Twitter user “ Crimson Fenrir (@CrimsonFenrir7) ” recently trended after sharing a thread explaining that the distaste for anime girls (including lolis) stems from a culture clash over what both the West and Asia think about. consider as "beautiful" . The lengthy thread wrote the following:
- Recently, many discussed the morality of the l0licon. It is no longer about legality. For them, someone looking underage is immoral, regardless of age. They are probably Westerners who don't understand the Asian beauty standard, so I'll dedicate this thread to them.
- The Asian beauty standard places a lot of emphasis on youth and femininity, so our women are striving for smooth and clear skin, a slender body, and no one wants to look older. Therefore, it is totally normal (and even the commonly accepted norm) for girls to be cute and lovable.
- However, even without any of them, Asians tend to appear much younger than Caucasians due to genetics, bone structure, and many more factors. Therefore, it is much easier for us to achieve an anime aesthetic for cosplay. Which means the appeal of "moe" anime suits us.
- To westerners, anime characters tend to look too young, too pretty, because that's how they see real-life Asians too. Even our adults tend to be shorter and smaller than they are, looking softer, more youthful and adorable. So it's quite normal for adults to have childlike aspects.
- In the West, girls being childish is weird or creepy, because we have different norms. Here, the girls embrace the traditional female beauty of being cute, pretty, and lovable. That is normal here, not something abnormal or questionable. We can consider it a culture shock.
- There are stories of adults being mistaken for a teenager or even a child here, and it's not due to malnutrition or deformity. We are just naturally prettier, which is why we have a lot of attractive little women. They don't feel insecure about it, because society doesn't judge them, and praises them instead.
- That's why there's less of a “moral panic” about cute anime girls here, because we love cute girls to begin with. And we have cute and adorable girls in real life. Meanwhile, in the West, the morality of cute anime girls is debated, because for them all this is something very unnatural, and they find it strange.
- Westerners often make fun of “adult l0li” because they think their old age is just a joke, but in reality, many Asian adult women have such adorable, youthful, petite bodies and smooth skin. Here's an example from my home country of Indonesia: 25-year-old Leanna Leonardo.
- It was very popular for some time, just like when Natalia Poklonskaya took the internet by storm with her cuteness. Leanna also became a meme, and for those who are interested, you can find out more about her.
- Leanna is a good example that someone can be an adult with a job and a relationship, but still be called l0li because she looks cute, young, and smooth-skinned. Nobody here makes a fuss about it, because why should someone be canceled for being a very pretty girl?
- So when Westerners wonder, why does anime have so many pretty girls? Because that's how we are. Fiction doesn't have to be realistic, but it does fit our standards. For us Asians, it's normal for girls to be so cute, so no one freaks out when someone dates an adult who looks like that.
- In short, the moral panic against cute anime girls (including l0li) is mostly culture shock, because we have different beauty standards. Here it is totally normal for girls to be cute and young. What is seen as questionable is just part of our life.
Source: @CrimsonFenrir7 on Twitter
