One of the great things about being a geek is the level of acceptance that the community has for each other. I’m not talking about the trolls on the internet who get off on trying to stir the pot. I’m talking about the average geek who finds a sense of community within a group of people that share their passions. For many geeks, Cosplay one of their ultimate passions. Cosplayers spend months and tons of money, crafting elaborate outfits based on their favorite characters. Some, like Yaya Han, have even turned cosplay into a lucrative industry and now have their own lines of fabric out at major craft shops. It’s things like this that have so many of them upset at Tokyo Comic-Con.
According to the official site of the con, their regulations for cosplay outfits say that it is “prohibited” for men to wear female clothing (男性による女装は禁止です). Some people are upset that this seems to set up a double standard, as there’s no rule that women can’t cosplay as male characters.
The thing that makes this so weird is that it’s happening in Japan. You know, the country that created Kabuki theater, an entire art form that relied on men dressing as women for a performance.