Cosplay Bullying: How to Stop It
All across the world comic conventions are taking place during this time of the year. Fans pay homage to their favorite characters through cosplay. Cosplay is short for costume play which is the formal attire for most comic cons. Something that cosplay is getting a lot of attention for is bullying.
Cosplay bullying is increasing across the US especially among females. Since a lot of cosplay involves anime characters, females are bullying each other over whether or not their body is similar to the anime character that they are going to cosplay. Before we go further, we need to explore anime. Anime is the Japanese term for animation. Japaniese animation or anime feature characters that are either hand drawn or computer generated that display vibrant characters with beautiful color design and themes. Female action characters usually wear bikinis to flaunt their figures. In America, anime consumption is dominated by young males. Thus, anime illustrators target this demographic by designing characters that cater to male sexual fantasies.
Young females cosplay their favorite comic and anime characters at comic conferences. It is the communication post comic cons that leads to the bullying. Teens in particular post pics of cosplay on Facebook and tumblr to make fun at females they perceive to have the wrong figure for a certain anime character. The character Yoko has caused a lot of controversy.
Any girl that does not mirror the figure of Yoko receives criticism and hate from peers. Teenagers have reported that they are constantly taunted if their thighs are too skinny. One teen reported in regards to Yoko:
“you dont have the right body type to cosplay yoko” has been said to me in regards to my thighs, but i dont think they are big or anything”
When it comes to teenagers, as parents we have to ensure that our girls are self confident in their image. We need to discuss cosplay with them to weigh the pros and cons of cosplaying certain characters. Cosplay has become a big issue on tumblr, yahoo questions, and other message boards. Teens are reaching out to each other to problem solve how to bring up cosplay to their parents. As parents, lets take the lead and have the conversation first to increase our daughter’s self esteem which in the end will protect them against cosplay bullying
About the Author
Sedgrid Lewis Sedgrid Lewis is the founder of Spy Parent LLC. He is an internationally recognized safety expert specializing in surveillance equipment, internet monitoring software, and mobile applications for parents and child care professionals. Sedgrid has been highlighted in over 20 major publications. Sedgrid has been covered by Fox News, CBS News, NBC News, Readwrite, Gizmodo, and many more. He is a contributor to Your Teen Magazine.
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