A female attendee of NYCC this year Bethany Maddock definitely had her fair share of inappropriate questions passed her way. Bethany Maddock was cosplaying when a camera crew approached her for an interview. There were already warning bells going off when she noticed that the interviewer had locked eyes with her chest and even after she pointed it out in a slightly playful but serious way and the response she got was that he was “looking at the costume”. She proceeded to let him look at the rest of her costume, her arms were crossed over her chest at this point to prevent him for staring at her but then it only got worse when the first question she was asked was:
“So, does your costume help you get laid?”
I doubt I am alone in thinking this but that doesn’t sound like the type of interviewer who has genuine interest in the costume and not how it was being worn.
There are plenty of questions he could have asked if he was genuinely interested. Reasonable questions such as “Why that particular costume?”, ” Did you make it or buy it?” and ” How much work did you put into completing your costume?”. Those are all good places to start but no he chose to 1. Gawk at her breasts and 2. Further insult her by asking such an inappropriate answer.
Hearing about this incident made me angry for many reasons but one of them way how it was handled by security within the first few hours. A picture was taken of the crew by Maddock but they were still walking around the convention hours later doing the same thing. God knows how many more people were “interviewed” by these people posing as professionals.
This wasn’t the only incident that took place and I must add that you should only read this post at your own discretion as it may lead to anguish, frustration and anger!
It doesn’t end there though and this story in particular upset me – young female cosplayer had a run in with another “interviewer”. She looked to be between the ages of 16 -17. The girls was already giving of vibes of being uncomfortable when the “interviewer” grabbed her and kissed her. He kissed a potential minor without her consent! Just typing that sentence made me feel nauseous. Apparently it’s not the first time something like that happened, it’s a “trend” on YouTube.
Guys film themselves kissing random girls and record their reactions, to me that looks like a fast track onto the ban list at cons or anywhere in general. The young woman was visibly horrified and left the location quickly. The “crew ” scrammed when they saw they were being glared at. Jenipedia went to check up on the girl who said that she was going to get her mother. The incident happened so quickly that an accurate description couldn’t be given to the security but you can bet she tried her best. I hope her mother got to speak to someone and action was taken because incidents like this can and should not go unpunished. [Source: Jenipedia]
This isn’t just solely about women in cosplay at conventions though, in fact male cosplayers face similar problems when it comes to the behaviour of other convention-goers, it’s reported even less amongst male cosplayers but it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be taken any less serious. Being a male cosplayer you face the same issues, you are viewed by both men and women as something to oogle, you’re only cosplaying to show off your muscles and you’re just seeking attention and while your credibility might not be questioned, you can become the target of media trying to ‘turn the tables’ on men:
Not every man who attends these conventions is there to creep and oogle! Not every woman who attends is there to berate and tear the fragile ego-system of geek culture down! We are all attending these events because we enjoy them, it’s not about who can throw the biggest punches at either side, this should be a united front against discrimination, bullying and sexual harassment.
The straying of hands from both sexes is becoming increasingly common and despite the fact that many cosplayers deem this sort of touching inappropriate and invasive it still continues to happen because the attitude of “They dressed this way, they want attention, I’m doing nothing wrong, it’s funny!” still permeates throughout our culture – we are led to believe our actions do no harm or have no consequences!
People need to stop letting this sort of stuff happen and treat others as they would like to be treated but in a society that at times justifies objectifying those who meet the standards of stereotypical beauty is it really that hard to believe that some people think this type of behaviour is acceptable?
There are the odd occasions where people intervene when things like this happen but more than likely this behaviour is either blatantly ignored or worse, celebrated. We scare vitcims of harassment into silence by showing the backlash of what happens when you report an incident, they are scrutinised as much as the perpetrator, if not more and find themselves targeted through various social media sites, as much aggression rises up against them often overshadowing their supporters.
Encouraging people to come forward and report these incidents would help combat the problems but until we see a real shift in the attitude in our culture then nothing is going to change. There is one simple rule we need to hammer home to people:
Cosplay is not Consent and never will be!
A female attendee of NYCC this year Bethany Maddock definitely had her fair share of inappropriate questions passed her way. Bethany Maddock was cosplaying when a camera crew approached her for an interview. There were already warning bells going off when she noticed that the interviewer had locked eyes with her chest and even after she pointed it out in a slightly playful but serious way and the response she got was that he was “looking at the costume”. She proceeded to let him look at the rest of her costume, her arms were crossed over her chest at this point to prevent him for staring at her but then it only got worse when the first question she was asked was:
“So, does your costume help you get laid?”
I doubt I am alone in thinking this but that doesn’t sound like the type of interviewer who has genuine interest in the costume and not how it was being worn.
There are plenty of questions he could have asked if he was genuinely interested. Reasonable questions such as “Why that particular costume?”, ” Did you make it or buy it?” and ” How much work did you put into completing your costume?”. Those are all good places to start but no he chose to 1. Gawk at her breasts and 2. Further insult her by asking such an inappropriate answer.
Hearing about this incident made me angry for many reasons but one of them way how it was handled by security within the first few hours. A picture was taken of the crew by Maddock but they were still walking around the convention hours later doing the same thing. God knows how many more people were “interviewed” by these people posing as professionals.
This wasn’t the only incident that took place and I must add that you should only read this post at your own discretion as it may lead to anguish, frustration and anger!
It doesn’t end there though and this story in particular upset me – young female cosplayer had a run in with another “interviewer”. She looked to be between the ages of 16 -17. The girls was already giving of vibes of being uncomfortable when the “interviewer” grabbed her and kissed her. He kissed a potential minor without her consent! Just typing that sentence made me feel nauseous. Apparently it’s not the first time something like that happened, it’s a “trend” on YouTube.
Guys film themselves kissing random girls and record their reactions, to me that looks like a fast track onto the ban list at cons or anywhere in general. The young woman was visibly horrified and left the location quickly. The “crew ” scrammed when they saw they were being glared at. Jenipedia went to check up on the girl who said that she was going to get her mother. The incident happened so quickly that an accurate description couldn’t be given to the security but you can bet she tried her best. I hope her mother got to speak to someone and action was taken because incidents like this can and should not go unpunished. [Source: Jenipedia]
This isn’t just solely about women in cosplay at conventions though, in fact male cosplayers face similar problems when it comes to the behaviour of other convention-goers, it’s reported even less amongst male cosplayers but it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be taken any less serious. Being a male cosplayer you face the same issues, you are viewed by both men and women as something to oogle, you’re only cosplaying to show off your muscles and you’re just seeking attention and while your credibility might not be questioned, you can become the target of media trying to ‘turn the tables’ on men:
Not every man who attends these conventions is there to creep and oogle! Not every woman who attends is there to berate and tear the fragile ego-system of geek culture down! We are all attending these events because we enjoy them, it’s not about who can throw the biggest punches at either side, this should be a united front against discrimination, bullying and sexual harassment.
The straying of hands from both sexes is becoming increasingly common and despite the fact that many cosplayers deem this sort of touching inappropriate and invasive it still continues to happen because the attitude of “They dressed this way, they want attention, I’m doing nothing wrong, it’s funny!” still permeates throughout our culture – we are led to believe our actions do no harm or have no consequences!
People need to stop letting this sort of stuff happen and treat others as they would like to be treated but in a society that at times justifies objectifying those who meet the standards of stereotypical beauty is it really that hard to believe that some people think this type of behaviour is acceptable?
There are the odd occasions where people intervene when things like this happen but more than likely this behaviour is either blatantly ignored or worse, celebrated. We scare vitcims of harassment into silence by showing the backlash of what happens when you report an incident, they are scrutinised as much as the perpetrator, if not more and find themselves targeted through various social media sites, as much aggression rises up against them often overshadowing their supporters.
Encouraging people to come forward and report these incidents would help combat the problems but until we see a real shift in the attitude in our culture then nothing is going to change. There is one simple rule we need to hammer home to people:
Cosplay is not Consent and never will be!
