Does Lolita Fashion Promote Pedophilia?

TW for pedophilia, sexualization of children, and child sexual assault mentions in the following post. Read at your own risk.

 

Lolita is a controversial novel by Russian author Vladimir Nabokov. Lolita was published in 1955 and is about a middle-aged professor named Humbert Humbert becoming obsessed with and sexually fantasizing about his landlord's 12-year old daughter, Dolores (whom he nicknames Lolita). He becomes "sexually involved" with Lolita after he marries her mother. After Lolita's mother dies by being hit by a car during an argument with Humbert, Humbert takes Lolita from her boarding school and has to bribe her and manipulate her to stop her from going to the police. During this time, Humbert also bribes Lolita with candy and fun events for sexual favors. Eventually, Lolita runs away from Humbert and gets married to another man who knows nothing about her past. He spends years looking for her, but when he finds her, she is 17,  pregnant, and in need of money. Humbert gives her the money, and leaves her alone.

So what does Lolita fashion have to do with the novel? And does it promote pedophilia? Based on the name of the fashion style sharing a name with the novel, one could make snap judgments and say "of course!", but I'm here to discuss both sides of the argument.

Firstly, the name has not been confirmed to have a connection with Nabokov's novel- but where else could the name have come from? The women who wear Lolita fashion, particularly Sweet Lolita,  are often expected to act sweet, childlike, and girlish. The makeup of many Lolita people is used to accentuate or imitate a young child's features- lots of blush, circle lenses to make the eyes look bigger, et cetera. The clothing is modeled after Victorian clothing, and the patterns are often modeled after children's and nursery wallpaper, featuring cute designs such as unicorns, food, children's toys, and more.

But is it necessarily wrong for women to wear a pink fluffy skirt with teddy bears on it? Just because we affiliate this style with children, does it mean that the people who wear this style are sexualizing it, and in turn, children?

There is an active portion of the Lolita community that does sexualize this, and there are plenty of people who find something about Lolita inherently sexual, and find the childlike act and clothing attractive. The things we see and are surrounded by are what helps us form opinions. If we're taught that grown women doing things commonly linked with children is sexy- we'll accept it. Which can be disturbing, because after we see that, we've made that connection- things that are associated with children = sexy.This does perpetuate the idea that something about children is attractive- and that's incredibly problematic. Plenty of people are able to discern that there is a difference between grown women and children doing something; but a large enough group isn't able to discern this. This is where the issues lie.


But, those people aren't the majority. Sometimes people just want to wear pink fluffy skirts and pastels and look cute. For a lot of people, Lolita has nothing to do with children. People just want to feel like princesses, or dress up with frills and feel decadent. There is nothing wrong with looking or wanting to look cute. The issue lies in associating Lolita fashion with children and sex simultaneously.

If members of the Lolita community can work to divorce the idea of their fashion with children, I believe there would no longer be an issue. I encourage members of the Lolita subculture to think hard about their clothing choices and activities, and think deeply about the consequences of affiliating with things linked with children when they are an adult with the ability to consent.

Creep it real!

Si