tokyo}}</ref>}}

Sexualized depictions of young girl characters have also been subject to censorship and restriction outside of Japan. In 2006, North American publisher Seven Seas Entertainment licensed the manga series ''Kodomo no Jikan'' for release under the title ''Nymphet'', but cancelled its plans in 2007 after vendor cancellations. In a statement, the company stated that the manga "cannot be considered appropriate for the US market by any reasonable standard".{{sfn|Galbraith|2016|p=117}} In 2020, Australian senator Stirling Griff criticized the Australian Classification Board for giving ratings to manga and anime depicting "child exploitation", and called for a review of classification regulations;<ref>{{cite web |last1=MacLennan |first1=Leah |title=Anime and manga depicting sexual images of children spark calls for review of classification laws |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-29/mps-wants-review-of-classification-laws-for-manga-and-anime/12012522 |website=ABC News |access-date=6 October 2021 |language=en-AU |date=28 February 2020}}</ref> later that year, the board banned the import and sale of three volumes of the light novel series ''No Game No Life'' for sexual depiction of young characters.<ref>{{cite web |last=Mateo |first=Alex |date=11 August 2020 |title=Australia Bans Import, Sales of 3 'No Game, No Life' Novels (Updated) |url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2020-08-11/australia-bans-import-sales-of-3-no-game-no-life-novels/.162790 |url-status=live |access-date=19 September 2021 |website=Anime News Network |archive-date=20 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210920212134/https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2020-08-11/australia-bans-import-sales-of-3-no-game-no-life-novels/.162790}}</ref>{{efn|Light novels, including ''No Game No Life'', typically include manga-style illustrations.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Morrissy |first1=Kim |title=What's A Light Novel? |url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2016-10-19/what-a-light-novel/.107843 |website=Anime News Network |access-date=7 October 2021 |date=19 October 2016}}</ref>}} Some online platforms, including Discord,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Alexander |first1=Julia |date=26 July 2018 |title=Discord strikes popular server over NSFW room reportedly sharing offensive images |url=https://www.polygon.com/2018/7/26/17614508/discord-nsfw-final-fantasy-xiv-partner-porn-reddit |access-date=6 October 2021 |website=Polygon}}</ref> Reddit,<ref>{{cite web |title=Do Not Post Sexual or Suggestive Content Involving Minors |url=https://www.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/360043075352 |website=Reddit Help |access-date=6 October 2021 |archive-date=6 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211006231202/https://www.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/360043075352 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and Twitter,<ref>{{cite web |date= |title=Child sexual exploitation policy |url=https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/sexual-exploitation-policy |access-date=29 April 2024 |website=Twitter Help Center}}</ref> actively ban ''lolicon'' content.

=== Debate === Explaining the exclusion of ''lolicon'' material from the 2014 child pornography law amendment, an LDP lawmaker stated that "manga, anime, and CG child pornography don't directly violate the rights of girls or boys" and that "it has not been scientifically validated that it even indirectly causes damage".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Adelstein |first1=Jake |last2=Kubo |first2=Angela Erika |title=Japan's Kiddie Porn Empire: Bye-Bye? |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/japans-kiddie-porn-empire-bye-bye |access-date=25 July 2021 |work=The Daily Beast |date=3 June 2014 |archive-date=2 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210502044746/https://www.thedailybeast.com/japans-kiddie-porn-empire-bye-bye |url-status=live}}</ref> Manga creators and activists argue that the Japanese constitution guarantees artistic freedom of expression, and that laws restricting ''lolicon'' material would be unconstitutional.<ref name=":0" /> Statistically, sexual abuse of minors in Japan has declined since the 1960s and 1970s as the prevalence of ''lolicon'' media has increased;{{sfn|Takatsuki|2010|pp=258–262|ps=, cited in {{harvnb|Galbraith|2011|p=107}}.}} cultural anthropologist Patrick W. Galbraith interprets this as evidence that ''lolicon'' imagery does not necessarily influence crimes,{{sfn|Galbraith|2011|p=105}} while Steven Smet suggests that ''lolicon'' is an "exorcism of fantasies" that contributes to Japan's low crime rates.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Smet |first=Steven |date=1995 |title=Cream Lemon: An Almost Complete Overview |url= |magazine=JAMM: the Japanese Animation and Manga Magazine |location= |publisher=Japan Communication |issue=4 |page=39 |postscript=,}} cited in {{harvnb|McCarthy|Clements|1998 |p=43}}.</ref> Drawing on his fieldwork, Galbraith argues that ''otaku'' culture collectively promotes media literacy and an ethical position of separating fiction and reality, especially when the conflation of the two would be dangerous.{{sfn|Galbraith|2021|p=312}} A 2012 report by the Sexologisk Klinik for the Danish government found no evidence that individuals that view cartoons and drawings depicting fictitious child sexual abuse are more likely to engage in child sexual abuse in the real world.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=23 July 2012 |title=Report: cartoon paedophilia harmless |url=https://cphpost.dk/?p=11232 |url-status=live |access-date=8 January 2021 |website=The Copenhagen Post |archive-date=3 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210403025124/https://cphpost.dk/?p=11232}}</ref> Sharalyn Orbaugh argues that manga depicting underage sexuality can help victims of child sexual abuse to work through their own trauma, and that there is greater harm in regulating sexual expression than potential harm caused by such manga.<ref>{{cite book |last=Orbaugh |first=Sharalyn |date=2016 |editor-last=McLelland |editor-first=Mark |title=The End of Cool Japan: Ethical, Legal, and Cultural Challenges to Japanese Popular Culture |chapter=Manga, anime, and child pornography law in Canada |pages=94–108 [104–106] |location=London and New York |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-26937-3}}</ref>

Legal scholar Hiroshi Nakasatomi opines that ''lolicon'' material can distort consumers' sexual desires and induce crime,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nakasatomi |first=Hiroshi |translator-last=Norma |translator-first=Caroline |date=2013 |title='Rapelay' and the problem of legal reform in Japan: Government regulation of graphically animated pornography |url=https://www.japanesestudies.org.uk/ejcjs/vol12/iss3/nakasatomi.html |journal=Electronic Journal of Contemporary Japanese Studies |volume=12 |issue=3 |access-date=30 June 2021 |archive-date=5 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210905024623/http://www.japanesestudies.org.uk/ejcjs/vol12/iss3/nakasatomi.html |url-status=live}}</ref> a view shared by the non-profit organization CASPAR, whose founder Kondo Mitsue argues that "freedom of expression does not allow for the depiction of little girls being violently raped, depriving them of their basic human rights".<ref name=":0">{{cite web |last=Macdonald |first=Christopher |date=13 January 2005 |title=Lolicon Backlash in Japan |url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2005-01-13/lolicon-backlash-in-japan |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180120065626/https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2005-01-13/lolicon-backlash-in-japan |archive-date=20 January 2018 |access-date=7 June 2007 |work=Anime News Network}}</ref> Some critics, such as the non-profit organization Lighthouse, argue that ''lolicon'' works can be used for sexual grooming, and that they encourage a culture which accepts sexual abuse of children.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Ripley |first1=Will |last2=Whiteman |first2=Hillary |last3=Henry |first3=Edmund |title=Sexually explicit Japan manga evades new laws on child pornography |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2014/06/18/world/asia/japan-manga-anime-pornography/ |website=CNN |access-date=25 July 2021 |date=18 June 2014 |archive-date=20 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210220063325/https://edition.cnn.com/2014/06/18/world/asia/japan-manga-anime-pornography |url-status=live}}</ref> In 2015, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Sale and Sexual Exploitation of Children, Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, called for further discussion and research on "manga depicting extreme child pornography" and a resultant "banalization of child sexual abuse" in Japan, and called for a ban on such material.<ref>{{Cite web |date=28 October 2015 |title=UN human rights expert urges Japan to step up efforts to combat child sexual exploitation |url=https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2015/10/un-human-rights-expert-urges-japan-step-efforts-combat-child-sexual |access-date=29 April 2024 |publisher=Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights}}</ref> Guidelines released in 2019 by the United Nations Human Rights Committee encouraged state parties to include explicit drawings of fictional children in laws against child pornography, "in particular when such representations are used as part of a process to sexually exploit children".<ref>{{cite web |title=CRC/C/156: Guidelines regarding the implementation of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography |url=https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/legal-standards-and-guidelines/crcc156-guidelines-regarding-implementation-optional |publisher=Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights |access-date=29 April 2024 |date=10 September 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Sherman |first1=Jennifer |last2=Hodgkins |first2=Crystalyn |title=UN Human Rights Committee's New Guidelines for Child Pornography Express 'Deep Concerns' About Drawings |url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2019-12-01/un-human-rights-committee-new-guidelines-for-child-pornography-express-deep-concerns-about-drawings/.152392 |website=Anime News Network |access-date=30 June 2021 |date=1 December 2019 |archive-date=9 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709181639/https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2019-12-01/un-human-rights-committee-new-guidelines-for-child-pornography-express-deep-concerns-about-drawings/.152392 |url-status=live}}</ref> Feminist critic Kuniko Funabashi argues that the themes of ''lolicon'' material contribute to sexual violence by portraying girls passively and by "presenting the female body as the man's possession".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Funabashi |first=Kuniko |title=Japanese Women: New Feminist Perspectives on the Past, Present, and Future |title-link=Japanese Women |date=1995 |publisher=Feminist Press at the City University of New York |isbn=1-55861-093-6 |editor-last=Fujimura-Fanselow |editor-first=Kumiko |location=New York |pages=255–263 [258, 261–262] |chapter=Pornographic Culture and Sexual Violence |editor-last2=Kameda |editor-first2=Atsuko}}</ref> Legal scholar Shin'ichirō Harata argues that child pornography laws should not collapse reality and fiction together, but also that fans should not dismiss an ambivalence represented by ''lolicon''. He describes the practice of keeping the two separated as the "ethics of ''moe''", or "responsibility of ''otaku''".{{sfn|Galbraith|2021|pp=188–189}}

== Analysis == Culture and media scholars responding to ''lolicon'' generally identify it as distinct from attraction to real young girls.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kittredge |first=Katharine |date=2014 |title=Lethal Girls Drawn for Boys: Girl Assassins in Manga/Anime and Comics/Film |journal=Children's Literature Association Quarterly |volume=39 |issue=4 |pages=506–532 [524] |doi=10.1353/chq.2014.0059|s2cid=143630310 }}</ref> Cultural anthropologist Patrick W. Galbraith finds 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".{{sfn|Galbraith|2016|p=114}} Psychologist Tamaki Saitō, who has conducted clinical work with ''otaku'',{{sfn|Galbraith|2011|pp=105–106}} highlights an estrangement of ''lolicon'' desires from reality as part of a distinction for ''otaku'' between "textual and actual sexuality", and observes that "the vast majority of ''otaku'' are not pedophiles in actual life".{{sfn|Saitō|2007|pp=227–228}} Manga researcher Yukari Fujimoto argues that ''lolicon'' desire "is not for a child, but for the image itself", and that this is understood by those "brought up in [Japan's] culture of drawing and fantasy".{{sfn|Galbraith|2017|pp=114–115}} Sociologist Mark McLelland identifies ''lolicon'' and ''yaoi'' as "self-consciously anti-realist" genres, given a rejection by fans and creators of "three-dimensionality" in favor of "two-dimensionality",{{sfn|McLelland|2011b|p=14}} and compares ''lolicon'' to the ''yaoi'' fandom, in which fans consume depictions of homosexuality which "lack any correspondent in the real world".{{sfn|McLelland|2011b|pp=14–15}} Setsu Shigematsu argues that ''lolicon'' reflects a shift in "erotic investment" from reality to "two-dimensional figures of desire".{{sfn|Shigematsu|1999|p=138}} Queer theorist Yuu Matsuura criticizes the classification of ''lolicon'' works as "child pornography" as an expression of "human-oriented sexualism" which marginalizes fictosexuality, or ''nijikon'', describing sexual or affective attraction towards two-dimensional characters.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Matsuura |first1=Yuu |title=Animēshion teki na gohai toshite no tajūkentōshiki: Hitaijinseiai teki na 'Nijigen' heno sekushuarite ni kansuru rironteki kousatsu |trans-title=Multiple Orientations as Animating Misdelivery: Theoretical Considerations on Sexuality Attracted to Nijigen (Two-Dimensional) Objects |language=ja |journal=Gender Studies |date=2022 |issue=25 |pages=150–153 |url=https://researchmap.jp/mtwrmtwr/published_papers/37150884?lang=en |doi=10.24567/0002000551}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Matsuura |first=Yuu |year=2023 |title= |script-title=ja:グローバルなリスク社会における倫理的普遍化による抹消 二次元の創作物を「児童ポルノ」とみなす非難における対人性愛中心主義を事例に |trans-title=Erasure by Ethical Universalization in Global Risk Society: Human Oriented Sexualism in Regulation of Fictional "Child Pornography" |url=https://researchmap.jp/mtwrmtwr/published_papers/41326940?lang=en |journal=Social Analysis |language=ja |issue=50}}</ref>

Many scholars also identify ''lolicon'' as a form of self-expression on the part of its male creators and consumers.{{sfn|McLelland|2011b|p=16}} Sociologist Sharon Kinsella suggests that for ''lolicon'' fans, "the infantilized female object of desire [...] has crossed over to become an aspect of their own self image and sexuality".{{sfn|Kinsella|2000|p=122}} Akira Akagi argues that ''lolicon'' manga represented a notable shift in reader identification from the "hero" penetrator common to pornographic ''gekiga'': "''Lolicon'' readers do not need a penis for pleasure, but rather they need the ecstasy of the girl. [...] They identify with the girl, and get caught up in a masochistic pleasure."{{sfn|Akagi|1993|p=232|ps= , cited in {{harvnb|Galbraith|2011|p=103}}.}} Manga critic Gō Itō views this as an "abstract desire", quoting a ''lolicon'' artist who told him that "he was the girl who is raped in his manga", reflecting a feeling of being "raped by society, or by the world".{{sfn|Galbraith|2011|pp=102–103}} Kaoru Nagayama posits that ''lolicon'' readers adopt a fluid perspective that alternates between that of an omniscient voyeur and the multiple characters in a work,{{sfn|Nagayama|2020|p=117}} reflecting an active reader role and a projection onto girl characters.{{sfn|Nagayama|2020|p=119|ps=: "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. [...] [T]he desire to assimilate with the girl character is an extension of the desire to possess her."}} Writing in ''The Book of Otaku'' (1989), feminist Chizuko Ueno argued that ''lolicon'', as an orientation towards fictional ''bishōjo'', is "completely different from pedophilia", and characterized it as a desire to "be part of the 'cute' world of ''shōjo''" for male fans of ''shōjo'' manga who "find it too much to be a man".<ref>{{cite book |last=Ueno |first=Chizuko |author-link=Chizuko Ueno |date=1989 |editor-last=Ishi'i |editor-first=Shinji |title=Otaku no hon |trans-title=The Book of Otaku |chapter=Rorikon to yaoi-zoku ni mirai wa aru ka!? 90-nendai no sekkusu reboryūshon |trans-chapter=Do Have Lolicon and Yaoi Fans a Future Still!? The Sex Revolution of the 90s |location=Tokyo |publisher=JICC Shuppankyoku |pages=131–136 [134] |language=ja |isbn=978-4-796-69104-8 |postscript=,}} cited in {{harvnb|Galbraith|2019|p=65}}.</ref>

Expanding on this psychological framework, cultural critic Eiji Ōtsuka offers a counter-perspective to the theory of male withdrawal. Analyzing the late-1970s emergence of ''lolicon'', Ōtsuka argues that male ''otaku'' did not abandon their patriarchal subjectivity, but rather deliberately concealed it beneath the imported sensibilities of ''shōjo'' manga.<ref name="Otsuka2004_89">{{cite book |last=Ōtsuka |first=Eiji |author-link=Eiji Ōtsuka |year=2004 |script-title=ja:「おたく」の精神史 一九八〇年代論 |title="Otaku" no seishinshi: 1980 nendai-ron |trans-title=The Psycho-History of the Otaku |publisher=Kodansha |language=ja |isbn=4-06-149703-0 |page=89}}</ref> Building upon the "dreaming boy" aesthetic pioneered by artists like Hideo Azuma, Ōtsuka asserts that this aesthetic shift erased the male perpetrator from the narrative frame. By rendering the male subject invisible, ''lolicon'' functioned as a form of pornography that effectively masked "male power" ({{lang|ja|男の力}}, ''otoko no chikara'') rather than escaping it, preserving male sexual subjectivity beneath a subcultural veneer of "cute eroticism".<ref name="Otsuka2004_92">{{cite book |last=Ōtsuka |first=Eiji |author-link=Eiji Ōtsuka |year=2004 |script-title=ja:「おたく」の精神史 一九八〇年代論 |title="Otaku" no seishinshi: 1980 nendai-ron |trans-title=The Psycho-History of the Otaku |publisher=Kodansha |language=ja |isbn=4-06-149703-0 |pages=92–98}}</ref>

Several scholars identify the emergence of ''lolicon'' with changes in Japanese gender relations. Sociologist Kimio Itō attributes the rise of ''lolicon'' manga to a shift in the 1970s and 1980s, when boys, driven by a feeling that girls were "surpassing them in terms of willpower and action", turned to the "world of imagination", in which young girl characters are "easy to control".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Itō |first1=Kimio |year=1992 |title=Cultural Change and Gender Identity Trends in the 1970s and 1980s |journal=International Journal of Japanese Sociology |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=79–98 [95] |doi=10.1111/j.1475-6781.1992.tb00008.x}}</ref> Kinsella interprets ''lolicon'' as part of a "gaze of both fear and desire" stimulated by the growing power of women in society, and as a reactive desire to see the ''shōjo'' "infantilized, undressed, and subordinate".{{sfn|Kinsella|2000|p=124}} Media scholar Chizuko Naitō views ''lolicon'' as reflecting a broader "societal desire" for young girls as sex symbols in Japan (which she calls a "loliconized society").<ref name="Naitō 2010">{{cite journal |last=Naitō |first=Chizuko |translator-last=Shockey |translator-first=Nathan |title=Reorganizations of Gender and Nationalism: Gender Bashing and Loliconized Japanese Society |journal=Mechademia |date=2010 |volume=5 |pages=325–333 [328]}}</ref> Cultural anthropologist Christine Yano argues that eroticized imagery of the ''shōjo'', "real or fictive", reflects "heteronormative pedophilia" in which emphasis is placed on the ephemerality of childhood: "it is ''as child'' that [the ''shōjo''] becomes precious as a transitory figure threatened by impending adulthood".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Yano |first=Christine Reiko |date=2013 |title=Pink Globalization: Hello Kitty's Trek Across the Pacific |location=Durham, N.C. |publisher=Duke University Press |page=49 |oclc=813540813}}</ref>

==See also== * Junior idol – child or teenage entertainer in Japanese pop culture * Lolita fashion – Japanese fashion style and subculture * ''Shotacon'' – male equivalent of ''lolicon'', focused on young boy characters * Simulated child pornography – produced without direct involvement of children * Victimless crime – illegal acts which do not directly involve others

== Notes == {{notelist}}

==References== === Citations === {{reflist}}

===Works cited=== {{refbegin|30em|indent=yes}} * {{cite journal |last1=Akagi |first1=Akira |title=Bishōjo shōkōgun: Rorikon to iu yokubō |trans-title=The Bishōjo Syndrome: The Desire Called Lolicon |language=ja |journal=New Feminism Review |date=1993 |volume=3 |pages=230–234}} * {{cite journal |last=Galbraith |first=Patrick W. |date=2011 |title=''Lolicon'': The Reality of 'Virtual Child Pornography' in Japan |url=http://www.imageandnarrative.be/index.php/imagenarrative/article/view/127 |journal=Image & Narrative |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=83–119 |issn=1780-678X}}{{cbignore}} * {{Cite book |last=Galbraith |first=Patrick W. |title=Researching Twenty-First Century Japan: New Directions and Approaches for the Electronic Age |publisher=Lexington Books |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-7391-7014-4 |editor-last=Iles |editor-first=Timothy |location=Lanham |pages=343–365 |chapter=Moe: Exploring Virtual Potential in Post-Millennial Japan |editor-last2=Matanle |editor-first2=Peter C. D. |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/3665389}}{{cbignore}} * {{cite book |last=Galbraith |first=Patrick W. |date=2016 |editor-last=McLelland |editor-first=Mark |title=The End of Cool Japan: Ethical, Legal, and Cultural Challenges to Japanese Popular Culture |chapter='The lolicon guy': Some observations on researching unpopular topics in Japan |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/28693090 |pages=109–133 |location=London and New York |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-26937-3}}{{cbignore}} * {{cite journal |last=Galbraith |first=Patrick W. |date=2017 |title=RapeLay and the return of the sex wars in Japan |url=https://www.academia.edu/31059829 |journal=Porn Studies |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=105–126 |doi=10.1080/23268743.2016.1252159}}{{cbignore}} * {{cite book |title=Otaku and the Struggle for Imagination in Japan |last=Galbraith |first=Patrick W. |location=Durham |publisher=Duke University Press |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-4780-0509-4 |jstor=j.ctv1220mhm |doi=10.2307/j.ctv1220mhm |s2cid=240980856}} * {{cite book |last=Galbraith |first=Patrick W. |date=2021 |title=The Ethics of Affect: Lines and Life in a Tokyo Neighborhood |location=Stockholm |publisher=Stockholm University Press |isbn=978-91-7635-159-8 |doi=10.16993/bbn |doi-access=free}}{{cbignore}} * {{Cite journal |last=Galbraith |first=Patrick W. |date=2023-03-06 |title=The ethics of imaginary violence, part 3: early animated pornography in Japan |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23268743.2023.2173280 |journal=Porn Studies |volume=10 |issue=3 |language=en |pages=268–282 |doi=10.1080/23268743.2023.2173280 |s2cid=257394192 |issn=2326-8743|url-access=subscription }} * {{cite journal |last=Kinsella |first=Sharon |date=1998 |title=Japanese Subculture in the 1990s: Otaku and the Amateur Manga Movement |url=http://www.kinsellaresearch.com/new/Japanese%20Subculture.pdf |journal=Journal of Japanese Studies |volume=24 |issue=2 |pages=289–316 |doi=10.2307/133236 |jstor=133236 |access-date=1 April 2021 |archive-date=23 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210123000316/http://www.kinsellaresearch.com/new/Japanese%20Subculture.pdf |url-status=live}} * {{cite book |last=Kinsella |first=Sharon |date=2000 |title=Adult Manga: Culture and Power in Contemporary Japanese Society |url=https://archive.org/details/adultmangacultur00kins |location=Honolulu |publisher=University of Hawaiʻi Press |isbn=978-0-7007-1004-1}} * {{cite book|last1=McCarthy|first1=Helen|author-link1=Helen McCarthy|last2=Clements|first2=Jonathan|author-link2=Jonathan Clements|title=The Erotic Anime Movie Guide|year=1998|location=London|publisher=Titan Books|isbn=978-1-85286-946-5|oclc=472970813}} * {{cite journal |last1=McLelland |first1=Mark |title=Thought policing or the protection of youth? Debate in Japan over the 'Nonexistent youth bill' |journal=International Journal of Comic Art |date=2011a |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=348–367 |url=https://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1272&context=artspapers |access-date=2021-10-01 |archive-date=2021-05-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210504012956/https://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1272&context=artspapers |url-status=live}} * {{cite journal |last1=McLelland |first1=Mark |title=Australia's 'child-abuse material' legislation, internet regulation and the juridification of the imagination |journal=International Journal of Cultural Studies |date=2011b |volume=15 |issue=5 |pages=467–483 |doi=10.1177/1367877911421082 |s2cid=41788106 |url=https://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2166&context=artspapers |access-date=2021-10-01 |archive-date=2021-09-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210923070347/https://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2166&context=artspapers |url-status=live}} * {{cite book |last=Nagayama |first=Kaoru |date=2020 |title=Erotic Comics in Japan: An Introduction to Eromanga |publisher=Amsterdam University Press |isbn=978-94-6372-712-9 |location=Amsterdam |doi=10.2307/j.ctv1zqdqc3 |jstor=j.ctv1zqdqc3 |translator-last=Galbraith |translator-first=Patrick W. |translator-last2=Bauwens-Sugimoto |translator-first2=Jessica }} * {{cite book |last=Saitō |first=Tamaki |author-link=Tamaki Saitō |title=Robot Ghosts and Wired Dreams: Japanese Science Fiction from Origins to Anime |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-8166-4974-7 |editor-last=Bolton |editor-first=Christopher |location=Minneapolis |pages=222–249 |translator-last=Bolton |translator-first=Christopher |chapter=Otaku Sexuality |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/RobotGhostsAndWiredDreamsJapaneseScienceFictionFromOriginsToAnime/page/n243/mode/2up |editor-last2=Csicsery-Ronay Jr. |editor-first2=Istvan |editor-last3=Tatsumi |editor-first3=Takayuki}} * {{Cite book |last=Schodt |first=Frederik L. |author-link=Frederik L. Schodt |year=1996 |title=Dreamland Japan: Writings on Modern Manga |url=https://archive.org/details/dreamlandjapanwr00scho |publisher=Stone Bridge Press |isbn=978-1-880656-23-5 |location=Berkeley}} * {{cite book |last=Shigematsu |first=Setsu |date=1999 |chapter=Dimensions of Desire: Sex, Fantasy and Fetish in Japanese Comics |editor-last=Lent |editor-first=John A. |title=Themes and Issues in Asian Cartooning: Cute, Cheap, Mad and Sexy |location=Bowling Green |publisher=Bowling Green State University Popular Press |pages=127–163 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b0EJmrszhyQC&pg=PA129 |isbn=978-0-87972-779-6}}{{cbignore}} * {{cite book |last1=Takatsuki |first1=Yasushi |title=Rorikon: Nihon no shōjo shikōshatachi to sono sekai |trans-title=Lolicon: Japan's Shōjo Lovers and Their World |language=ja |date=2010 |publisher=Basilico |location=Tokyo |isbn=978-4-86238-151-4}} {{refend}}

==Further reading== {{refbegin|30em}} * {{cite web |last=Alt |first=Matt |date=23 June 2011 |title=I Don't Wanna Grow Up, 'Cause Maybe if I Did... I'd Have to Date 3D Adults Instead of 2D Kids |url=http://neojaponisme.com/2011/06/23/i-dont-wanna-grow-up-cause-maybe-if-i-did-id-have-to-date-3d-adults-instead-of-2d-kids/ |website=Néojaponisme |access-date=14 January 2020 |archive-date=10 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210110094811/http://neojaponisme.com/2011/06/23/i-dont-wanna-grow-up-cause-maybe-if-i-did-id-have-to-date-3d-adults-instead-of-2d-kids/ |url-status=live}} * {{cite journal |last1=Hinton |first1=Perry R. |date=2014 |title=The Cultural Context and the Interpretation of Japanese 'Lolita Complex' Style Anime |journal=Intercultural Communication Studies |volume=23 |issue=2 |url=https://web.uri.edu/iaics/files/Perry-R.-Hinton.pdf |pages=54–68 |access-date=10 June 2021 |archive-date=8 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308141045/http://web.uri.edu/iaics/files/Perry-R.-Hinton.pdf |url-status=live}} * {{cite journal |last1=Kinsella |first1=Sharon |date=2006 |title=Minstrelized girls: male performers of Japan's Lolita complex |url=https://www.academia.edu/4993364 |journal=Japan Forum |volume=18 |issue=1 |doi=10.1080/09555800500498319 |pages=65–87 |s2cid=144822744}}{{cbignore}} * {{cite news |last=McNicol |first=Tony |date=27 April 2004 |title=Does comic relief hurt kids? |work=The Japan Times |url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2004/04/27/issues/does-comic-relief-hurt-kids/ |access-date=16 June 2021 |archive-date=26 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210426203451/http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2004/04/27/issues/does-comic-relief-hurt-kids/ |url-status=live}} * {{cite book |last1=Nobis |first1=James G. |date=2017 |chapter=Lolicon: Adolescent Fetishization in Osamu Tezuka's Ayako |editor1-last=Heimermann |editor1-first=Mark |editor2-last=Tullis |editor2-first=Brittany |title=Picturing Childhood: Youth in Transnational Comics |publisher=University of Texas Press |location=Austin |isbn=978-1-4773-1162-2 |pages=148–162}} * {{Cite news |last1=Otake |first1=Tomoko |title=Professor Examines Lolita Complex by First looking at His Own Experience |url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/05/05/national/social-issues/professor-examines-lolita-complex-first-looking-experience/ |access-date=16 June 2021 |work=The Japan Times |date=5 May 2017 |archive-date=26 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210326084443/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/05/05/national/social-issues/professor-examines-lolita-complex-first-looking-experience/ |url-status=live}} * {{cite book |last1=Sarrazin |first1=Stephen |date=2010 |chapter=Ero-Anime: Manga Comes Alive |chapter-url=https://www.gwern.net/docs/anime/2010-sarrazin |title=Manga Impact: The World of Japanese Animation |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210610125859/https://www.gwern.net/docs/anime/2010-sarrazin |url-status=live |location=London |publisher=Phaidon Press |isbn=978-0-714-85741-1 |page=262 |access-date=16 June 2021 |archive-date=10 June 2021}} * {{Cite journal |last=Sousa |first=Ana Matilde |date=2018 |title=Against Teleology: Nostalgia and the Vicissitudes of Connectedness in Pharrell Williams's Music Video ''It Girl'' |journal=Mechademia |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=147–165 [152] |doi=10.5749/mech.11.1.0147 |jstor=10.5749/mech.11.1.0147 |s2cid=201736938}} * {{Cite book |first=Jason |last=Thompson |author-link=Jason Thompson (writer) |year=2007 |title=Manga: The Complete Guide |title-link=Manga: The Complete Guide |location=New York |publisher=Ballantine Books & Del Rey Books |page=450 |isbn=978-0-345-48590-8}} * {{cite book |last1=Zank |first1=Dinah |date=2010 |chapter=Kawaii vs. rorikon: The Reinvention of the Term Lolita in Modern Japanese Manga |editor1-last=Berninger |editor1-first=Mark |editor2-last=Ecke |editor2-first=Jochen |editor3-last=Haberkorn |editor3-first=Gideon |title=Comics as a Nexus of Cultures: Essays on the Interplay of Media, Disciplines and International Perspectives |location=Jefferson, N.C. |publisher=McFarland & Company |isbn=978-0-7864-3987-4 |pages=211–222}} {{refend}}

==External links== * {{Commons category-inline}} * {{Wiktionary-inline}}

{{Animation industry in Japan}} {{Film genres}} {{Japanese erotic cinema}}

Category:Lolicon Category:1970s neologisms Category:Animation controversies Category:Anime and manga controversies Category:Anime and manga genres Category:Anime and manga terminology Category:Female stock characters in anime and manga Category:Girls Category:Hentai Category:Japanese sex terms Category:Obscenity controversies in animation Category:Obscenity controversies in comics Category:Obscenity controversies in video games Category:Online obscenity controversies