cosplay does NOT equal Consent
- Thread starter Bones
- Start date
No, I am. But yeah... we do it because it looks good on us. Not sure WHY but it does. Maybe it's the wide brim?
figmentPez
Staff member
Back on the subject of creepy comments. iKearstin had some interesting comments. From her Tumblr (which is very NSFW), some select quotes:
I really like that she differentiates, in a paragraph I didn't quote, between intentional assholes and those that don't know better. I also think she makes a good point about taking the opportunity to teach, and not resort to public shaming.
I disagree with her on some points. Not everyone is, or even can be, prepared to have a witty comeback to every possible asshole comment. I'm a pretty glib speaker when I'm on stage talking about a subject I know well, but I fall to pieces trying to talk to an attractive woman. Other people just aren't good at snappy comebacks at all. It's a difficult skill to master. While I do think every effort should be made to avoid the "giggle and accept" reaction, as that can send the message that the bad behavior was acceptable, I don't think it's good advice to tell every woman to be aggressive in response, because that's not a reasonable expectation.
I really like that she differentiates, in a paragraph I didn't quote, between intentional assholes and those that don't know better. I also think she makes a good point about taking the opportunity to teach, and not resort to public shaming.
As someone who was once a kid (as alien as that is to you, oh ancient one) i got to ask: why does that matter? Because before puberty i didn't really care except that they looked silly and uncomfortable, while after puberty they could have been wearing burka's and i would have made due...[DOUBLEPOST=1382366326,1382366239][/DOUBLEPOST]
It's like a prison for your head...
GasBandit
Staff member
Yeah, they never fit just right, you're expected to take em off indoors which just gives you something extra to carry around, and they mess up your hair so when you DO take it off you look dumb. No hat has ever made me look as good as my hair alone, and if it rains I have umbrellas at home, work, and in the car (more for the sake of the electronics I carry, really).
I'm really not sure where else to put this, since it's not really about consent, but I guess I wanted to bring up/mention stories of bullying.
http://iamthedavrezi.tumblr.com/post/84720306678/on-friday-i-went-to-school-in-my-grell-cosplay
I don't know what it is about this particular story that gets to me, but it does. It really really does. And I'm so angry. What in the hell are parents teaching their kids these days??
If you don't want to read it, a girl wore her Grell cosplay to school.
And then got assaulted. When another girl began tugging on her wig the cosplayer asked her to stop, and then the girl turned on the cosplayer. She punched her, ripped her wig off, knocked her to the ground.
In what world is this reaction okay?? And then there are screen shots of a Facebook conversation of people saying how happy they are that this girl got beat up. I just don't even...
I see cosplayers, especially young ones, get bullied often. A lot of us are older and can handle verbal abuse, but physical altercations and on some poor high school student?
I am so angry. So very angry. And I can feel myself becoming Mama Bear and UGH. I would hope that the one girls mother would talk to her daughter, but I know that that is unlikely, which is just so wrong.
This just...hits close to home for me because I was bullied in school. Not terribly, but with my depression and anxiety it was enough to mess me up for almost all of my school life.
http://iamthedavrezi.tumblr.com/post/84720306678/on-friday-i-went-to-school-in-my-grell-cosplay
I don't know what it is about this particular story that gets to me, but it does. It really really does. And I'm so angry. What in the hell are parents teaching their kids these days??
If you don't want to read it, a girl wore her Grell cosplay to school.
And then got assaulted. When another girl began tugging on her wig the cosplayer asked her to stop, and then the girl turned on the cosplayer. She punched her, ripped her wig off, knocked her to the ground.
In what world is this reaction okay?? And then there are screen shots of a Facebook conversation of people saying how happy they are that this girl got beat up. I just don't even...
I see cosplayers, especially young ones, get bullied often. A lot of us are older and can handle verbal abuse, but physical altercations and on some poor high school student?
I am so angry. So very angry. And I can feel myself becoming Mama Bear and UGH. I would hope that the one girls mother would talk to her daughter, but I know that that is unlikely, which is just so wrong.
This just...hits close to home for me because I was bullied in school. Not terribly, but with my depression and anxiety it was enough to mess me up for almost all of my school life.
the line that sums up what you want is, "They're not like you and me, which means they must be evil!" or my personal favorite, which is burned into me, "You are cast from the light monster, you are cast from our warm embrace, die monster, die, you don't belong in this world!"
GasBandit
Staff member
I can't say I know much about this. The only time I ever went (or saw somebody go) to school in costume was on halloween day. And thus, nobody thought it odd. Of course, the school custodians hated me because I went as a freshly killed zombie every year, complete with oozing blood, and sometimes it got on the floor.
I know I'm going to sound like a TOTAL dick for saying this, but honestly, going to school dressed in cosplay is totally asking for trouble.
I know I shouldn't feel that way, because I'm usually all about letting your freak flag fly and wearing your difference like a badge, but even I knew not to show up in certain places dressed in drag when I was younger and did such things.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, you should really pick your battles.
I know I shouldn't feel that way, because I'm usually all about letting your freak flag fly and wearing your difference like a badge, but even I knew not to show up in certain places dressed in drag when I was younger and did such things.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, you should really pick your battles.
I want to rebuttal, I got nothing, I agree school is probably not a great venue, but hell we all did dumb shit when we were in high school. I feel like things to do to get beat up for this should be low on the list. Its like when I was in high school and the bullies beat me up in the parking lot for being a cripple and limping to my car after a particularly nasty fall.
She wore the costume to school as a test run to see how it would handle at a convention. She even mentions she expected to be poked fun at, laughed at, but what I am not okay with is for her to be beat up.
I get it, wearing a costume to school is not the best venue, but that shouldn't matter on a scale of physical altercations. Wearing a costume to school should not = physical bullying.
I get it, wearing a costume to school is not the best venue, but that shouldn't matter on a scale of physical altercations. Wearing a costume to school should not = physical bullying.
Nothing should equal physical bullying. But it's a problem that I don't know how to fix.
I don't think there will ever be a fix, but not blaming the person who gets the shit kicked out of them is a start.
Is it just me, or does the description resemble an animal attack? Like having the colored wig was waving a red flag in a bull's face. Usually I see bullying escalate, not just sudden laying in.
I read the original post (oy, that background color...), but did she ever report the incident and the follow-up posts to the administration? While I agree cosplaying at school isn't a good idea unless it's Halloween or a theme day, but nothing should ever result in assault. Not saying everyone has to like each other, but she shouldn't be subjected to a hostile environment.
This. Everyone who thinks it was a bad idea in the first place, you are right. It was NOT a good idea for a variety of reasons (it's school being the primary one) however there is zero call for physical bullying. Thats just plain horrible.
GasBandit
Staff member
I agree with Espy. It was probably a bad idea to wear cosplay to school, but that doesn't mean what happened is acceptable.
I'm wondering about the staff and faculty of this school though? Nobody saw the costume and said "you need to go home and change?" Nobody saw the attack, and disciplined the attacker? Is this school just kids running rampant, answerable only to the lord of the flies?
I'm wondering about the staff and faculty of this school though? Nobody saw the costume and said "you need to go home and change?" Nobody saw the attack, and disciplined the attacker? Is this school just kids running rampant, answerable only to the lord of the flies?
GasBandit
Staff member
Man, I got sent home once because I had a shirt (that completely covered my upper body) that said "Big Johnson" on the front.
FRAME IT BITCHES.
The only times I yell at a student for clothing is when said clothing is either A) distracting, or B) inappropriate in some way (sex, drugs, violent threats, etc.). I would probably not have told this girl to change her clothes. I try to let them express themselves as much as (reasonably) possible.
This assault was grotesque and the people who did it should be severely punished.
This assault was grotesque and the people who did it should be severely punished.