Combining the feminist perspective on material cultures and the post-subcultural paradigm,
we examine the dressing experiences of local Lolita girls, to understand the subjectivity of
girls in the gendered and mediatized milieu. The study analyzed the interplay of gender norms,
digital web technologies and participant experiences, and the tension between self-narratives and popular representations. It finds that technologies are both empowering and inserting pressures,
encouraging the alliance between Lolita participants and the artifacts, which constitutes the
“third dimension” private sphere of Lolita. It suggests a further developed stage of “post-digital”
consciousness configuration that is characterized by a sublation of digital networks, where
dressing becomes a hyper-embodied practice as a mimesis on qualitatively secure and intimate
experience of the corporeal embodiment, negotiating with the mediatized reality. We discuss the
theoretical implications of the hyper-embodiment of the post-subcultural subject for feminist
politics and cultural studies.
.
The “Third Dimension” Cultural Space of Lolita: A Feminist
Post-subcultural Study on the Dressing Experience. Chinese Journal of Journalism & Communication. 2021, 43(10): 50-68