The Lolita Complex: - Scholarly Commons Home

Researching from an Insider’s Position
While I stand “outside” the Lolita subculture and observe it from a
somewhat objective standpoint, I also, as discussed earlier in this section,
“read” the phenomenon from an analytical viewpoint that correlates with
the Subjective. This “complex method”, as explicated by Adams, “involves
not only the art itself but also the artist, the aesthetic response of the viewer,
and the cultural context”, in revealing “the unconscious significance of
works of art”. 5 In other words, “the investigator intrudes into the process
that he is investigating”. 6
The Subjective, or “aesthetic response” to the
Subject, is given an extra layer of meaning through participation as an
“insider”, and from analysing the movement from an inside point of view.
While one may acknowledge that subjectivity might interfere with an
intellectual pursuit it also allows for a deeper comprehension of the Subject.
Just two examples of researchers who have employed an insider method are
Paul Hodkinson (2002) and Richard Griffiths (2004).
In regard to this thesis, I myself come not from one but from three
insider positions: My membership of the globalised Lolita subculture; my
experience as a doll collector; and my personal history in relation to New-
romantic and Goth subcultures.
Page | 41