Remember a little while back when Facebook announced they had purchased Instagram? At first glance this sounded awesome. Everything would be even more seamless when it came to social networking. Then they dropped a bomb that was a complete and utter deal breaker for thousands of users. They would have full and complete access to use and or sell our photos at will. Meaning if I snapped a super cute picture of my niece with a can of Pepsi and posted it, they could then sell my photo to Pepsi and not pay me for it. Um…What? A lot of my friends that make their living as photographers quickly pulled the plug on their accounts. People want to get paid for their hard work and creativity. I know as a singer and actor I have reached that defining point in my career where it’s no longer ok (for me) to work for free. Cosplayers work hard; be it through slaving over a needle and thread or searching the web and world for the right designer, to make their costumes. Everyone should see them, take pictures of them, and enjoy their work. Keep in mind; those pictures are only supposed to be for their personal enjoyment. Unless of course they are a professional photographer who wants to use them for a specific purpose, in which case a photo release would be require to be signed. I recently came across an article where candid photos we taken of a few cosplayers.
Unbeknownst to the cosplayers, these photos were later blown up, printed onto merchandise and sold for a profit. Were they ever told by the merchant at any point, NO! Were they compensated in anyway, NO! Unacceptable! I can only imagine how infuriating it would be to walk into a Con or any random store and see your likeness being sold on mugs, pillows, magnets, etc. Watch out folks! We officially have Con-arazzi! As if that was not frustrating enough, we have to worry about this self proclaimed “Grope Crew”?! Excuse me? I don’t know if anyone else has heard about this, but there was a huge scare at A-KON regarding these guys. Apparently several tweets were posted with “#gropecrew” bragging about all the female cosplayers that were going to be violated. Some even went so far as to post photos of their potential targets. Um, can you say sexual harassment? I don’t care how overexposed or underexposed someone is at a Con or anywhere for that matter. The simple fact that you are enticed DOES NOT give you the right to put your hands on anyone. Just because you think someone has a great butt DOES NOT mean you should reach out and grab it or even worse smack it. A few years ago when I was living in Florida, there was a guy riding around the neighborhood I lived in on his bike slapping virtually every ass he rode passed, mine included.
I was so livid when it happened to me. It took everything out of me not to run after him! What I did do was file a police report and a few days later, being that so many other complaints had come in about him, he was arrested. So “Grope Crew”, whoever you are. This is not a joke. You are committing a crime. One of these days you are going harass the wrong girl and she’s going to either rip your junk off or have the police do it for her. You have officially been warned. I don’t want anyone who is reading this to be discouraged from cosplaying or going to conventions. That is not my intent at all. I just want everyone out there in nerd world to be aware. In every community there are predators and people not out for your best interest.
Volunteers and coordinators of cons do everything in their power to make sure everyone is comfortable and safe. If for whatever reason you don’t feel unsafe or you find yourself in a situation where you have been violated. Speak up! COSPLAY IS NOT CONSENT! Being in costume, being beautiful, being sexy, being exposed, or just plain being your awesome self is no excuse for anyone to violate your body or your rights!
Have fun and be safe out there kids! Till next time!
