THE SEX FILES: Cosplay Is Not Consent

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Photo credit: Joe Swarctz

Consent is consent. I know this. We should all know this. We should all live this. Ok, there it is, I said it. Let’s move on.

The title of this SEX FILES piece (more like a rant) is taken from a sign I saw this year (and last) at NYC’s Comic Con. Once again because of the credentials I have earned here working for S&S NYC, I got to go to the Con as press, with a photographer, on the weekend of 10/3-10/6. Avail myself of all there is of Comic Con (see another spot on this website for my coverage of the event this year) once again, I enjoyed seeing, gawking at, even having Joe, my buddy/photographer here, taking pics of lots of copious female flesh.

We took pictures of men and women covered well in superhero garb, people dressed as various besties, even kids who cracked us up in whatever cosplay they happened to be wearing. A Comic Con is a rich and wonderful environment to find people of all ages, ethnicities, and gender enjoying the time-honored tradition of dressing like their favorite fantasy characters and, in lots of cases of adult dressing, (female and male both showed off lots of skin through PVC, latex and the like.

Nobody felt objectified, or if they did, they loved every single blessed minute of it, and I dare say nobody groped anybody they weren’t welcomed to grope. Yes, Cosplay Is Not Consent.

Everybody understood. Everybody had a good time and maybe, just maybe for this weekend everybody just took it down a notch and enjoyed the fact that for the most part, we all enjoy gazing at a nicely turned-out firm body part or two from time to time.

I will never make excuses for looking. I am a proud objectifie-r of the female form…as should be apparent from all I have written about here over the years. You don’t like this fact, well, that’s your problem, no? It’s after a Comic Con, where I feel so thrilled by all displayed, by people who seem so thrilled to display themselves that I realize, man we are so uptight these days over what? For the most of us, it’s a normal human reaction…to look, enjoy looking, and to, yes, objectify each other.

I’m not saying that’s all we should do; I am just say it is one of the things we should not feel guilty about doing. Get it? Sure, we all are well aware of what’s been happening in the culture recently. (what has been exposed more specifically). Some real, true, and horrible abuses have been perpetrated on and by both male and female persons, there is no denying this fact. But as always, there has been a grand pendulum swing to the side of righteous indignation through our ability and need to swing wide via social media and the demonizing of this thing which we all do, we all want to do, and it is in our DNA to do; objectify each other. One can try and legislate against it, or whittle down the populace hive-mind so much we all become fraidy cats at even just noticing one another. But you can’t beat the desire out of us, no matter how hard society is brainwashed by the seeming intelligentsia to think objectifying is not normal.

Yes, we are all the sum of our parts, but I dare say when you have those parts so perfectly displayed and in fact are enjoying displaying them, well, I damn well am going to look…and damn well going to enjoy doing so.

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