I mean… there is the tiniest nuance where TECHNICALLY a lolicon might just like girls that “look younger” although that splits some hairs itself. As far as translation and interpretation it is fair to say that in the United States the common use word for someone who is attracted to girls who are or appear underage would be “pedophile.” Funny enough, in common usage “pedophile” is often used to refer to any adult of age who has interest or relations with any minor but “pedophile” by proper definition refers to a very specific age range of underage or pre pubescence. In other words, most people already understand the word pedophile to apply to a broader range of people than the strict definition applies to and the words for others with interest in underage persons are linguistically obscure to most. For example, those with interest in persons around 11-14 are generally Hebephiles and 15-19 are technically Ephebophiles.
Note two things.
1. Ephebophilia Doesn’t ONLY apply to those under the age of consent, those attracted to 18 and 19 year olds for example for this category. More on this in a moment.
2. The ages given are approximate. What is critical in the definition of these terms is the state of development of the subject of attraction. Pedophiles like prepubescents (children) and Hebephiles like pubescents (those in puberty)
and Ephebophiles like adolescents (young adults).
Note too that these phases are approximate and so can be their onset. There are debates such as wether adolescence is even real or a made up stage etc.
These two notes however paint the picture. There are specific emotional and physical milestones that correlate to certain stages of development and each listed type of person has an attraction to those who are in those states of development. Within each group you can find those who may have preference for earlier or later stages- for example 15-19, while usually
There are obvious differences between those ages, a 15 year old and 19 year old are, all other things equal, generally considered in the same stage of development, they are just at opposite ends of the start and finish of the stage respectively.
So it may be imprecise linguistically to translate lolicon to pedophile since lolicons can be pedophiles or ephebophiles or hebephiles etc. that said, these other words aren’t common use in English and I would argue that in translating the concept of what os being referred to, pedophile would be the closest common English word that would translate the general idea clearly to the average English speaker.
That said I will grant that the word pedophile does fail to convey the cultural context. In Japan it isn’t like “lolicons” are generally loved and accepted by the population at large or that is is something you likely want your coworkers or family to know about, and in recent years there has been increasing discussion and a mown towards rejection of lolicon being even acceptable or tolerated as a fringe niche as Japan has made changes and continues to discuss changes to their laws concerning depictions of minors and even age of consent laws and such. So overall a “lolicon” in Japan in general wouldn’t be met with the same social response as a pedophile in most of America, but they generally wouldn’t be treated as lightly as a “geek” or such either.
Like so many concepts and words that cross cultural bounds and need translated, there isn’t a really “perfect” way to translate lolicon. Many argue that lolicon doesn’t carry inherent context of sexual interest, which.. I’m not going there today… but regardless of wether that’s total shit or just partial shit, there isn’t really English concepts or words that relate to things like moe which are involved in such descriptions. So without an entire lesson in linguistics and culture and such, pedophile seems a fitting translation. Understand that if you sit the average native English speaking person down and went through the entire process of educating on context what “Loli” means- they’d likely blink a few times and say “so a pedophile?” Anyway.
So I’m going to back the translation even if it loses some nuance.
1. Ephebophilia Doesn’t ONLY apply to those under the age of consent, those attracted to 18 and 19 year olds for example for this category. More on this in a moment.
2. The ages given are approximate. What is critical in the definition of these terms is the state of development of the subject of attraction. Pedophiles like prepubescents (children) and Hebephiles like pubescents (those in puberty)
and Ephebophiles like adolescents (young adults).
Note too that these phases are approximate and so can be their onset. There are debates such as wether adolescence is even real or a made up stage etc.
These two notes however paint the picture. There are specific emotional and physical milestones that correlate to certain stages of development and each listed type of person has an attraction to those who are in those states of development. Within each group you can find those who may have preference for earlier or later stages- for example 15-19, while usually
So it may be imprecise linguistically to translate lolicon to pedophile since lolicons can be pedophiles or ephebophiles or hebephiles etc. that said, these other words aren’t common use in English and I would argue that in translating the concept of what os being referred to, pedophile would be the closest common English word that would translate the general idea clearly to the average English speaker.
So I’m going to back the translation even if it loses some nuance.