Gender Swapping: Feminizing Male Characters

It seems to be a trend at conventions: women who cosplay as male characters will feminize/sexualize their cosplays in order to be the female versions of those characters. The practice of gender swapping, or dressing as a female version of a male character or male version of a female character (less common), has becoming a growing phenomenon at convention. I don't have an issue with gender swapping in general, but these outfits go far beyond cutting the costume to fit a woman's body; they will typically involve miniskirts, stilettos, cropped tops, corsettes and waist cinchers, tube tops, cleavage, fishnets, pastels and shades of pink not seen on the original character, and in general often a lot less clothing.

That's not to say that any one costume that includes these things is inherently wrong. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be a female version of anything or wanting to wear pink, there's nothing wrong with showing skin, and there's nothing wrong with taking some creative license with how a character looks. To be sure, these costumes are usually either handmade or involve piecing together normal fashions, while the concept of "female X" or "sexy Y" may not be creative the effort that goes into those costumes . Where I see a problem is the trend; the fact that to many people - even female nerds - "female" still means sexy and/or pinkified.

Then again, perhaps many female nerds see cosplay as the rare occasion they can be feminine or sexy. Such things are often discouraged in nerd culture. The "ideal" female nerd is a bit of a tomboy, the jeans and a t-shirt type with little to no makeup. While the guys may appreciate an attractive young lady in their clique or club, and that young lady will certainly be appreciated for her looks, she may not be appreciated for much else. Pretty girls are seldom taken seriously as full members of a group, unless they're someone's girlfriend or potential girlfriend. A girl who shows up to anime club in makeup and a pretty outfit is likely to have her "nerd cred" taken into question, as well as her intentions for joining the club. This may be why so many girls love cosplay. It's dressup, a chance to be sexy, or powerful, or pretty, something they cannot get away with otherwise. A chance to be both pretty and nerdy.

Drawing female versions of male characters can get even worse. I found these on Tumblr over the last few days, and while the art is good, I'm a bit horrified at how skimpy the outfits are. Hulk naked kinda makes sense, though for a girl, you'd think a torn cropped top or bra wouldn't hurt. Drawing her like a little girl isn't much better. Why the huge breasts? Why is one Iron Woman not wearing an iron suit? The suit's kind of important, don't you think? At least some of them have muscle . . .

Most troubling is the fact that the most common way to degrade a male character is to make him a woman. There are videos on the internet poking fun at superheros or video game characters acting like women. At ConnectiCon's Super Art Fight, guys would attack each other's drawings of superheros by drawing lipstick and high heels on them. In nerd culture, as in mainstream culture to be sure, femininity is still associated with weakness and being "less than" one's more masculine counterparts.

Again, this isn't to criticize individual behavior. What kind of feminist would I be if I condemned women for their choices? But those choices add up to a trend I find troubling and in need of addressing. In general I find the topic of self-objectification in cosplay an interesting and complex issue. I'll discuss that another time.