ACParadise Forums

Ladies, do you feel pressure to dress in scandalous outfits? I want to cosplay without feeling objectified here......but this forum seems pretty okay with all kinds of cosplay/crossplay etc. What do you think?

I think it depends on why you want to wear the outfit. Certainly, every cosplayer likes feeling that their work is recognized and appreciated and skimpy outfits certainly do seem to pull the attention the fastest (big dresses also tend to have their own pull of gravity), but I don't think that means you HAVE to dress skimpy. Wear something you are going to have fun in and fun with your friends. Cosplay is kind of like wearing a personal ad in that it is a visual cue to series and characters you enjoy. While a conservative outfit might not get the photographers running, you might meet with someone who you share interests with and they will be a far more valuable person to have met.

Good luck! <3

Nope, not at all. I don't even have the body to pull off an outfit like that anyway. But the people who honestly are in love with this hobby won't objectify you or make you feel pressured to cosplay anything that's just "tits and ass" so to speak. Sure, it gets attention, but I don't cosplay with that intention. For me, it's more about expressing my love and appreciation for a character. Everyone has their own reasons, but don't feel pressured that since you're female you need to cosplay a character that has 85% skin showing.

I've personally never felt pressured to cosplay characters with skimpy outfits, and I do cosplays of all type, skimpy ones, not skimpy and crossplay, I will say though that I've found I get a lot more attention on the skimpy ones and the crossplay ones than just the normal non-skimpy female characters.

The fun of cosplay is to cosplay WHATEVER you'd like to cosplay. Some girls like the way their body looks and feel confident enough to wear revealing outfits. Or that's just what they prefer or fit best. Others like to hide their femininity and crossplay and take on that character.

I've cosplayed all over the board. I've done outfits I can't bend over in, I've done skin tight and low cut in the back body suits. I've also done floorlength gowns with 6' of train behind them. But, I've also crossplayed where I'm completely covered. I usually do ones that I feel like doing or roles that need filling in a group. I just try to have fun with whatever I cosplay with whomever I cosplay with. Not all females in anime are scantily clad. There are plenty of strong women who don't have their butts or boobs hanging out of their outfits. It's just a tried and true thing that fanservice gets the views and attention of men/women. But not all men/women like it either.

Just try and find a character you like and adapt their outfit to fit your body shape. I have to do it all the time. I'm an odd shape, but I take it in stride and fit things to make my body look good with whatever I'm wearing.

Hope this helps a little bit!

lucky_cat13 wrote:Ladies, do you feel pressure to dress in scandalous outfits? I want to cosplay without feeling objectified here......but this forum seems pretty okay with all kinds of cosplay/crossplay etc. What do you think?

Mind you this is coming from a guy, but a guy that observes and listens to a lot of complaints from cosplayers.

Yes, a lot of my female friends do feel some kind of pressure to do scandalous outfits. They see other females getting all the attention wearing a strip of cloth while their cosplay that they poured tons of resources in, gets passed over because you have a bunch of photographers run over and are like OMG BOOBS *CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK*

But in the long run, those cosplayers that are wearing the scandalous outfits just for the mere reason to get as much attention as possible are usually the ones that carry the biggest drama bags and are only known as a piece of meat compared to the ones with actual craftmanship which, later on may do a skimpier outfit, but will still retain their rep as being a good cosplayer.

Also sad to say, there are always going to be guys that will objectify you, women are also just as guilty as doing this. But those are the people you shouldn't even bother associating with. You do cosplay for your fun, not for theirs. Weed out the fakes.

I never feel pressured into wearing skimpy outfits because I don't really care what other people want me to wear. No matter how many suggestions I get from people, I'm going to cosplay what I want to cosplay. It's about showing your love for a character, a game, a show, etc, not trying to get attention from the wrong crowd or filling requests from rabid, horny fanboys. Just do what you want!

Thanks for the response. And I realize that this doesn't just apply to women/dressing as a female. Let's open this up to guys too. Why do we cosplay? I know some probably do it for the attention --but that could be considered empowering in some respects. As a girl interested in cross-playing male, I wonder if it will be as comfortable as a space as a female-female cosplay space.....especially when looking at games like WoW

I mean cmon the second thing that comes up when you google "video game characters" is "female video game characters" that makes me feel somewhat uncomfortable and pressured to go along with a norm...

Or even looking up "COSPLAY" ...check the google images. scantily clad women ahoy!

lucky_cat13 wrote:Thanks for the response. And I realize that this doesn't just apply to women/dressing as a female. Let's open this up to guys too. Why do we cosplay? I know some probably do it for the attention --but that could be considered empowering in some respects. As a girl interested in cross-playing male, I wonder if it will be as comfortable as a space as a female-female cosplay space.....especially when looking at games like WoW

I mean cmon the second thing that comes up when you google "video game characters" is "female video game characters" that makes me feel somewhat uncomfortable and pressured to go along with a norm...

Or even looking up "COSPLAY" ...check the google images. scantily clad women ahoy!

I mainly cosplay because its my mechanism to meet people and make friends. In our little hobby, its not exactly easy to meet people who don't consider anime as "japanese porn". Goes with the gamer cosplayers too. "Oh hey I love video games!" "well then you must be some slacker" is the usual response from a non-gaming individual

Birds of a feather flock together.

Even thought I am a brand new cosplayer, I have never felt the need to dress up in a revealing cosplay. I usually do my best to find more modest characters that would have rather fun, and easy to make, outfits. I just cosplay for the fun of it, not for any kind of attention.

I'm new here and to be honest, I don't feel pressured at all. I want to dress up like the characters that I feel are my favorites or the ones that I feel may be a challenge! I'm not sure how I'm going to get started...but this is going to be a fun experience! lol...anywho-point is, if you don't want to feel objectified..then please don't dress up in a way that will make you feel uncomfortable. We are not supposed to please anyone but ourselves. So when you dress up..make sure you are doing it because you want to and it will be fun for you! That's my opinion!

~Alis

Ps: if anyone has any ideas for newbies on how to get started..then please give me a shout out!

I know this thread's quite old already, but I just wanted to answer this question. I haven't really done official cosplaying yet, but I have attend many costume parties already. Nope, didn't feel pressured at all to dress provocatively. On the contrary, I choose characters whose clothing are comfortable to wear and will allow me to move around a lot. Skimpy clothes doesn't guarantee that, so I gravitate towards more modest costumes. I always have more fun when I'm not feeling self-conscious, and that's sure to happen when I wear something very short or revealing.