Manga-inspired cosplay is nothing unusual for Japanese otakus or even here in the United States (see, for instance, our post about the Comic Con 2010 costumes)
But in China, cosplay has taken a weird twist:
Japan’s TBS news visits a gathering of otaku in China to report on how there is now a “boom” in the number of male fans who dress up like female anime and manga characters.
The cross-dressers were apparently influenced by television shows about otaku who do the same kind of thing in Japan. The publication of a Chinese cross-dressing cosplay manual is cited as evidence of this being a trend. It is also mentioned that a lot of Chinese netizens have criticized the weird activities of these otaku.
I don't see what the problem is.
huh?
Fuck this homophobic bullshit!
Exotification is when you say "oh, those wacky other cultures, look at how WACKY they are, let's all have a laugh and/or a wank"
Often a lot of the trivia brought forth from this blog can bring laughs, but especially serve to educate readers about aspects of the world they aren't familiar with. Try doing the same goddamn thing.
It has been touch and go over posts Alex has done in the past, but this blog is off my list now for good.
It's just an article.
I doubt people are formulating their world view by stuff they read here.
After all, isn't part of the purpose of cross-dressing as female manga characters is grabbing attention? Well, my attention was got plenty.
Even the other website you link to doesn't cover the phenomenon like this; the text there is very simple and reporter-like. This smacks of pointing and laughing.
And @vonskippy, clearly the people here actually have that worldview. You're missing the point.
Maybe the headline is a little insensitive, but if they're ugly, then they're ugly. I didn't actually visit the link to see.
Transgendered cosplay is just as douchey as regular cosplay. Same with transgendered zombies and transgendered steampunk.
The whole idea of dressing in drag is to get attention, so these guys can't really complain when they get bad press. And I doubt they really care. Quit being indignant for people who are doing fine.
http://www.derailingfordummies.com/
I'm a recreational crossdresser. (Girl who likes to dress up as guys.) The big three misconceptions about crossdressers I've seen are:
1. All crossdressers are male.
2. All crossdressers are gay.
3. All crossdressers are ugly.
None of them are true; they're born out of people looking at crossdressers, forming these stereotypes in their minds, then ignoring or not noticing the CDs that break them.
I don't think I can recall meeting a cross-gender cosplayer (aka crossplay) who just wants attention. Most of them do it because they like the character, or they think it's fun to express their feminine side.
I'm sorry if I came off as crabby during this discussion. I just get tired of seeing the same stereotypes over and over again, and seeing this on Neatorama (which is so usually incredi-friendly) kind of pushed me over the edge. :-/
I see nothing homophobic about this post. I see nothing disrespectful about this post. No one said anything about homosexuals, nor were any sweeping generalizations made about recreational cross dressers. The only editorializing done in the article is with the single word 'weird'. Well, guess what, cross-dressing cosplayers ARE weird.
"Weird: of strange or extraordinary character"
"Weird" isn't a put-down any more than 'remarkable' is. It simply means 'uncommon'. Grow up, there's no hate here no matter how hard you try to find it.
That's *all* the post (here on N-o-R) says.
There's a pejorative connotation to "weird" that's absent from "remarkable."
So if I'm bothered by something and point it out, I'm freaking out and need to grow up? I gotta say, it seems like you're overreacting to what's being said. I just wanted to voice my opinion, but now you're putting words in my mouth, saying I'm trying to find hate or something.
To do cosplay is more akin to doing drag than it is to cross-dressing. For example, you dress up as IronMan because you want others to see how cool your IronMan outfit is. To equate cross-dressing to this is to say "When I was a child, I always knew I was different. I identified with IronMan. I dress like IronMan now, and I'm getting the surgery next week to be IronMan."
This is why everybody who's pontificating about phobias and the 1950's, should just think for a moment instead of being so reactionary and accusatory.
People don't care that Alex posted an article about cosplay. We're all aware of what it is and how it differs from other cross-gender activities (for lack of a better description). People do care that the title he used for that article reflects identically the sentiment and words commonly used to justify all manner of nastiness towards people who do not conform to gender norms, ranging from harassment to murder, and that is not hyperbole.
Again: the cosplay itself isn't the issue. Alex's poor choice of title is. He was not forced to use the words he did, but he chose to -- apparently because it was a phrase that would drag eyeballs to his post.
Thanks for the reply. I pointed out in the other thread that nobody replied to it, but it really wasn't a desperate plea for attention, I assure you.
So the issue is simply about the phrasing of the title? I really don't think it is.
Do you really think that someone who dresses up as a cartoon character cares what Alex thinks?