I have heard it means pedophile in japanese and all but in english fandom, the
term mainly refers to liking little children/pre or pubescent people. In
japan, I was wondering does the term apply to attraction to characters who
look/act like adults but said to be younger but in HS like this:

<https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/890015304771829760/G-Kbb7WS_400x400.jpg>
like character is 15 but looks and acts like an adult, so would a person who
is attracted to that be called a lolicon in japan?
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2021-04-06T22:18:48.037
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2021-06-09T12:34:04.843
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slang anime
What exactly does ロリコン mean in Japanese?
pedophile is arguably the wrong interpretation. pedophile = someone who is
sexually attracted to children. [ロリコン is short for "Lolita
complex"](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%AD%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC%E3%82%BF%E3%83%BB%E3%82%B3%E3%83%B3%E3%83%97%E3%83%AC%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF%E3%82%B9)
and it just means attraction to young women

How young depends on the person. That image you posted I would not personally
consider "lolicon". You can find better representative images [by
searching](https://www.google.com/search?q=lolicon&tbm=isch)

The positive way to frame it is many people find kids and teens to be
adorable, so they like to look at and read about characters that have those
same adorable characteristics and some women like to be those characters. You
can look at a young person and think "they're sooooo cute!!!" without it
straying into a bad place. Japanese culture has a strong attraction to cute
things (think Hello Kitty) and plenty of girls like to be considered cute and
one way to do that is to appear young and child like.

Also, maybe a controversial example, but Suicide Squad's Harley Quinn with her
pony tails is arguably an appeal to a similar idea. Pony tails are usually
something associated with kids and young teens, not adults.

Of course, given the topic, it does often stray into questionable areas. The
name ロリ is short for lolita which comes from [a
book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolita) by that name about an older man
who has a relationship with a teenager. There are also cultural differences
throughout the world on what age it's okay to be sexually active and what age
differences are acceptable.

The point I'm trying to make is "pedophile" has a much more negative meaning
than "lolicon". Search for "pedophile" and you'll pretty much only read about
criminals. Search for "ロリコン" on [Japanese google](https://google.co.jp) and
you'll find dressing tips, makeup tips, women showing off their "lolicon"
look, manga that you can by at every convenience store in Japan. You'll also
probably find lots of things you'd prefer not to have seen so be warned.
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In the anime/manga fandom, a 15 year old girl is usually not called a ロリ
character in the first place. There are so many heroines of this age in
Japanese manga/anime that if we considered them ロリ, almost all Japanese otaku
would have to be called ロリコン. This person
([城戸沙織](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athena_\(Saint_Seiya\))) is almost
certainly not called a ロリ character, either. A typical ロリコン from the
standpoint of Japanese otaku is someone who is attracted to girls around 3–12
years old. On the other hand, in the real society, an adult who shows sexual
interest in girls of 15 years old, regardless of their appearances, would be
accused of being ロリコン.

In manga/anime, ロリ is used mainly based on the character's appearance and
childlike behavior. Thus, a person who is technically an adult but looks like
a child is often regarded as a subtype of ロリ. See
[合法ロリ](https://dic.pixiv.net/a/%E5%90%88%E6%B3%95%E3%83%AD%E3%83%AA) and
[ロリババア](https://dic.pixiv.net/a/%E3%83%AD%E3%83%AA%E3%83%90%E3%83%90%E3%82%A2).
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