The Lolita Complex: - Scholarly Commons Home

Little Girl: “Don’t try to play dumb. I knew it was you when I saw you by the
escalators. You were taking pictures up girls’ skirts!”
This man, the little girl duly destroys.
While these cases are fictional, they highlight the realities of an
environment that places an emphasis on sexualising young girls and the need
for young women to stand up to it. One way that the Gothloli does this,
ironically, is to reveal the little-girl image through public display so that her
identity is surveyed openly. Paradoxically, although this action is potentially
dangerous, it assists in disarming the Lolita Complex by revoking the private
and secretive nature of this fascination, especially in relation to the viewing
of lolicon and hentai. In turn, this exposes and confronts the Voyeur.
The communal aspect of the subculture, represented as girl power in
literature and realised in everyday life, also reduces the Lolita’s vulnerability.
As they say, there is safety and strength in numbers. As a collective identity,
Gothloli reinforce and protect each other. En masse, Lolita is “in your face”
and intimidating. In Jane Pinckard’s words, Lolita seem to say:
“We are dolls… but don’t play with us. We bite…. It’s a ‘screw you’ to
creepy older men who might fetishize the Lolita”. 224
After all, it is…
“the very cuteness, the prettiness, which is creepy….
The creepy cuteness is meant to disturb, to provoke”. 225
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