Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0006201, Mon, 12 Nov 2001 10:19:56 -0800

Subject
Rorikon, or "Lolita Complex" (fwd)
Date
Body

From: Galya Diment <galya@u.washington.edu>

I may be a latecomer to that but today, while visiting a Japanese
SUPERFLAT exhibition at the Henry Art Gallery here in Seattle, I
for the first time encountered the word "rorikon," aka "lolikon," which is
short for "Lolita complex."

Here is a basic description of the phenomenon from a California
paper talking about Japanese animations:

"Anime critics have legitimately pointed to the industry's
less-than-flattering treatment of women. It didn't help that anime's early
entry into the U.S. market included softcore pornography. Hentai, some of
which contain violent rape scenes, continues to be a big U.S. seller. Even
in standard anime, a trend toward younger and younger female characters
echoes a larger phenomena in Japan called lolikon or rorikon, short for
'Lolita complex.' That side of Japanese animation has continued to dog its
reputation."

Galya Diment