"So They Say You Shouldn't Cosplay" panelists talk body image
Back in the early August, at the 2014 Boston Comic Con, cosplayers 
Ivy Doomkitty,
Bethany Maddock and
BelleChere (whom I've written about before) did a panel that was, at least according to the description, was supposed to be about all the ways women get crap for cosplaying. it was supposed to touch on subjects like cosplaying a character of different race, or crossplaying (cosplaying a character of opposite gender). But because, I suspect, of the composition of the panel, it mostly wound up dealing with body image.
None of the panelists were exactly what one would describe as model-skinny. That much is self-evident. But the discussion during the panel underlines something I wrote about before. This kind of beauty standard is not just restrictive and implicitly condescending - it can be bloody soul-crushing.
(Ivy DoomKitty's account in particular, about how her worries about how people would react to her kept her from cosplaying (and how it took encouragement from comic book artist Frank Cho for her to even try) is particularly heartbreaking).
This goes beyond the whole "beauty is beauty is beauty" thing. Cosplay is, first and foremost, supposed to be about having fun. it's a way to use your skills to create something you enjoy. Not everybody is necessarily going to like the end results, but the sort of crap all three panelists had to endure is bloody inexcusable.
In any case - the entire panel has been recorded on video, and I encourage you all to watch the embeds below.
Ivy Doomkitty,
Bethany Maddock and
BelleChere (whom I've written about before) did a panel that was, at least according to the description, was supposed to be about all the ways women get crap for cosplaying. it was supposed to touch on subjects like cosplaying a character of different race, or crossplaying (cosplaying a character of opposite gender). But because, I suspect, of the composition of the panel, it mostly wound up dealing with body image.
None of the panelists were exactly what one would describe as model-skinny. That much is self-evident. But the discussion during the panel underlines something I wrote about before. This kind of beauty standard is not just restrictive and implicitly condescending - it can be bloody soul-crushing.
(Ivy DoomKitty's account in particular, about how her worries about how people would react to her kept her from cosplaying (and how it took encouragement from comic book artist Frank Cho for her to even try) is particularly heartbreaking).
This goes beyond the whole "beauty is beauty is beauty" thing. Cosplay is, first and foremost, supposed to be about having fun. it's a way to use your skills to create something you enjoy. Not everybody is necessarily going to like the end results, but the sort of crap all three panelists had to endure is bloody inexcusable.
In any case - the entire panel has been recorded on video, and I encourage you all to watch the embeds below.
Click to view