Body Shaming IS Bullying. Period. by Raven

I'm fairly new to cosplay - I've been to only four cons so far.  I've done costumes for both Denver cons, and the Wizard World San Antonio Comic Con. Because my self image isn't the greatest, I've been really nervous about doing cosplay for conventions - and my experiences in the past haven't helped with that.

When I did costumes for the first Denver con that I went to, I did a Lady Joker on the first day, and my Crow costume on the second day. I got a lot of positive comments - James O'Barr (the creator of The Crow) had nice things to say about my Crow costume, too, when I went to pick up some art I had  commissioned from him. But I also heard some negative things - like, "Is that a cross-gender Crow? Isn't she a little out of shape for that? What would Brandon Lee say?" and "What would O'Barr say?" I wanted to yell at them, "Hey! I'm right here!" And I knew what Mr. O'Barr would say, since he had already said it to my face.  I tried to stop listening, but I couldn't stop my heart from buying into that crap and it ruined my con  experience.

How to Cover Conventions Without Insulting Your Audience

Last week, San Diego Comic Con coverage swept across the internet like a swarm of locusts, devouring and overshadowing everything in its path. I mean this in the nicest way possible, of course, as it included tons of updates about things fans have waited ages to hear about (Avengers: Age of Ultron images, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, etc.) I was among those who could not attend and was therefore even hungrier for second-hand information, so I found myself trolling the internet every hour or so looking for new coverage of the goings on at Comic-Con.

More than once, what I found left me shocked and appalled. In regards to coverage of the cosplayers in attendance, many of the articles and gallery links were thinly veiled nerd bashing, and others fostered a hostile environment in their comments. These were often by bigger media providers, which made it particularly offensive.. Anyone who works as some form of “press” can tell you how selective SDCC is about who they give press access passes to the con: they want only the most highly circulated programs and well regarded news sources. And yet, they allowed in several outfits that openly harassed costumed attendees or paved the way for them to be made the butt of jokes on the internet.

Jimmy Kimmel. CNN. These outlets should know better. I thought professionalism and common sense went hand in hand, but apparently not. So let's take a moment to break down what these pieces of coverage did wrong and highlight some great, high profile galleries that did it right!