by Rose Calder

Created on: November 12, 2009

It's no secret that various facets of Japanese culture eventually make their way over to the United States. Karaoke, anime, manga, pocky, sushi, J-pop, cosplay; all of these have been exported to the States and are now staples of American geek and mainstream culture alike. It doesn't matter if you're a hardcore convention junkie, a high-powered executive or a soccer mom in flyover country, we've all taken our turn at singing karaoke, watched a Hayao Miyazaki film and munched on sushi at least once in our lives. These things strike us as fun, charming or tasty, and we accept them with open arms and open wallets.

However, there is one aspect of Japanese culture that has made its way over to the States that hasn't been nearly as well-received, and that would be the fashion of lolita, or as the Japanese call it, 'loli'. And frankly, I can why: it has some of the creepiest undertones I've ever seen in my entire life.

Now, to be fair, I can see how the loli style began and why it took off. It started back in the late 1970s with the intent of being a more modest and innocent form of dress for teens and young adults. In fact, according to those who ascribe to the loli scene, the style of dress is meant to invoke images of Victorian-era children or porcelain dolls, which when you consider all the hubbub surrounding the premature sexualization of teens today sounds like a much more palatable option. The defining characteristics of the fashion are knee-length skirts, knee socks or opaque tights, flat shoes and no plunging necklines or bared shoulders. When you put it like that, it sounds downright wholesome, doesn't it?

The problem is that the creep factor gets cranked up several notches once the idea leaves paper and starts walking around the streets. Loli fashion is described as being eternally child- or doll-like, so a lot of emphasis is placed on ruffles, lace, hair bows and Peter Pan collars. Which would be fine if this style was intended for young children, but the devotees of this fashion are more along the lines of 20- and 30-year-olds. In other words, you've got fully-mature adults prancing around like highly stylized five-year-olds from an era long since past.

If you thought furries were creepy, you haven't seen anything until you've seen a grown woman dressed like Shirley Temple back in her cinematic hey-day. But even if you ignore the taffeta and crinoline, the creepiness doesn't really go away; instead, it just get heightened.

Women in Japan are generally

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