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Tokyo Comic-Con Bans Men From Cosplaying As Women Characters (Or Not)

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F

Fudgepuppy

Banned
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2016-10-25/tokyo-comic-con-bans-males-crossplaying/.108082

http://kotaku.com/tokyo-comic-con-bans-men-from-cosplaying-as-women-chara-1788225504

Mod edit:
Alanae said:
reading the source.
"【女装につきまして】
委員会で協議いたしました結果、女装禁止を解除させていただく運びとなりました。
なお、禁止解除に伴いまして、当日のコスプレ登録証の発行を男女色別に設定させていただきます。
it says that they're removing the ban on it, not creating one....
Click to expand...
 
C

Cyanity

Banned
I've been to enough cons to know that 1) this is fucked. and 2) People will break this rule on purpose now.
 
H

HMD

Member
What about all of the non-binary characters in Japanese media? Can't men dress as that cat person from Re:Zero for example?
 
tkscz

tkscz

Member
This particular ban, targeting only men dressing as female characters but not vice-versa, is actually surprisingly common at cosplay events in Japan.
Click to expand...

Honestly wouldn't think so but I don't know japan that well. I also don't understand why. It's fairly common at conventions here.
 
B

BGBW

Maturity, bitches.
Don't cosplay as a character from an anime called Boku.

Otherwise they might have to change their name to the TokYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Comic-Con.
 
T

TatteredHat

Member
If they can accurately see who is and isn't a man, they're a better judge than I am. Some of those cosplayers are so effeminate it's impossible to tell once they put the costume on.
 
S

StayDead

Member
What's the problem with Crossplay?

I get the weird feeling it's because they don't want unattractive men crossplaying as women as they feel it might put people off attending the event. At least Comiket haven't put in place stupid rules like this (as far as I'm aware). This sort of event should be a celebration of nerd culture and if men want to crossplay as women and vice versa that should be allowed.

I wonder if there's a thread about this on 2ch. When I'm out of work I'll have a look and see what people are saying about it.
 
S

Somnid

Member
Pure hetero-normative bullshit. It was pretty common in my experience for women to dress as male characters at these types of things the fact the reverse is banned is completely hypocritical and obnoxious.
 
M

meltingparappa

Member
043efb138-1.jpg
 
S

shanshan310

Member
Tokyo Comic Con is weird. I was planning on going and checking it out but it's in just over a month and basically no info has been released... they only just announced three guests with crazy expensive autograph tickets.
 
A

ATXAlchemy

Member
Event staff are wary of attracting a large number of stereotypically unattractive men dressed as women.
Click to expand...

So... if you aren't a woman enough, you can't cosplay girls?

Do they ban women who aren't attractive enough as well?

This particular ban, targeting only men dressing as female characters but not vice-versa, is actually surprisingly common at cosplay events in Japan.
Click to expand...

Is there a source for this other than RocketNews? (ANN also seems to have mis-sourced a wrong RocketNews article, although the ban talk seems to come from the sourced RN article).

I was in Japan last year for 3 months due to a business trip. I was in Comiket 88 (all three days) and Magical Mirai 2015. I didn't take pictures, since I was too busy scuffling for lesbian mangoes (I'm talking about the fruit, if anyone is curious. Yes, they have genders.), but I am VERY sure I saw males dressing as females at Comiket, and there sure as fucking hell a lot of male Miku at Magical Mirai.

I have been a bit more attentive to Comiket news/blog articles since, and there was once a topic (last year, or this year I believe) about the "darkness of the changing room"

Fake edit: A quick "コミケ 女装" google search led me to this, which seems to be the topic I am talking about. http://togetter.com/li/861752

コミケの更衣室はヤバい。 女子更衣室なはずなのに出口からはヒーローやテニスサッカーバスケ少年や新撰組が出てくる。と思うと可愛い人も出てくるからヤバい。 男子更衣室もヤバい。男性だけが入っていったはずなのに巫女とかメイドとか魔法少女やプリキュアが出てくる。 コミケの更衣室はヤバい。

Comiket's changing room is dangerous. It's supposed to be the Female Changing Room but from the exit comes the likes of heroes*, young tennis/soccer(football)/basketball guys, and Shinsengumi. Then again, some really cute ones come out as well so it's dangerous. The Male Changing Room is also dangerous. Only males enter, yet what comes out are miko, maid, magical girls, precure, etc. Comiket's changing rooms are dangerous

*personal note: the term "hero" in Japan has quite a strong association with customed characters - aka power rangers, kamen rider, and ultraman. So I'm guess he's talking about that.
Click to expand...

Some even went as far as saying that you have never really fully experienced comiket without being in the changing rooms.
 
E

etrain911

Member
I feel like that's pretty transphobic as I know at least a couple gender queer folks who aren't allowed to express their gender identity in their daily lives and use cosplay as a way to do so without much scrutiny.
 
M

Misha

Banned
etrain911 said:
I feel like that's pretty transphobic as I know at least a couple gender queer folks who aren't allowed to express their gender identity in their daily lives and use cosplay as a way to do so without much scrutiny.
Click to expand...
Even if they were out it gives the staff an excuse to harass them.

runningjoke said:
So uh, how do you enforce this rule?
Click to expand...
The same way they enforce bathroom bills in the states, poorly and with a lot of collateral damage
 
D

Devilgunman

Member
TatteredHat said:
If they can accurately see who is and isn't a man, they're a better judge than I am. Some of those cosplayers are so effeminate it's impossible to tell once they put the costume on.
Click to expand...

I think they'll let you pass if you're really good at covering up your gender.

Not surprised by this at all. Sexism is alive and well in Japan. It's almost as if it's their culture.
 
M

mantidor

Member
I don't get this, doesn't Japan have a long history with cross dressing? It's not just anime, even their variety shows have sections of male highschool students dressed as girls.
 
M

Mesoian

Member
Good luck enforcing this. Looking forward to all of the negative press garnered when someone slips up because, "I COULDN'T TELL MAN! I JUST DON'T KNOW WHAT TO THINK! HE WAS TOO CUTE AND MY MIND COULDN'T HANDLE IT!"
 
V

Valkerionseven

Member
Makes my Halloween costume a bit weird this year. Dressing as a haughty schoolgaru with my girlfriend but seems like I wouldn't be allowed in this place... hmm.
 
L

Linkark07

Banned
The irony, considering Japanese animes and mangas have many male crossdressing characters.

Well, time to cosplay as Hideyoshi Kinoshita.
 
A

Alanae

Member
reading the source.
"【女装につきまして】
委員会で協議いたしました結果、女装禁止を解除させていただく運びとなりました。
なお、禁止解除に伴いまして、当日のコスプレ登録証の発行を男女色別に設定させていただきます。
it says that they're removing the ban on it, not creating one....
 
A

AcademicSaucer

Member
Alanae said:
reading the source.
"【女装につきまして】
委員会で協議いたしました結果、女装禁止を解除させていただく運びとなりました。
なお、禁止解除に伴いまして、当日のコスプレ登録証の発行を男女色別に設定させていただきます。
it says that they're removing the ban on it, not creating one....
Click to expand...


Ayy
 
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