WHAT IS COSPLAY
Cosplay is, in essence, a form of costume role play (RP), where individuals can dress up either as their favorite characters from popular movies, television series, and video games or even as characters of their own creation. The act itself has become a subculture highly interested in vast elements of its form, such as creating the outfits, enjoying the online forums where the community thrives. And even to the conventions where individuals can enjoy each other’s outfits and roleplaying and show of their skills.
The community is traditionally Japanese, having been born from science fiction conventions in New York but highly inspired and driven by Japanese media and style, with the word itself even coming from the Japanese “kosupure”. Over the years, especially as the internet and the ability for like-minded individuals and communities to chat online has increased, the popularity of the hobby has skyrocketed and has been more normalized as a result. Fan conventions have become popular in western culture, and even those outside of the scene are known to attend such events too.
HOW IS COSPLAY IS ENJOYED?
Many people enjoy cosplay for different reasons. Some use it as a way of appreciating their favorite media, dressing up in pre-bought outfits and wigs, perhaps from the internet or other cosplayers they’ve chatted to to show their love of a particular anime or movie. Other people find the hobby and craft aspect of cosplaying the most attractive, utilizing seamstress-like skills to make their own clothes and apply their own makeup, often utilizing typical fabrics and makeup as well as full prosthetics and liquid latex. Many enjoy making the costumes themselves, and therefore the creation of their piece becomes a labor of love that demands their rewatching or replaying their favorite media, adding the most high-quality and perfect details to showcase their skills to the community and proclaim their adoration of their chosen media.
Often with cosplay, it takes more than just a simple outfit or putting on an accent to appear just as your favorite character. It is often required to wear tattoos (even if temporary), body piercings, and the use of props, the latter of which are often made by the cosplayer to ensure great accuracy. Such props could come in the forms of weapons, such as fake axes, bows, or swords, or even shields, wands, handbags or anything else that a character may become known for that should become included in an outfit.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DRAG AND CROSS-DRESSING?
While cosplay is often understood to be the dressing up of a character, it is important to acknowledge that cosplay is more than just appearing like someone different. It is about becoming someone different. It is, in its truest form, role play. Therefore, cosplay goes beyond just wearing outfits, but instead is about entirely embodying a character, something that links entirely naturally to sexual roleplay. Over time, cosplay has become more sexualized in public and in its use within the private sexual sphere as a result.
Cosplayers may not only feel more confident while dressed up in an outfit that they’re proud of, but will also find great satisfaction in taking on traits and mannerisms of their chosen media while ‘in character’. This can come to mean accents, culture, behavior and, essentially, temporarily becoming the character themselves. This is often popular within the bedroom not only because it can be hot for the person they’re having sex with, especially if they are cosplaying a character too and are roleplaying a specific sex scene or fantasy, but also if they happen to be sexually attracted to the character being cosplayed. For example, if a woman cosplays as Princess Leia in her famous gold bikini, a character adored by many men across the ages, it is likely that the individual they’re having sex with will enjoy the fantasy, the outfit, the roleplaying and the physicality in the moment. This can add to the enjoyment of sexual intercourse in many ways for both participants.
More than just the appearance of the character being cosplayed, it is also important to note that for the person or people cosplaying, sexual roleplay can perhaps aid their confidence as it allows for a distance from their own personal sense of self. Any issues they may have with their personality or body can instantly be ignored for a few moments as they entirely become someone else, ferociously embodying their chosen character. Therefore, it can be a massive boost to individuals’ self-esteem, allowing them to enjoy sexual intimacy on their own terms in the manner they feel most confident, even if that appears to be in a way that is the least like their day-to-day self. The foreplay when cosplaying can be understood to be far more intense, as there are entire backstories to delve into. This helps those who sometimes struggle with knowing what it says, providing them general ideas to follow or even a script if particular scenes are followed word for word. The eroticism of this can be wildly stimulating for many couples and individuals alike, and as a result, cosplaying during sex has become common not only within the community, as discussed on cosplay message boards like ours, but also within the general public too. It has become another way for fantasies to be enjoyed without fear of embarrassment. The endless possibilities and opportunities that cosplay allows makes for further eroticism, too, as there are limitless number of characters to dress up as and pretend to be, and a wide variety of ways even to enjoy that character. Taking the Princess Leia example again, endless sexual fantasies can soon crop up with so many costumes, scenes, and fantasies surrounding that character. When taking into consideration all of the characters in a franchise and all the many franchises and pieces of media out there, cosplay is an eye-opening opportunity to delve into sexual arousal and interests and get back to having fun in the bedroom.