Cosplay Blog Post
Hot, Bothered and Still Cosplaying
How Sex Is Never Going To Kill Cosplay…Unless You Let It
Matt Ebarb, FateTwister Cosplay
“Oh, she only won something because her boobs are about to bust out of that breastplate.”
“Whatever. She’s a whore. I saw her go back to one of the judge’s hotel rooms last night.”
I won’t attribute those quotes, but I’ve heard them at conventions after cosplay contests and online. It makes me wonder though, if those who preach equality (who I defended in my last post) in cosplay remember their noble cause? This is when it should dawn on people - hey, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.
NerdCalibur’s E. Ortiz did a marvelous job of highlighting this in his piece entitled “Sex Sells: How Cosplay Could Die”. Here, he uses renowned cosplayer Yaya Han and other interviewees to highlight the objectification of women as well as crudeness of the male cosplay audience. I fully understand and agree with him on his stance…that is until he nears the end of his piece.
“Because sooner or later, the mainstream media is going to wake up, corrupt, and take over cosplay. Ten years from now, magazines like Cosplay Gen and AstorCos will be replaced at bookshops by Bikini Cosplay magazine. Cosplay fetish books will replace Cosplay In America on shelves. Cosplayer Nation‘s TV pilot will be turned down for another cosplay show hosted by plastic people who are pretty to look at and make good puns but don’t know a needle from a thread.” - Ortiz
I am by no means refuting that objectification (of BOTH sexes) is problem in the community, nor am I even remotely trying to convince you that misogyny doesn’t exist in our hobby or society. Both of those statements are true as it gets. However, it is a bit of a stretch to say that it is going to kill cosplay as an art form…unless we allow it to.
Perversion in the geek community is hardly anything new. It was a little shy of 30 years ago when Carrie Fisher donned a metal bikini for Star Wars: Return of the Jedi and became the pubertal epiphany for many an American geek. Heck, I could still tell it was a problem five years ago before I got into cosplay. I noticed my friend, who seldom left his laptop from playing World of Warcraft, frequented the gaming site Action Trip which featured a ‘Babe of the Day’ section (whose photo he always saved in a folder, the purpose of which I dare not ponder…)
Carrie, as any model today still does, knew full well what she was getting into. Whether scantily clad or not, any person who puts themselves in the public eye can expect to be picked apart and objectified by the superficial and scrutinized and villianized by the envious. As a cosplayer, you do this regardless when you so much as allow yourself to be photographed by the first person at a convention. The less clothing your cosplay entails, the more you are putting yourself out there for this type of attention. It takes a thick skin to know in advance what you’re setting yourself up for and even more so not to care.
Jesse (Miss Marquin) is one of my best friends I’ve met cosplaying. Having done characters like T-Elos from Xenosaga and arguably the south circuit’s most notorious Seung Mina from Soul Calibur, she’s no stranger to this principle. It still caught me off guard when she mentioned she was doing Street Fighter’s Cammy - a character best known for wearing a thong. Knowing Jesse, I know her reason for doing it isn’t to show off her butt and acquire Facebook page likes. She’s doing it because she likes the character - the best reason to do a cosplay.
“I don't weigh the character on what they wear. If I like a character, I will cosplayer her,” she said. “Cammy is one of my favorite girls from Street Fighter, and a lot of people suggested her to me because they thought I could pull her off well.”
Given, for convention rules and modesty purposes she did modify the design by wearing flesh-colored pantyhose. She also mentioned that she is well prepared for any type of attention she may receive from doing it.
“If they think my butt is nice, then awesome. If they make more lewd comments than that, I'll probably just delete them and move on. I don't let comments like that bother me, because in the end, the cosplaying is what I enjoy the most. I chose to cosplay the skimpy character. I have to expect those comments. I can't choose to do such a character, and then complain later, when fans focus on my 'assets' more than anything else.”
As I alluded to before, males face that objectification too. The wonderful world of geeks includes as many ladies as gentlemen, many of whom have no objection to a young man with the body of a greek god doing a character like a battle ravaged Goku from Dragonball Z, a Lee Sin from League of Legends or a Devil May Cry 3 open-coat Dante. The catch here is men typically eat the objectification up. It is usually easier in that regard because for some reason in our society, men putting themselves out there are looked up to where most women get looked down upon. You’ll never guilt trip or legislate that mind frame out of society, in my opinion. What the troubled cosplaying ladies can do is take a note from the men - don’t give anyone that power over you.
It’s all in pride towards what you’re doing. Here’s an overstated fact: some people have fast metabolisms and will be skinny regardless. Most have to keep in a gym to stay in good shape. I once heard a friend of mine at a convention getting negative comments for a shirtless cosplay at a convention and his response was “Screw that. I busted my *** getting myself in this shape. I have a right to be proud of it.”
I do agree that with shows like King Of The Nerds coming to prominence, cosplay will grow in media exposure. However, the media is only ever going to redefine us and kill us if we allow it to. Behind almost every great body out there in cosplay is a fantastic seamstress, woodworker, or some other form of great craftsman (or woman). Perversion and people looking at cosplay for the wrong reasons. Letting that turn you away from it is just as bad as those I mentioned in my previous piece letting weight, race or anything else deter them from doing what they want.
It’s cool to be hot. It’s perfectly fine to be irritated with the wrongs of the world and vent that to people. Being you and not apologizing for it is as big a part of this as it is any other ‘#cosplayproblem’. If our community remembers this, the media is irrelevant and cosplay will continue to be as immortal as the characters we’re dressing as.
How Sex Is Never Going To Kill Cosplay…Unless You Let It
Matt Ebarb, FateTwister Cosplay
“Oh, she only won something because her boobs are about to bust out of that breastplate.”
“Whatever. She’s a whore. I saw her go back to one of the judge’s hotel rooms last night.”
I won’t attribute those quotes, but I’ve heard them at conventions after cosplay contests and online. It makes me wonder though, if those who preach equality (who I defended in my last post) in cosplay remember their noble cause? This is when it should dawn on people - hey, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.
NerdCalibur’s E. Ortiz did a marvelous job of highlighting this in his piece entitled “Sex Sells: How Cosplay Could Die”. Here, he uses renowned cosplayer Yaya Han and other interviewees to highlight the objectification of women as well as crudeness of the male cosplay audience. I fully understand and agree with him on his stance…that is until he nears the end of his piece.
“Because sooner or later, the mainstream media is going to wake up, corrupt, and take over cosplay. Ten years from now, magazines like Cosplay Gen and AstorCos will be replaced at bookshops by Bikini Cosplay magazine. Cosplay fetish books will replace Cosplay In America on shelves. Cosplayer Nation‘s TV pilot will be turned down for another cosplay show hosted by plastic people who are pretty to look at and make good puns but don’t know a needle from a thread.” - Ortiz
I am by no means refuting that objectification (of BOTH sexes) is problem in the community, nor am I even remotely trying to convince you that misogyny doesn’t exist in our hobby or society. Both of those statements are true as it gets. However, it is a bit of a stretch to say that it is going to kill cosplay as an art form…unless we allow it to.
Perversion in the geek community is hardly anything new. It was a little shy of 30 years ago when Carrie Fisher donned a metal bikini for Star Wars: Return of the Jedi and became the pubertal epiphany for many an American geek. Heck, I could still tell it was a problem five years ago before I got into cosplay. I noticed my friend, who seldom left his laptop from playing World of Warcraft, frequented the gaming site Action Trip which featured a ‘Babe of the Day’ section (whose photo he always saved in a folder, the purpose of which I dare not ponder…)
Carrie, as any model today still does, knew full well what she was getting into. Whether scantily clad or not, any person who puts themselves in the public eye can expect to be picked apart and objectified by the superficial and scrutinized and villianized by the envious. As a cosplayer, you do this regardless when you so much as allow yourself to be photographed by the first person at a convention. The less clothing your cosplay entails, the more you are putting yourself out there for this type of attention. It takes a thick skin to know in advance what you’re setting yourself up for and even more so not to care.
Jesse (Miss Marquin) is one of my best friends I’ve met cosplaying. Having done characters like T-Elos from Xenosaga and arguably the south circuit’s most notorious Seung Mina from Soul Calibur, she’s no stranger to this principle. It still caught me off guard when she mentioned she was doing Street Fighter’s Cammy - a character best known for wearing a thong. Knowing Jesse, I know her reason for doing it isn’t to show off her butt and acquire Facebook page likes. She’s doing it because she likes the character - the best reason to do a cosplay.
“I don't weigh the character on what they wear. If I like a character, I will cosplayer her,” she said. “Cammy is one of my favorite girls from Street Fighter, and a lot of people suggested her to me because they thought I could pull her off well.”
Given, for convention rules and modesty purposes she did modify the design by wearing flesh-colored pantyhose. She also mentioned that she is well prepared for any type of attention she may receive from doing it.
“If they think my butt is nice, then awesome. If they make more lewd comments than that, I'll probably just delete them and move on. I don't let comments like that bother me, because in the end, the cosplaying is what I enjoy the most. I chose to cosplay the skimpy character. I have to expect those comments. I can't choose to do such a character, and then complain later, when fans focus on my 'assets' more than anything else.”
As I alluded to before, males face that objectification too. The wonderful world of geeks includes as many ladies as gentlemen, many of whom have no objection to a young man with the body of a greek god doing a character like a battle ravaged Goku from Dragonball Z, a Lee Sin from League of Legends or a Devil May Cry 3 open-coat Dante. The catch here is men typically eat the objectification up. It is usually easier in that regard because for some reason in our society, men putting themselves out there are looked up to where most women get looked down upon. You’ll never guilt trip or legislate that mind frame out of society, in my opinion. What the troubled cosplaying ladies can do is take a note from the men - don’t give anyone that power over you.
It’s all in pride towards what you’re doing. Here’s an overstated fact: some people have fast metabolisms and will be skinny regardless. Most have to keep in a gym to stay in good shape. I once heard a friend of mine at a convention getting negative comments for a shirtless cosplay at a convention and his response was “Screw that. I busted my *** getting myself in this shape. I have a right to be proud of it.”
I do agree that with shows like King Of The Nerds coming to prominence, cosplay will grow in media exposure. However, the media is only ever going to redefine us and kill us if we allow it to. Behind almost every great body out there in cosplay is a fantastic seamstress, woodworker, or some other form of great craftsman (or woman). Perversion and people looking at cosplay for the wrong reasons. Letting that turn you away from it is just as bad as those I mentioned in my previous piece letting weight, race or anything else deter them from doing what they want.
It’s cool to be hot. It’s perfectly fine to be irritated with the wrongs of the world and vent that to people. Being you and not apologizing for it is as big a part of this as it is any other ‘#cosplayproblem’. If our community remembers this, the media is irrelevant and cosplay will continue to be as immortal as the characters we’re dressing as.