The Lolita Complex: - Scholarly Commons Home

identity. My experiences with Gothloli, whether Japanese or of another
nationality, via personal or online discussions, is that they invariably include
the word “cute”, or “kawaii”, when explaining what they like about and or
how they perceive the Lolita style. For example, 15-year-old “Tempest
Paige” from New York says that she is attracted to the Gothloli image
because “it’s cute and sweet”. * Even when contemplating why it may have
been termed Lolita, she suggests that “it was a cute name, maybe”. †
But there is more to the Gothloli identity than being cute. As Yuko
Hasegawa writes:
The concept of kawaii includes elements such as “cute”, “pretty” and “lovely” but
is not restricted to these. It also implies something precious, something that we are
drawn towards… which stimulates one’s feeling of wanting to protect something
that is pure and innocent. 110
And the term “kawaisa” also means more than “cuteness”. Aoyagi claims
that it derives from an understanding of something “pitiable” and connotes
a “vulnerability of the subject”. 111
The “pure and innocent” Gothloli persona is related to all of these
aspects, in the wish to protect and prolong the precious childhood state to
which she is drawn; the subsequent attachment to pure and innocent
* Personal communication between “Angelic Lolita” and “Tempest Paige” (New York, New York)
on MySpace, www.myspace.com/botticelliangel_nz, 17 January, 2010.
† Ibid.
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