Are cross-dressing the same as cosplay?

[Charlie2Kairi]

I am doing a paper in school about cosplay and someone asked if their friends dad is cosplaying because he likes to dress in womens clothes, that ''he likes to dress up in costume (spacifically womens attire)''. They brought up about him being straight too. I had never thought I would be asked something like that, here was my response

''Costume would go under cosplay yes, many cosplayers cross-play, which is dressing as the other sex. I did it myself this year for the convention I went to in June. If it's just dressing in womens clothes, like regular womens clothes (dresses and such), I don't think it would be considered cosplay. It is an odd question, only because I don't know the father, so I can't completely know how he feels towards dressing up. I wouldn't think of whether he's straight or not though, women dress in mens clothes, but it's accepted because guys clothes don't have anything special to them.Some people think that girls wearing guys clothes is very attractive. It may be out of the ordinary for a guy to wear womens clothes, but cosplay itself is out of the ordinary. Cosplayers will get dirty looks, nasty things said to them, laughed at...etc...it is weird to most people.As cosplayers though we accept it, and I suppose he does too.''

I'm hoping that I put that well...it was an odd and kind of awkward question to answer.  What do you think???

[Taga]

Crossplay- a person of one gender dressing up as a character of another gender (there are more then one gender)

Crossdresser- a person of one gender dressing up in clothing stereo typically worn by the other gender. Up until the 40s women who wore pants fell into this category.

In my experience crossdressers differ from crossplayers because the 'costume' they wear is not an actual character but another side to their own gender identity.  Where as a Crossplayer actually dresses up as a character.

This is a very very grey area especially not knowing the person.

Some people who crossplay consider themselves genderqueer (I am one of these people) I do not allow my biological gender dictate how I act or how I dress. Some still consider themselves the gender they were assigned some still even consider themselves the opposite gender or no gender. To get a better understanding of the gender lines and all that other stuff I recommend reading My Gender Workbook by Kate Borenstien it is an amazing workbook and informational book on the subject of gender issues.


Then there is one of the biggest questions in the cosplay world and that is: Is cosplaying like Mana from Malice Mizer considered a crossplay?

[PatrickD]

Crossplay- a person of one gender dressing up as a character of another gender (there are more then one gender)

Crossdresser- a person of one gender dressing up in clothing stereo typically worn by the other gender. Up until the 40s women who wore pants fell into this category.

Also...

Cosplay - to dress as a character from a TV series, movie, book, etc.  Originally, it was anime only, but nowadays people use it to refer to sci-fi and other types of fandom as well.  Also, the term once implied people frequently acting the part of the character as well, but that's not as common nowadays.  Someone in cosplay may or may not be dressed as their own gender and the term does not imply one or the other and has no implied gender role.

Dress in costume - what people do on Halloween...often using a cheap store-bought costume.

[Charlie2Kairi]

Anime was the original type of cosplay?? I always associated it with Star Trek, however 6 years ago I never would have dreamed that I enjoy doing it.

[ragabash!]

Just to add to the mix and confusion...

LARP- Live Action Role Play, usually an organized game where people dress in costumes as their characters would dress, and the role play in the given setting according to how their character would act.

Wear Garb(SCA)- This is normally what you see me do.   SCAdians tend not to wear costumes or cosplay, they create Garb, or clothes, based on the time period of their chosen persona and wear that to SCA events or other sometimes other places.

Fursuiter/Furry- Another genre that isn't exactly cosplay.  I'm sure an actual furry can describe it better, but as I understand this would be closer to the crossdresser definition.  Part of their identity is an animal of some sort they dress as an anthropomorphic version of that animal.

Cat Girl/Boy/Neko- Usually young anime fans who glom on to everything remotely Japanese and attach it to their body because it's just so kawaiiiiiiiiii!  This is included but not limited to Cat Ears and Tail. (Not intended as a slight to anyone, I'm sure most of us, myself included, have gone through this phase.)

[RichardtheDragon]

Fursuiter/Furry- Another genre that isn't exactly cosplay.  I'm sure an actual furry can describe it better, but as I understand this would be closer to the crossdresser definition.  Part of their identity is an animal of some sort they dress as an anthropomorphic version of that animal.

anyone wanna grab Jag?

[Archimer]

Anime was the original type of cosplay?? I always associated it with Star Trek, however 6 years ago I never would have dreamed that I enjoy doing it.

Cosplay ("Costume" and "Play," where "Play" is similar to "Act") is a word that originated in Japan, so anime (and video game) costumes were likely what coined the term. People have been dressing as their favorite characters in various parts of the world for a loong time, though... So while the activity itself was not necessarily invented in Japan, that's where the term that we widely use for it comes from.

[Moritani]

Cosplay ("Costume" and "Play," where "Play" is similar to "Act") is a word that originated in Japan, so anime (and video game) costumes were likely what coined the term. People have been dressing as their favorite characters in various parts of the world for a loong time, though... So while the activity itself was not necessarily invented in Japan, that's where the term that we widely use for it comes from.

Actually, I think it was coined by a Japanese writer at a sci-fi convention in LA. Like so: http://yeinjee.com/tag/nobuyuki-nov-takahashi/ It's hard to tell from the magazine scans what the exact media was, but it's not beyond the realms of thought to believe that there were trekkies at WorldCon in the eighties.

[Charlie2Kairi]

I was asked about furries too. It's amazing to me that each of the questions I've been asked ( I've been asked other than the two), but cosplay keeps getting associated with erm.... intimacy. I've never been asked about that stuff with cosplay hahahah.
Has anyone else had people associate it with that, I had always had simply just say we're weird.

[Taga]

You know I never have had the cosplay association like that. I have had the Furries and Plushies community associated with that side of play. But never really cosplay. True there are the people who make up ellaborate stories of the character they are cosplaying having relationships with characters that their romantic partner are cosplaying. (Snape is SO having an Illicit affair with Draco btw lol) Things like fan service and such but not really adding it to the actual bedroom. Photoshoots in implied/suggestive poses happen all the time however.

Also we are weird..to outsiders..course I think they are weird.

[Archimer]

Actually, I think it was coined by a Japanese writer at a sci-fi convention in LA. Like so: http://yeinjee.com/tag/nobuyuki-nov-takahashi/ It's hard to tell from the magazine scans what the exact media was, but it's not beyond the realms of thought to believe that there were trekkies at WorldCon in the eighties.

* The More You Know! * That's a really neat little nugget of information!

Cosplay and fursuits are all about getting oneself involved in a fantasy world, and sometimes, people do not understand that fantasies can be entirely non-sexual in nature.

Like Taga said, though, some cosplayers are all over each other, dragging each other around in handcuffs and the like.

Of course some people on the "outside" think it's weird.

[Ugly Bob]

To me, cosplay is the same as people wearing jerseys of their favorite sports player. While the costumes are less elaborate of course, the principle is the same. They are showing support for their favorite star/character and so on.

And I think that's ultimately what cosplay is all about. Every other stereotype/tendency/whathaveyou is more a part of the person who is cosplaying, than cosplaying as a hobby itself.

[atemulover]

No cosplay is costume role-play that tends to characters from anime/manga/videogames/movies etc. Larping is another type of roleplay usually associated with games like D+D or other genre such as furs and steam punk. It's similar only with original characters and usually the purpose of dressing up as such is to play a game using yourself as the avatar of said game. A man crossdressing as a woman for the sake of looking pretty is just a guy who likes womenly/ trans/unisex style clothing.