I was telling a couple of coworkers about Gen Con. One coworker made a comment asking, why do you cosplay? She doesn’t know enough about cosplay to know why someone would want to dress up as a fictional character and parade around a convention hall. It’s a legitimate question especially because she had never heard of the term cosplay before. I thought about my answer and this made me want to devote a whole post as to not only why I cosplay, but how it improved my self esteem.
When I was in middle school, I was increasingly aware of how much I hated my body. When I say hate I meant I truly despised the way I looked in the mirror. I didn’t feel confident when I would wear shorts or a swimsuit. I didn’t know if I would ever come to appreciate my body the way it is.
When I graduated from high school, my confidence started to blossom, but I had a long way to go to address how I felt about my body. When I went to my first CONvergence back in 2013 was when I cosplayed for the first time. Me and a friend cosplayed as Mario & Luigi. It was a simple cosplay I purchased from Ragstock. However, once I put it on, I felt cute and could walk around and do what I pleased. I received some warmhearted compliments on my cosplay. Once CONvergence was over, I knew I wanted to do more with cosplay and challenge myself to take on other characters.
The more I cosplayed, the more my confident I became. There were cosplays that were more revealing than others. What empowered me though was the control I had to show what I wanted on my terms. It was my body and I could conceal or reveal it if I chose to. This conscious choice I made is what has allowed me to fall in love with myself and the way I am. Additionally, cosplay exposed me to other body types and seeing other people rocking what they have, creates this open and accepting environment.
I owe a lot to cosplay and how it’s changed my way of thinking. Every time I know I’m attending a convention, my head starts spinning as to potential cosplay options. Once I settle on an idea, I’m determined to pull it off. My relationship with my body is one I will always have to work on and be aware of, but I’m at a much better place mentally and all it took was to dress up as Harley Quinn.
Bizarre Brunette 
That is just awesome! As someone who has battled self worth all his life, I think it’s awesome to read how cosplay helped you out like this😊 And I have to say the costumes look fantastic! This post really made me smile: good for you! 😊
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Thanks! 🙂 Yeah I know I’m not the only one who feels this way towards cosplay, but I wanted to share my personal story.
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Great post! All your cosplays I’ve seen on your blog/insta have been really cool! I think it’s really neat that people can feel so empowered by a costume.
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Aww thanks 🙂 Yeah it’s more than just putting on a costume. It’s not just campy, but it does bring a positive awareness to my body and what I’m comfortable with.
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Thank you for sharing your story. I can relate to it. I got into cosplay because I needed a confidence boost and feel in love with it. I’m really shy and don’t have a lot of confidence but when I’m in cosplay I feel like I can take on the world. All of your costumes look amazing, and I’m glad you found joy in cosplay.
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I’m glad you did too! Cosplay can be so empowering.
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Yesss I love cosplay for this reason! It’s very healing and makes me much more comfortable in my own skin.
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Right?? I love cosplay. I need to put something new together sometime. 🙂
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I love seeing photos of you cosplay because you look truly free, and after reading this I can see why now. I really wish I’d learned about cosplay at a different point in my life because it could have helped me in the same way – and before you say it, I know it’s never too late to go down that rabbit hole 😉 Unfortunately, ME does complicate things now.
I suffered from body dysmorphia as a teenager. I was convinced that my thighs were ginormous when in fact I was actually underweight. It was only many years later when looking at my high school prom photos and my fiance, Chris, pointed out how skinny I was that I realised I’d even had body dysmorphia. Not even when I had to have the size 8 dress altered to be made *smaller* did I think, oh, I’m skinny. No, I just put it down to the lack of boobies (I was a very late bloomer).
Then all the health fun came and I actually did end up putting on the weight, leading to even more body issues. So I’m thinking of doing a casual cosplay in October if I can get stuff together to help me feel more comfortable at a con. It’s also Halloween weekend so I’m not sure if our group is planning a full cosplay as well.
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I’m not going to pretend that I know what it’s like to have a chronic illness, so I’m not going to say “it’s never too late.” because I don’t know what you’re going through. You do you.
All bodies are beautiful bodies and I really stand by that statement. Yay for casual cosplay! Please blog about it, I would love to read it.
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Awesome post! Whenever I get the chance to cosplay, it makes me feel more comfortable with myself too. It’s fun to dress up as a fictional character and create a tribute to them of sorts, but it also makes me leave my comfort zone behind for a while.
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Exactly. Cosplay is an escapism for me.
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This is an awesome view on cosplay! It’s through these fictional characters that we can gain some kind of confidence, because we’re in control of it!
I actually haven’t ever cosplayed before, but I’d really love to!
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