Watch The Feed’s Fascinating And Exclusive Look Into Australia’s Lolita Culture
The Australian Lolita subculture is one of the largest in the world outside of Japan. But there's a reason you don't see them out on the streets.
When most people think of the word ‘Lolita’, it’s Vladimir Nabokov’s infamous 1955 novel that springs to mind. The book (and the 1962 Stanley Kubrick film adaptation of it) is narrated by Humbert Humbert, a literature professor who becomes obsessed with a 12-year-old girl, Dolores, who he nicknames ‘Lolita’. He marries her mother in order to get closer to the child, and soon begins a sexual relationship with her. Except it’s not a sexual relationship, because she’s 12; it’s paedophilia.
Anyone who’s read Lolita will have an uncomfortable relationship with the word when it’s applied to a sub-culture that seems to celebrate the infantilisation of women. Originating in Japan, the Lolita fashion is based on a Victorian and Edwardian style of dress, with frills, blouses, knee-high socks, Mary-Janes, petticoats and — depending on the style of Lolita, which could be gothic, sweet or classic — plenty of pink. With close aesthetic ties to the Living Doll sub culture, Lolitas also tend to feature eye-enhancing makeup and big, elaborate hair.
Yet despite the unfortunate association of the word (whose etymology actually has a more complicated relationship with Nabokov than most people allow), most of the men and women who identify as Lolitas will tell you they’re not doing it to attract a sexual gaze. “I can understand why people would get confused looking at Lolita, and then misreading it as some kind of age play that extends into becoming living dolls, or a sexual fetish,” says PHD scholar Megan Rose, who has been researching Japanese fashion sub cultures for four years. “I think that’s primarily why we don’t see a lot of Lolitas out on the street these days — because it’s just not safe.”
Rose was interviewed in a short documentary which aired on The Feed last night, in which producer/presenter Patrick Abboud and cinematographer Daniel Hartley Allen take a look at the Australian Lolita subculture, which is one of the largest in the world outside of Japan. And when she says it’s not safe, she’s not overblowing it; the Lolitas featured in the clip admit to attracting “creeps” and “stalkers” both online and off. “I’ve had a number of guys wanting to have sexual relations with me, specifically saying that they want me to wear Lolita to make me look like a little girl,” says ‘Belle’, a Lolita from Victoria. “Everyone thinks I’m this girl who promotes paedophilia.”
Many of the Lolitas and Bro-litas (male Lolitas) who allowed themselves to be filmed — which includes a pair of siblings, and a straight couple — haven’t gone public with their identities before, making the segment a particularly powerful one. “I would describe [appearing on TV] to a degree as coming out as a Lolita,” says ‘Tilly’, a Bro-lita from Victoria. “And being able to show it, as part of the community, is — it’s a very big moment for me.”
“We’re letting you in just to represent who we really are”