Burusera is a paraphilia, specifically a sexualized attraction to the underwear or school uniforms of girls or young women. It is a word of Japanese origin, coined by combining burumā, meaning bloomers, as in the bottoms of gym suits, and sērā-fuku, meaning sailor suit, the traditional Japanese school uniforms for schoolgirls; notably kogal. Burusera shops sell girls' used school uniforms, panties and other fetish items.
History
In the 1990sgravure magazines started to feature photos of girls wearing bloomers and school uniforms, some magazines featuring exclusively those types of clothes. Fetish shops selling these types of clothes also started appearing in Japan. Along with loose socks they became the symbol of high school girls in the 1990s. They are also sometimes worn as cosplay.
Burusera shops
Burusera shops sell used girls' gym suits and school uniforms. They also sell other goods procured from schoolgirls, e.g. undergarments, school swimsuits for physical education, socks, stationery, sanitary napkins and tampons. The clothes are often accompanied by ostensibly genuine photos of the girls wearing them. The clients are men who use the items for sexual arousal or stimulation. Schoolgirls once openly participated in the sale of their used garments, either through burusera shops or using mobile phone sites to sell directly to clients.
Legal restrictions
In August 1994, a burusera shop manager who made a schoolgirl sell her used underwear was arrested by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department on suspicion of violation of article 34 of the Child Welfare Act and article 175 of the Criminal Code. The police alleged violations of the Secondhand Articles Dealer Act which bans the purchase of secondhand goods without authorization. Child pornography laws imposed legal control over the burusera industry in 1999. However, burusera goods in themselves are not child pornography, and selling burusera goods is an easy way for schoolgirls to gain extra income. This has been viewed with suspicion as child sexual abuse. Prefectures in Japan began enforcing regulations in 2004 that restricted purchases and sales of used underwear and saliva of people under 18.
