Cosplay bullying: There is no difference

It’s finally the day of the convention. You’re dressed up in your cosplay, and you are proud. Why not? You’ve worked so hard on this outfit, whether you worked hour after hour at work saving the money to buy it, or you’ve poured your heart and soul into every stitch making and sewing it all together. You look amazing, and you feel amazing wearing it, and you are in your element.

...That is, until someone decides to call you out for something they don’t like, and you’re slowly affected by these words. But it continues, and other people join in. They eat away at you until you can no longer feel happy cosplaying, and it all seems worthless. It’s just affected your con experience, and becomes a deterrent.

Bullying exists heavily in this world, and there is no denying it. Whether it be in public and to your face, or by keyboard warriors over the internet from a photo that you decided to share with the world in your moment of glory. It hurts, and despite what the old rhyme said about “sticks and stones breaking your bones, but names never hurting me” is all a lie. These things do hurt, and sometimes they get the better of us.

Recently, this cosplayer shared their story of when they wore one of their cosplays to school. It’s a shocking read, and instantly, hearts went out to this person with sympathy. Here’s just a small snippet of what they had to say:

 Source: http://bit.ly/1l69RQG

‘I wore my cosplay to school knowing that it wouldn’t be treated especially gently, but also knowing that if it couldn’t survive a single day at school there was no way it was going to survive all day at a convention. I did not wear my cosplay expecting to be attacked because I chose to stand out.”
Read the entire story here: http://bit.ly/1l69RQG

So why does someone think it’s okay to put you down over something that you love? It’s easy. It isn’t okay to do so, not in the slightest. You can be made fun of during school days, or in the workplace, and it’ll be picked up on, but out in the cosplay community, it runs rampant and needs to be addressed just as quickly.

Source: http://bit.ly/1kRAtQs

Notbadcosplay is one of many tumblr accounts which promotes the ‘anyone can cosplay’ idea, and will share different experiences on the internet concerning cosplay bullying. One of their posts reads:

‘I don’t believe that cosplay should be something we get bullied over. Society already sees us as irregular. And to take away the one place we can feel safe, accepted, and meet so many amazing people who are like us; it’s wrong, disgusting...’
See more here: http://bit.ly/1piUrI7

Thinking about if you should say to that person that they aren’t the right size to be Wonder Woman? Or a guy shouldn’t dress up as a female character? Think again. Don’t say it, just leave it be. People forget that cosplayers are human too; we laugh, we cry, we read horrible comments that are left t us, and we try to cop it on the chin. But words get to us after a while, even to the professionals.

Regardless of whether you are male, female, your skin tone, your size, shape, hair colour, smile, eyes, whatever; you are allowed to cosplay what you want, when you want and how you want. It’s about self expression, and being able to convey your love of a series or a character, and it should be applauded. It takes courage to step out in your costumes, because as far as society is concerned, you will be different, and different should be celebrated.