Slutwalk Otakon - It’s Not a Costume, It’s a Hat
This is the first of two posts on cosplay
The problem with sexy anime costumes and objectification is not in portrayal or the implied male gaze, it’s with the implied males. You’re reading too much into the costumes.
But first, we have a story:
My roommate and I were in high school when the Columbine shootings occurred. While this meant little to me, my roommate, who we will call “Leon” for this story (because he loves Leon Kennedy) had a decidedly more harrowing experience. See, Leon liked (and still likes) to wear a trench coat for reasons he can tell you if you ask politely (if you’re rude, punching may or may not happen).
Well, needless to say, after the shootings it took relatively little time for the school administration to round up the misanthropic, trench coat wearing kid and ask him pointed questions about whether he’d shoot up the school. See, despite all his talk of violence, Leon is one of the most upstanding and considerate people I know. I think I’ve only ever seen him hit someone once, in anger and he immediately regretted it. So, when the authorities accused him of being on the verge of shooting up the school, the persecution he felt was very real.
The takeaway here is that Leon’s reasons for wearing a trench coat were different than the reasons assigned to him for wearing it. And, had the administrators taken the time to ask him in a more polite way or maybe consider that he just might like trench coats this all could have been avoided.
What does this have to do with anime cosplay?
Well, too damn many character designs and portrayals reduce their characters to sex objects, making it on the surface impossible to to cosplay any of these characters without objectifying yourself. Only not. See, there is a person inside that costume, who is actually wearing clothes. There are two consequences to this argument:
First, we all need to remember to treat cosplayers male or female with respect. Zie is only dressed as Miko Mido (look it up, NSFW) because zie thinks she looks great in green and likes her pink ribbon/ponytail combo. Do not treat her like zie wants to show you zir sexcraft and take the time to find out why zie has chosen this particular cosplay.
Secondly, cosplay cannot be pandering or objectifying. Since the cosplayer remains in control of the message (anyone who disagrees with zie’s portrayal is flat out wrong). Conversely, all cosplay is empowering if you choose it to be so. Sure, dress up as Soga Kena from Demon King Daimao, or Mikuru Asahina. These characters are passive plot tokens and exist mainly to titillate, but since that’s not your purpose, you’re not degrading yourself by choosing to dress up as them—unless of course that’s your thing.
The onus, then is on the observer community. Those women Felicia and the dudes as Grimmjow all have their own reasons for wearing (or not wearing in the case of Felicia) their costumes and you should approach them as people in particularly good looking t-shirts, about which they might like to talk.
EDIT: Removed my suppositions for why Leon wears a trench coat at his request.
