The spiritual companion of the Geek Girl Con panel “Changing Culture in Mainstream and Alternative Spaces” was a discussion of the problem of bullying in the cosplay community and possible solutions.
Via George Takei and Fandoms and Feminism (full text).
Image: meme-maker accuses Duela Dent cosplayer of “trying too hard” in a “steampunk gender-swapped Joker in a Willy Wonka hat.” Tumblr users give the OP what for.
“A Community Divided: Bullying within the Cosplay Community and How to Solve the Problem”
From 4chan to Tumblr, the Internet has created an anonymous forum where belittling and trash talk have become the norm, and standing up for someone isn’t noble. In this panel we will be discussing the types of bullying prevalent in the cosplay community, the concept of “white knighting,” our own personal experiences with bullying, and how bullying is affecting attracting potential cosplayers. With panelists Christopher Vance, Erin Gose, Katie Murphy, Lauren Crosson, and Son Young Yu; moderated by Stephen Wilson.
The panelists came up with the panel idea precisely because they weren’t sure how to solve the problem of bullying. There’s a lot of shaming that goes on when pictures are released into the wilds of the Internet, and the panelists discussed their and their friends’ experiences with being ridiculed and harassed in person by other cosplayers and online on 4chan, Cosplay Fuck, and comments from social media.
Yu spoke about starting to cosplay in the late ’90s, when she started participating in the Trekkie community. She and the other panelists spoke about how the fan communities were warm and welcoming places for fellow geeks to geek out about their favorite media without having to worry about judgment from non-geeks, the “mainstream” culture, or their own cultures at home or at work. Chris Vance (and Chaka Cumberbatch, in the “Race in Costuming and Performance” panel) both brought up how being geeky and Black alienated them from both groups.
Why is cosplay so rife with bullying? Gose and Yu hypothesized that cosplay is vulnerable because fans are visually and physically displaying theirr love of fandom. Yu spoke about the competitiveness of other cosplayers, who might pick on those who “aren’t doing it right”–whether that’s because they aren’t good at sewing or don’t look exactly like the character because of size, skin, gender, etc. Also, when a fan is bullied within the fandom, it hurts more because the fan community is supposed to be a safe place.
Vance discussed his experience with going viral on the Internet after someone photoshopped a wet spot into his costume. Being a closeted anime fan in the Army, going to cons was a way to be with others like himself where he didn’t feel like an outsider. However, some people, perhaps subconsciously, replicate popularity hierarchies within the fandom, as if they were better than other fans/nerds. There are cliques of cosplayers who are amazing costumers, but sometimes they are rude to less-skilled, more-casual, or newer cosplayers.
Furthermore, Murphy added the idea that the insulation of online culture and the ability to anonymously hide behind a screen contributed to bullying. A person in a costume is not considered to be a person, and we need to understand that all cosplayers are people.
Eradicating Bullying
To delve into the cause of the problem, the moderator asked why bullying happens in cosplay, and subsequently, what we can do to stop it. Gose indicated the culture of violence and lack of learned empathy as greater cultural contributors. Yu noted that it’s sad and ironic that we all come together to be weird together and bullying still happens–and others stand by and do nothing to help.
“You have to start with yourself,” Yu said. With the normalization of some aspects of geek culture, we are seeing more mainstream bullying behavior because becoming the norm means having the problems of the norm. Part of empowering herself is empowering others. Hate takes effort, and “if you have fun being a jerk, you don’t belong here.” Furthermore, silence is not support, and other cosplayers need to call out bullies. We love these characters we cosplay, and we want to become them in a way, or we identify with them. Every cosplayer is a human being.
Murphy’s suggestion to end bullying is to turn criticism on its head–for example, if someone calls you out because your body shape doesn’t match the character’s, “I know” and a grin is better than breaking down. Trolls want a reaction and will keep searching for it. To defend others, you have to defend yourself. Her biggest piece of advice: “they’re wrong.”
Crosson added that the adage of “get thicker skin” isn’t helpful at all. We as a geek community need to be vocal about bullying and proactively stop it by standing up for each other.
Questions and Answers
Other suggestions brought up in the Q&A:
- Never say “I hate”: do not start or encourage negativity. If you have something unkind to say, say it to friend instead of writing it online.
- Older cosplayers need to act as leaders and enforcers to stop bullying.
- Love all levels of cosplay from duct-tape to hand-stitched, and appreciate your fellow cosplayers and geeks. It’s not just all about defending others. Be a positive force.
- Cosplay bullying is linked to misogyny: if women are “not sexy enough” for the male gaze, misogynists feel they somehow “deserve” to be trashed; but if you’re “too sexy,” then you’re a “fake nerd girl” doing it for attention. [This is rape culture.] We have to fight misogyny at all levels of society as well as in cosplay.
- Cons need clear statements about anti-harassment policies, which need to be enforced for attendees and media alike. Cosplay is NOT consent.
Like “Changing Culture,” this panel also identified the normalization of geek culture as part of the problem in bullying with regards to body-shaming, racism, and misogyny in geek culture. Yet, instead of trying to make geekdom into some kind of geekboys-only club and excluding perceived “non geeks,” being more inclusive and focusing on ending bullying will make the community a better place. We can still reject that part of mainstream culture even–especially!– as we become more visible in the media and on social media, and we have to work to fight against these problems in the mainstream culture, too. Boldly go!
The Lobster Dance 
Last night I was watching the Kevin Smith-produced AMC series Comic Book Men, which is a reality show about a comic book store in New Jersey. In Episode 13 of the second season, “Stash Wars,” two young women walk into the store dressed in what is very obviously Doctor Who cosplay – one was the David Tennant Tenth Doctor and the other was the Tardis. The people running the store had to ask what they were doing and who they were supposed to be, though, and one of them (Bryan Johnson) was quite mean to them, even though they came to the store as customers with the clearly stated intent of buying something specific.
This adult male cattiness was surprising to me not only because it was the first time I’ve seen anyone on the show actually be mean to (and not just playfully tease) another person but also because it highlighted the fact that this was one of the extraordinarily few times in the show that someone who wasn’t, you know, a comic book *man* appeared in any role other than one of the random customers in the background. Since the people who run the store don’t lash out at male customers who show up in Godzilla or Star Wars cosplay, and since they occasionally engage in low-key cosplay themselves, I wonder if their attitude was coming less from the cosplay itself and more from the fact that women (and young women, which is even worse) were doing it. Or perhaps it was because they women were cosplaying characters from a fandom that has historically been largely female (information I got from from the essay collection Chicks Dig Time Lords).
I bring this up to give a concrete example of the link between cosplay bullying and misogyny. It’s not just anecdotal; it’s real.
I’d also like to add to the discussion you outline here by mentioning that many cosplayers are rather young (by which I mean around middle to high school age), and going to a convention may just be the first time they leave the highly structured environments of school and family and enter the larger fandom community. It can be shocking to encounter so much diversity, especially if you’re too young to have ever questioned all the prejudice baggage you picked up from your school and family. (I remember going to my first convention – this would have been DragonCon – at fourteen years old and being disgusted by the “fat” people cosplaying as “skinny Asian” anime characters, like OH NOES HOW COULD THEY.) Since Baby’s First Convention may also be the first time that anyone will actually listen to what a young fan has to say about fandom, sometimes young fans say things and behave in ways they shouldn’t.
This is why I agree with the panelists that it’s really important for older fans and community leaders to set an example for younger members of the community. It’s also important to address these issues head-on (as in the case of some of the posts on Cross-Race Cossplay) instead of pretending that they don’t exist. So thank you for this write-up!
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This is so shocking to me and so dreadful! I am a very ancient geek and the wonderful thing about being a geek back in school was that, oh sure you got bullied by all the ‘trendies’ but all the geeks stuck together. There would never have been any bullying! That was the point! It angers me so much and it makes me wonder whether it is partly because all this glorious geekishness has suddenly become ‘cool’ and mainstream that it is attracting ‘the cool crowd’ – those who worry about image and cliques and being ‘in’ or ‘trendy’ … ‘freaky just got fabulous’ as my daughter would say! That is a very different attitude to carry onto the scene and I wonder if it is changing the mindset of the geek culture? I hope not and I really hope they find a solution to the problem. The internet seems to have a lot to answer for with bullying in a whole range of cultures – its such a shame that folk can’t just ‘play nice’ but thanks for posting this and drawing attention to this important issue.
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