Cosplay is not Consent

At New York Comic Con, one of the key themes this year seemed to be inclusion. The comic convention scene has definitely evolved from the long box filled conference rooms at the local airport hotel attended only by teenage boys and men you would not trust alone with your teenage boy. I say this as one of the teenage social outcasts that would race home to reread my comics and dream of the one day I could finally talk to a girl. The attendees of New York Comic Con were the most diverse group of individuals I’ve seen at any event and part of what makes that possible is the sense of community between the fans of all pop culture genres.

This years New York Comic Con featured the campaign “Cosplay is not Consent” and a revised zero-tolerance policy for harassment. This campaign was born due to a subset of the geek culture primarily male that weren’t treating their fellow attendees with the respect they deserve. In an effort to detour this behavior the “Cosplay is not Consent” campaign emphasized everybody’s rights to enjoy the convention without being touched or photographed without consent. In previous years cosplayers have reported being harassed, photographed inappropriately and even groped. No one deserves to be treated this way and Fanatic Voyages commends New York Comic Cons and other conventions efforts in putting a stop to it.

Conventions are for building community and campaigns like “Cosplay is not Consent” are essential to building a community in which everyone feels welcome. The image above was create by Amy Reeder more information about her work can be found here