Lolicon

There is a lot to like about Japan; the food, the countryside, the history, the safety. Similarly there is a lot to dislike; the conservative streak that makes change very hard, the homogenous nature of society that leads to cultural ignorance of anything outside of Japan combined with a national pride that is often uninformed, the trains during rush hours, working conditions. But there is one thing that creeps me out particularly, that makes my skin crawl whenever I encounter it, which is often: the sexual objectification, sometimes subtly but usually not, of young girls. Aside from the culture of the celebrity Japan also seems to adore the nymphet.
Though the term “lolicon”, which with typical Japanese concision is derived from “Lolita Complex”, is used with derision the media world in Japan has no gripes with portraying young girls gyrating for the pleasure of an adult audience, with Humbert Humbert’s most desired nymphet age group being the main source for such talent. Though all-girl bands like Morning Musume, with ages ranging from 10 to 20, could optimistically be said to be aimed at kids, other bands, like the more recent AKB 48 are squarely aimed at the older male, in the latter case at Akihabara geeks, hence the name. The band’s producer organizes the website where creepy men in their mid to late twenties can adore their chosen favourite by reading up on their biography and watching little web-movies. And though actual sexuality isn’t mentioned or intoned, one has to wonder what an adult male is doing idolizing 12 year old girls.

The actual “Lolita” and “Lolita Goth” fashions are more to do with dressing up than age but it is undeniable that the ideal image of the woman in Japan revolves around youth and innocence. Grown women wear childish clothes, enjoy Disney fetishes, speak in young girl’s voices. Titillation photography books often has women of legal age dress up in school uniforms, as does, I wouldn’t presume the assumption of knowing for a fact, hard-core pornography. Underage girls pose seductively in bikinis and other revealing outfits but only remove that last slither of gauze protecting their innocence until they reach legal age.
Even the real thing is dubious, with actual schoolgirls being forced to wear uniforms with skirts that are no more than glorified belts, ending as they do just below the pelvis and forcing them to cover their behinds with their hands or schoolbags whenever they need to climb a staircase. Whoever designed those uniforms had issues.

Games enthusiasts may be aware of the syndrome with female characters in games often being terribly young despite sporting a bosom that would take far in excess of 12 years to cultivate. Again, absolving myself from any admission to factual investigation, hentai games too can feature more explicit sexual content with characters which are clearly under-age. Of course the phenomenon of skimpy outfits on busty females in games isn’t unique to Japan, but at least in the West they don’t make a big deal out of the girl being 15 years old, or even younger.

More sensationalist rags and tabloids also report on occasion the pocket money some schoolgirls spend on Prada handbags, with a stipend handsomely increased by profits from selling suggestive mobile phone photographs to perverts. Indeed the scandal of schoolgirl prostitution occasionally crops up in such magazines too, though I always feel there is a certain exaggeration and scaremongering involved in such doom-and-gloom portrayals. Let’s face it, the Japanese schoolgirl has a hard enough time as it is with perverts “accidentally” brushing their hands against portions of skin in busy trains, if not a flat and robust laying on of hands. This “chikan” syndrome is of course illegal but so ineffectual has Japanese law been in combating the problem that Japan Railway has had to resort to providing female-only carriages during rush-hour.

That isn’t to say Japan is a lawless society of pedophiles, it clearly is not. There are laws protecting underage children from exploitation and sexual deviance, child pornography is of course outlawed but lolicon manga, for example isn’t. Nor is the subtle sexual objectification in mainstream media, and most egregiously, nor are those schoolgirl skirts. The widespread availability of pornography in Japan has been said to have helped the sexual crime rate drop dramatically since the 70s and on the whole Japan has fewer such crimes than any other developed country in the world. However, there is an obvious pressure on women to be cute, helpless and act young with, if at all possible, high-pitched voices. And possibly because I feel no uncertain amount of disgust at the whole affair I am probably painting a bleaker picture of Japan’s nymphet-philia than is probably true, but it is undeniable that the media and the public at large spend a lot of time adoring young girls, and it’s not always innocent.