I’m super excited and honored to announce that tomorrow at 5:30 Princess Mentality Cosplay and I will be teaming up to do a #28DaysOfBlackCosplay panel at A-Kon! She’s a guest at the con and has invited me to be a part of her panel!
I hope to see you there :)
Growing up, I was one of the weird kids. On top of loving video games, I loved anime, and back then that wasn’t “normal” for a black girl to be into. I was told that I wasn’t “a normal black girl,” to “stop acting white,” and was pretty much told that I wasn’t portraying my race accurately. I was also told that I “wasn’t a real girl” because I played video games. Add the fact that I was overweight and I was just this ball of oddness to people.
I did have friends, friends who I still love dearly today, but they weren’t into this whole anime/video game thing. Still, we were close like sisters, but I didn’t have too many people who could quote “Dragonball Z.” But at the age of 18, when I stepped into that convention hotel, I was suddenly surrounded by like minded people. It wasn’t just one or two people, but hundreds of them, and I suddenly didn’t feel like “the weird black girl.”
My interview with “Twin Cities Geek” celebrating #28DaysOfBlackCosplay.
Thanks so much to everyone who celebrated #28DaysOfBlackCosplay and thanks for letting me be a part of it. This movement has really shown that cosplay is something that all of us can take part in, and more importantly, it showed that there are many of us out there to support one another. To everyone who has ever been told that they’re “wrong” because of how they look or what they’re into, it’s o.k. to be different, and you’re not alone. The month may be ending, but the love and support is going to continue for the rest of the year and years to come.
2014 © A. Stevens
https://www.facebook.com/andrew.stevens.photo
Cammy White Cosplay Masterpost
Finally getting around to the edits from A.Stevens - the delay is totally, TOTALLY my fault with real life and all. Dude, I can’t tell you how many squats and push-ups went into the prep for this cosplay. And I was so proud of the final results. I worked damn hard on this, and I’m glad it shows. I definitely need to get back into shape. I’d love for this build to be my “default.”
Yeeeeeeeeees <3 I am here for this. This is amazing!
If someone tells me that I’m not worthy of something enough times, I’ll start to believe it. I have believed it. I’ve believed that I wasn’t worth it because of my race. I’ve believed that I was ugly. I’ve been told to “stop acting white” because I like anime, video games, and cosplay. And I know a lot of others have felt the same way because of the color of their skin. Those people need to be shown that they are beautiful, that they’re worth it, that they’re equal. It’s great to think we all should be equal but there are plenty of black people out there who think that they shouldn’t be because of the crap that gets flung at them; who think that they CAN’T be. Equality is great, but you have to WANT it, and if you feel like you’re beneath everyone around you, you’re going to think you don’t deserve it. That’s what #28DaysOfBlackCosplay is about, and it’s so wonderful to see so many people taking part in it. This encouragement is just a start to what we hope to accomplish within the cosplay community, so that everyone can feel comfortable with who they are and truly enjoy cosplay.
My write up for the Twin Cities Geek about the importance of #28DaysOfBlackCosplay :)
So I love the notion that cosplay is for everyone, it really is, and I actually love when people realize the hate that goes on in the community and try and do something about it, that’s really great.
But what I get frustrated at, more so than the hate, is the blindness.
I saw a post that said something along the lines of, “Why is it that when white cosplayers cosplay outside their race, they get bashed, but when people of color do it, they get praised?” And just… h-huh?
Now, I’m not saying that it doesn’t happen, I’ve seen it happen, but from my experience it’s more of a, “Why are you cosplaying a person of color when you have so many choices and we have so few?” From my experience it’s a genuine feeling, because I feel like when we do see people of color in our geekery we get so excited because there’s not that much representation, so there’s this moment of, “FINALLY!” Now I personally don’t mind who cosplays what, but I’m not going to pretend that when I saw Tiana for the first time my thoughts weren’t, “OMG,” and, “FINALLY,” and, “GONNA COSPLAY THE HELL OUT OF THAT,” and even, “A princess for me after all these years!” It’s a thing that happens, because representation is important, I can tell when I see that little black girl staring up at me when I wear Tiana, and her dad is smiling just as brightly because… finally! So I get it, and I hope white cosplayers can see where the “bashing” comes from. It’s not so much “bashing” as it is… disappointment? But ultimately its your cosplay, and my only advice is to be respectful about it, and just understand where those feelings are coming from. And, for the most part, I think white cosplayers do get it, and understand, some have even asked me my opinion on the matter to which I say, “Do what you want, just be respectful, and understand why someone might have an issue.” Cosplay is about showing love for a character you love, and we should respect each other along the way.
Which leads me to the other part of that statement I quoted in the beginning because… since when have people of color NOT been bashed for cosplaying outside their race? I wish, WISH, I could stop seeing ignorant posts in regards to black cosplayers cosplaying outside their race… or cosplaying in general. This is what I consider blindness. In the argument of “one gets bashed more than the other” that is just some serious “I choose not to see the truth” because there can’t even be black fanart without some harsh comments. And, in my experience, the hateful comments I see are bashing, straight up bashing. Where a person of color may be like, “Why cosplay that one character when there’s a million others,” the comments I see on the flip side are all about “ghetto” versions of characters, or “nigga” versions of characters, or terrible fried chicken jokes, or watermelon jokes, or just a wide variety of racist statements. There’s no, “Why cosplay Belle when you can cosplay Tiana,” it’s a flat out “har har ghetto princess” with no purpose other than to hurt the cosplayer.
So yeah, if you think that people of color don’t get hated on for, well, being people of color… I’m here to tell you that that’s not the case. Sadly, it happens, a lot, it happens too much, and it needs to stop. It’s nice to think that everything is right with the world but… it’s not the truth. The truth is that we are working on it, and are always aiming to make things better, and to highlight why such comments are uncalled for and to promote the fact that cosplay is for everyone, key word being everyone. And I genuinely think that people do want this, they do want cosplay to be this thing that everyone does, but in order to do that you have to take the blinders off.
The hate is real, and it needs to stop.
Underneath the Wonder Woman dress is… another dress?! Tis true~
Filed under reasons why I love my wifey and her ingenious ideas <3
There’s this idea that there’s a certain way to be black, and growing up as a geek, I was, somehow, being black in the wrong way. Black girls didn’t watch anime. Black girls didn’t play video games. I was told to “stop acting white,” and this wasn’t just in high school, this continued into my adult life, too.
There’s this idea that there’s a certain way to be black, but with cosplay and the geek community in general, I learned about the importance of being yourself, of not listening to what others think you should be. This goes for race, body image, sexuality, all things that I’ve been told at one point in time I was wrong in since I’m black, fat, and lesbian. But with cosplay, I met such a diverse group of people, people who are all about diversity and people who love the differences among us. I also met people who felt the same way I did at one point in time, who felt that they were, somehow, not “acting right” because of the things they were into, all because their skin color was different.
Together, we’re proving that that’s not true at all, and the more of us that show that you can be comfortable in your own skin, the more people around us gain the confidence to realize how amazing they are. Geekery and cosplay are not exclusive to one race, one gender, one body type, it’s open to everyone. And even if, at times, we all don’t agree, the general message is loud and clear: cosplay is for everyone.
