Because this subreddit is so freaking depressing all the time, I thought I'd share something happy that happened this weekend. This weekend I went to a convention called Anime Expo, and one of the panels was one called "Cosplay is not Consent." I thought it would be interesting to go to, since people harassing/stalking/touching cosplayers is a big problem at these types of events.

At the panel it was basically what you would expect, 3-4 females talking about their experiences at cons and how to safely report people doing wrong doings at cons. They didn't at all imply that it was a men vs women issue, but it was only from the female perspective.

However, near the middle of the panel, they called up a group of male cosplayers dressed basically like Link shirtless to talk. I thought they would literally be laughed out of the panel [with people saying stupid things like harassment only happens to women], but everyone was very respectful as the group gave their opinion on the male side of the issue (mostly the same things, inappropriate touching, rude comments) and that males also shouldn't think they have to be super buff to dress like that. The panelists were also super supportive of the issue, one of them even noting that she used to be abusive to male cosplayers before realizing it was the same as women being abused.

The discussion even lead to talking about differences between the problems males face vs problems women face in being abused in cosplay, namely that men can get away with being more nude, but they're expected to enjoy sexualization and people have less tolerance for less buff men. Women wearing more will still be seen as scandalous but they are more protected and accepted in more body types as well as gender swapping.

Anyway, if I wanted a crapload of Karma I could have made the story more vague and said the panelists were giant sexist assholes but it's nice to know that outside isn't like the tumblr-crazy world.

Edit: http://www.cosplayisnotconsent.org/ - Here is their website! If you want rational people to be the voice in feminism then SPEAK UP =]