The Japanese lolita community came up with a different spelling for the fashion and the book to try and circumvent this problem. ロリータ refers to the book, whilst ロリィタ refers to the fashion. Adoption of the latter is still limited to pockets of the community 😅 but the book doesn't cause much controversy in Japan anyways so there's less of a pressing need. I feel more and more like people assume that everything a woman wears = they want sexual attention. I'm in my late 20s, shorter than 5 ft, and I get called pedobait for simply existing 😂 I wish people would just let people wear what they want. Nobody should have to manage other people's depraved perceptions. And it's especially weird that people still link cute stuff with "sexy." From my experience and readings in the Japanese community, the fashion is focused on the pursuit of "pinnacle cuteness". Conflating that mindset with sex would be like thinking Hello Kitty is sexy 🤮 Hello Kitty is obviously adorable and innocent, but she's definitely not "asking for it". I even remember reading a paper that said that Japanese men despise lolita fashion (for reasons unknown). And Misako herself said in a video that she gets hate comments like "have you ever considered that the reason you aren't married yet is because you keep wearing lolita fashion?" This fashion obviously isn't about male attention 🙄

@PureRaee

2 жыл бұрын

I won't say for sure but I remember hearing about how lolita fashion kind of took that motive when starting out as a new fashion movement. It wasn't just an alt fashion going against the norms but also a fashion that would purposely *not* make them objects for the male gaze. It was kind of something to ward off men (as in, they were wearing what they liked and doing so made them "unattractive" cuz they weren't pleasing the societal likes). I feel like that makes sense too considering lolita fashion doesn't really give openings to allow that to happen. That's why when you think about it, the people who do actually sexualize it are pretty concerning. It isn't anything that is conveying that message - and it's almost like the fact it isn't, is what attracts them. Which is why it's all so disturbing with lolis as well. It seems to be this "innocence" factor that they feed off of and because people coming into adulthood in modern society aren't usually encouraged to wear things that express frills and stuff that lolita tends to offer - I think these people connect it with some weird concept of innocence and lolis. Which is just extremely disturbing and I genuinely hate the thought of. They get off to the ruining of innocence.

The poster also states in the video that lolita fashion originated from e-girls on Twitch and OF dressing up as maids and cat girls (absolutely no shade to e-girls). Just all the examples in that section of the video were people cosplaying as maid characters or actual maid Cafe workers. Even if the poster claims to have done research, I don't really think any was done. I just don't think people (normies) understand that videos such as this (no matter the intent) are what continue lead to misconceptions that lolita fashion has anything sexual in nature about it.

@PureRaee

2 жыл бұрын

Omg you're right I totally forgot that that was mentioned/shown in the video! It's a huge misconception - and I agree they claimed research but obviously it was poorly done/was a weak attempt. The thing that was odd to me was the fact they brought up otome kei which shows they must have looked into it at least a little. Honestly wondering if they were short on time when making the video and just said meh and threw it all together without proper concrete research. That's why I was so confused on their points and intentions because I feel like most people don't even get to the point of knowing about otome kei when presenting lolita stuff (people outside the fashion) but then they just continues to mix up a bunch of other definitions after it. Obviously being short on time doesn't make it an excuse because you have your own control over those things. It's not an assignment for school, and unfortunately it is a lot more damaging than one. The misconceptions and validations really cause a lot of confusion and harm inside and outside the communities of all things mentioned - not even just lolita fashion!

So I saw the original video and her replies before everything was taken down (I believe it actually got a copyright strike). If she didn’t have bad intentions then her points were just very poorly explained. She said that she was trying to talk about the topic to explain how men see it all?? But to me that wasn’t clear. I think it would have been much better received if she had a section at the beginning explaining that it was through this lens of outsiders and men specifically and then a part at the end where she cleared up the misconceptions and talked about what the truth is. I don’t know though, the whole thing just left a very bad taste in my mouth and it seemed like she was backpedaling to reduce backlash

@PureRaee

2 жыл бұрын

I agree, I think the video was very confusing and tended to contradict a lot of points. A lot of it was the phrasing and contradiction that made it feel.. uncomfortable. Yeah, that's the best word I can think of - uncomfortable. Ultimately, I am glad it has been removed because the concepts and explanations were just all over and could be really damaging. I hope they and others understand why people would find it really hard to follow and upsetting. But that's always kind of the battle we have, unfortunately.