Yo People! Cosplay isn't Consent!

Give it up for Sushi Killer @ 16-bit sirens, for addressing the issue of Sexual Harassment and Cosplay with her photo project....

Oh come on, people dressing as slutty characters WANT the attention, I agree its wrong to touch without consent but this is over dramatizing it.

@bruxae: I don't feel it's over dramatizing, after the first time seeing a man ripping a woman's close off by force. That right the first time.... Concerts, Halloween, Mardi Gras, Comic Coventions, Football Games..... and I hear the same thing over and over agian...... "Well if she didn't want that she shouldn't look like that." or "Well if she wasn't here it wouldn't have happened."

Do people get raped at comic con or something?

I have no sympathy for people who dress like in the pictures and then complain when people touch them. They're just asking for attention and they know it.

Well -that- I can agree with, if that really happened its incredibly low and wrong and whoever did it should be neutered.

However I do believe that going out dressed like that to a non-public place or a place where you arent really safe is just incredibly stupid, its easy to argue about right and wrong but the fact still remains.. Its a risk you accept if you go there like -that-.

Im sorry if I come off wrong, im kinda drunk at the moment, rape is never right.. And sometimes it happens no matter what you do, but sometimes people are just being chaotic stupid in refusing to prevent it in some sort of "demonstration" that they are allowed to do what they want.

@bruxae: Cheers Brother or Sister or What ever you are I'm drinking with you (New Orleans)... but I have to disagree with you on this.

Even if women cosplay/dress provocative in whatever situation or location (even stripclubs or brothels) it's not ok to touch them without their permission or use derogatory slang. But seriously, this should be common sense by now and it pisses me off that it isn't already.

So happy that somebody posted this.

Wow and some of the comments in this thread prove why this is a necessary thing.

I can't believe there are people defending sexual harassment.... I don't know if they are trolls, rapist, some backward hick, or someone without a little sister...... Drop mic

So, it's their own fault for getting groped because of what they're wearing?

No-one should ever be touched inappropriately against their consent, in any situation, no matter what they're wearing.

If girls are going to cons dressed like that, they should at least have some one with them. Sexual harassment is wrong, but girls dressed like this, with the orange hair shouldn't be going to a convention half naked. Its common sense, I generally don't like to see cosplay anyway.

This!

I don't know if that counts, but sometime ago on the Connichi (a german Anime Convention) a guy shoved a "Free Hugs" shield on my and hugged me before I could say anything. My only thoughts were WTF?! Õ__ô°

And no, I wasn't wearing a cosplay wich shows much skin, I was dressed like this.

@emh_bruce: That's a weird thing to do. Maybe not exactly the same thing, but still inappropriate. I'd take offense to someone doing that to me.

I don't know man, at some level, A lot of female characters in nerd-type media are (more often than not) dressed provocatively in the original medium

On the other hand, if you don't support the whole "sexy outfit" thing, you shouldn't dress in a sexy outfit

I mean, if people are going as like, just Starfleet officers or modern day ms/captain Marvel, and still getting looks, that's just unprovoked.

In my experience, at cons, ladies aren't really harrased no matter how their dressed, ogled maybe, but not touched or talked down to. I mean, if your gonna say people can't look at you, that's just kind of rediculous

Damn right they do. It is interesting how many people here subscribe to the old adage that any woman who shows her body is "asking for it". What is this, the fifties? I thought we had advanced more than we actually have.

Seriously.

The burden should never fall on people not to be groped/sexually assaulted and to act in ways to prevent this from happening. The burden should fall on the people who are groping and otherwise sexually assaulting them. How is THAT not common sense? People like wearing costumes and cosplaying. Sometimes those costumes leave them scantily clad. That is not an invitation. Cosplay is NOT consent, it's not an invitation, it's not a cry for attention. It's a form of self-expression in what SHOULD be a safe environment.

This is like saying 'she shouldn't have worn that', 'well, she was drinking', 'she should know better than to walk down that street at that time' etc etc. It's never the victim's fault. It's the fault of the one assaulting them and the fault of a culture who perpetuates the line of thought that women should be taught how not to get raped as opposed to teaching men...not to rape.

I could not agree more.

It disgusts me that until relatively recently, victims of sexual assault could be cross-examined about their pasts, as though female promiscuity is somehow validation for male aggression and assault. I don't care how drunk a girl is, how many guys she has slept with, or what she is wearing. No means no. A girl consents or she doesn't, it is as simple as that.

To be honest, when it comes to cosplaying, there are not exactly many options for a woman who wants to dress as her favourite character without showing a little skin. It is the way the majority of female characters are designed. But even with the more scantily clad males, should we assume that the same rules apply? If I see a guy dressed as Ka-Zar in a loincloth and not much else, is it then okay (using the logic of some of the people who have posted here) for me to walk up and touch him? To follow him round, wolf-whistling and grabbing his ass?

I think not somehow.

Thank you. If someone wears a shirt saying shoot me does he deserved to be shot? No! Any man or woman should be able to dress however, they want without the fear of someone violating constantly eating away at them. Stop telling people to dress like nuns and start telling people NOT TO TOUCH WITHOUT CONSENT OR ATTACK F__KING PEOPLE. The issue is never the victim, it is always the attacker.

And this. Thanks to all of you with enough good sense to know that no matter how you dress you deserve respect, personal space, and always, ALWAYS consent.

WHAT THE $#!%... NO REALLY WHAT THE $#!%. THIS F-ING THREAD WAS MADE TO GIVE A THUMB UPS TO A WOMAN WHO GAVE A LIGHT TO A PROBLEM IN THE COMIC COMMUNITY! NOT AN F-ING DEBATE THREAD! THERE IS NO DEBATE HERE! IT'S F-ING WRONG WRONG WRONG! DON'T GIVE ME THIS "SHE SHOULDN'T WEAR THIS" $#!%! HAVE SOME F-ING SELF CONTROLL........... I'M F-ING THROWING MY MIC NOW!

There have been some marked improvements recently, thank goodness, but it's still sickeningly prevalent. There was just a case in the US, the Steubenville case. Members of the football team got this girl completely and utterly drunk and proceeded to rape her, as well as other things. Pictures were posted to Twitter, tweets were made by numerous members of the team, there was other stuff done on other social networking sites. When it finally went to court, two of the players were convicted and even then, the national media sympathized with them. These poor guys, their whole lives have been ruined by this one thing.

Utterly disgusting and speaks to a system-wide problem when the national media portrays rapists as the ones to sympathize with. For people who are wondering why talk about rape culture is so prevalent - there is your reason.

Ha! Very fair point, it's always interesting flipping things like that and at that point you realize how serious a double standard there is.

Cosplay is for annoying people.

@judasnixon said:

WHAT THE $#!%... NO REALLY WHAT THE $#!%. THIS F-ING THREAD WAS MADE TO GIVE A THUMB UPS TO A WOMAN WHO GAVE A LIGHT TO A PROBLEM IN THE COMIC COMMUNITY! NOT AN F-ING DEBATE THREAD! THERE IS NO DEBATE HERE! IT'S F-ING WRONG WRONG WRONG! DON'T GIVE ME THIS "SHE SHOULDN'T WEAR THIS" $#!%! HAVE SOME F-ING SELF CONTROLL........... I'M F-ING THROWING MY MIC NOW!

so basically your saying that no one should debate this and any discussion of this subject that doesn't totally support your opinion shouldn't be able to speak?

Yeah. I did, but before I could say anything he was gone again. That guy was weird, he hugged everybody who crossed his path. Õ__ô° (with first giving them his Free Hugs shield -.-)

@emh_bruce: Wow, that's pretty creepy. I don't get why someone would do that.

@judasnixon: I'm entirely not sure how someone can grab a lady's vagina

anyways, that's not what i was saying, I (mostly) agree with what your posts were about, but the whole"your not allowed to argue" argument is a bit self-destructive, because when someone says "your not allowed to argue" the first reaction of the otehr person is going to be "thats just ebcasue you know your wrong"

a lot of people disagree on what does and does not constitute sexual assault, and what sexual actions could potentially cause permanent damage to someone. And I feel like most people aren't even interested in convincing the other side (usually a good strategy when your trying to spread an idea) so much as they are getting mad at the people who disagree.

I'm saying that people will express their opinions, and not letting naysayers into their discussion tends to lead movements into some pretty weird/extreme territory (after a while at least)

please, tell the these people why your right, it's usually better for someone who wants people to adopt an ideal

wow awesome! this is really cool, and more people should be aware to be careful with cosplayers, it's not an excuse for stuff...

but on another note

Yelling I'd bang you is not a compliment? wooow..... This is awkward

@betatesthighlander1: I don't think I have to... I'm a pretty gray person. I would love to hear the argument on how gropping a woman dressed as Power Girl will feed someone's kids........

Generally speaking you should not touch people without their consent. You can tap someone on the shoulder to get their attention and that's about it.

@v_scarlotte_rose: Me neither, that was the weirdest thing ever happend to me on a Convention.

This so very bloody much. How can you tell me it's the fault of a girl for getting VIOLATED?! It is wrong to force yourself onto someone in any way, shape or form. I don't care what she was wearing! Are you such a loser that you can't get yourself laid in the conventional, consensual manner?! It's discussions like these and the disgusting fellows at conventions and comics stores that scare so many girls away from comics

COSPLAY IS CONSENT!

I don't think anyone said that it was, unless your gonna up and say that anything not required to live is imorral, that kinda falls flat as an argument

If you want to spread any word, you should be able to form a more complete justification of why you support said word.

completely unacceptable language.

@gambler: I'll take my strike. I'm sorry I used unacceptable language talking about an unacceptable behavior.....

What?! How? How is dressing a certain way entitle someone else to violate them? People aren't objects lying around to be used no matter what they wear.

As soon as they make disagreeing with someone against the rules I'll enforce it ;)

@betatesthighlander1: I'm not here to argue SunShine......

@judasnixon: if your not going to try to justify your point, and you act really righteuos about it, your liable to get more active detractors than you had before. you are hurting your cause by trying to post like this.

@blood1991 said:

I was actually just attention whoring.

@betatesthighlander1: Really? I don't feel the need to type out why it's a bad idea to drown puppies.... Am I helping out the pro puppy drowning gang?

@judasnixon: who said anything about drowning puppies? how is that at all analagous to the topic at hand?

that being said, your not doing any kind of righteuos, unquantified virulent ant-puppy drwoning thread where you deride people who don't recognize animal rights and accuse everyone who's questioning your argument strategies is a puppy-drowner, all while givving the pretense of representing the average anti-pupopy drowning activist

If a young lady(or man) is dressed in a provocative way it's obvious that she/he will get a certain type of attention desired or not it's going to happen, but when certain personal boundaries are crossed is when Shit gets real. There is no excuse for someone to invade ones personal space or use obscene language especially toward ladies there is no debate about it it's wrong period!

@infinite_doom: a reasonable argument, I agree entirely

now, have you ever observed anyone getting sexually assaulted at a convention?

Oh sweet babies thank goodness.