Print

[kill3rsushi]

Hi guys,

I am sure that if you are a cosplayer, you might have heard about the CONsent project or the Cosplay =/= Consent movement. I am Sushi Killer, the photographer/cosplayer who started the project and I have applied on behalf of my group to hold a panel/workshop about the issue of harassment in the cosplay community.

EDIT: This panel has been given the green light! It will be held on Saturday morning from 9am-10am in Panels 3!!!

The project only started very recently and I hadn't planned on holding a panel until a bunch of people asked me about it. That said, we will it this year at Fanime and we are preparing for it now so that we can give the best panel possible. We have planned out most of the presentation as well as the demonstrations of verbal defensive techniques but we would love some feedback before we finalize our presentation outline.

That said, what are some of the questions you would want answered? Are there any specific aspects of the issue you'd want to see emphasized?

Thanks for your time and interest!

[Firefury Amahira]

Definitely interested in this one!

One aspect that could probably use the coverage is how male cosplayers (or women crossplaying male characters) can handle harassment from overenthusiastic yaoi fans/fangirls with no boundaries. Sure, girls get taught about stuff being unacceptable, but I've seen a lot of guys getting harassed to do yaoi poses even after they tell the person they don't want to. Before conventions started cracking down on yaoi paddles, I remember seeing plenty of instances where somebody would get smacked on the backside with the things, and it never seems like the guy has any clue how to handle it.

[kill3rsushi]

Definitely interested in this one!

One aspect that could probably use the coverage is how male cosplayers (or women crossplaying male characters) can handle harassment from overenthusiastic yaoi fans/fangirls with no boundaries. Sure, girls get taught about stuff being unacceptable, but I've seen a lot of guys getting harassed to do yaoi poses even after they tell the person they don't want to. Before conventions started cracking down on yaoi paddles, I remember seeing plenty of instances where somebody would get smacked on the backside with the things, and it never seems like the guy has any clue how to handle it.

That is an excellent point and I will be sure to include it. I actually lost my first kiss at a con when I was 14 because of this so it's an important aspect of the issue for me too.

I hope you'll come by!

[Kimba616]

YES. This is something we need! I was stalked and harassed my first fanime, so this is definitely something I think the con-goers can relate to.

[stitchez]

I'm quite excited for this as well! I first saw the movement at WonderCon last month and found it very nice! I put in an offer through the FB page to help with photos or anything you guys need at the con so I'll go ahead and send a reminder that you have a helper on hand (aside from my planned panels and gatherings >w>;;.

As for questions, I think just making sure you hit the basics on how to get away from people who dont make you feel comfortable and how best to report them and such would be good topics. Also be sure to cover OTP creepers (ie: people who cosplay part 1 of their otp and you just happen to be cosplaying part 2 of it and they decide to harass you and insist on positions/situations that are uncomfortable for you even if you have a group or a part 2 to your own otp already. similar to the first suggestion i made but still a bit more in depth because these people can be pretty darn persistant compared to just people taking panty shots then leaving.)