10. Cosplay, Learning, And Cultural Practice

Engagements with Gender, Sexuality, and Authenticity in Cosplay

“…One aspect of this appears to be connected to dansō cosplayers and the type of androgynous masculinity they tend to present. The author of the Trans-Cosplayers journal article reflects the opinions of Yashima (2009) and Okabe (2012) that female crossplayers, who are to be widely seen in most areas of cosplay, do not seek to give a traditionally "masculine" performance when they mimic male characters: Crossplaying fangirls do not attempt to make themselves more masculine, and do not state that they are attempting to present as male. This creates a stereotype, a false benchmark, for watchers to think of all cosplayers they assume to be anatomically female as "just crossplaying fangirls," disregarding the idea that there could be something more to the situation.…”

“…2 Aiming at Authenticity: Gendered Cosplay Much cosplay scholarship takes an interest in its gendered aspects, particularly in the context of cosplay in Japan, where it has been discussed in terms of how it can impact specifically female resistance to normative gender discourses (Hjorth 2011;Okabe 2012;Tanaka 2009). One such cosplay practice often explored in both academic and English-speaking fan contexts is "crossplay," which, in its most straightforward definition, involves cosplaying a character with the opposite gender to the cosplayer (Gn 2011, p. 588), e.g., a cosplayer who identifies as a woman cosplaying a male character.…”