Conformity and Adolescent Females
Cosplay by definition is a play on words between costume
and play.
It involves dressing up like a cartoon or anime character, and then
parading it
around either at a convention or another social gathering (Cosplay) .
Conformity has made
its way into the Cosplay world—my world.
It happens to involve the two groups
involved, adolescents and females
of whom are bound to conform due to scrutiny
for the costume choices and
negative sexual attention.
Conformity is described by Psychology today as “Conformity is
the tendency to align your
attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors with those
around you” (The Pull of
Conformity , n.d.) .
Solomon E. Asch studied it
with his line experiment, in which students were
shown a series of lines
and then asked to tell which line was the same as those
in the other group.
Confederates were told to give the wrong answer, and this
led participants
to feel pressured to also give in to the wrong answer. When
giving the
wrong answer, they seemed incredibly uncomfortable, and even looked
like they were in physical pain in some scenarios (Asch, 1956) .
In more recent cases, conformity has been applied to the
sexualization of adolescent girls, and how they feel pressured to give
into
society. Some adolescent girls feel the pressure to cover up, while
other girls
feel the need to show more. Girls of whom were studied in
a five year longitudinal
study about conformity and this period of time
as being a “heightened
psychological risk for girls.” The researcher
joined in at the “struggle and
resistance at this developmental juncture”
due to the pressure of conformity on
these girls (Brown & Gilligan) .
In another study,
girls were scrutinized during their “coming of age”
moment and this impacted
them psychologically for years to come
negative consequences on their psyche.
In Cosplay, sometimes writers or artists don’t draw women
as proportionate and modest as they should. Sometimes in comics,
women are
portrayed as large breasted with tiny waists and dressed
less than modest.
Independent of this assignment, I began making a
costume that could be
considered less than modest. Black cat is a
character from marvel whose breasts
take the forefront of her skin
tight leather suit. Immediately, from
cosplayers, photographers,
and just fans, I began feeling the pressure. My breasts became
my identity and I gave way
to conformity.
The pull as to whether to cover them up, or boast them out
became almost unbearable. I chose the latter and I got a lot of
scrutiny
for it. I am part of the group affected, the young, adolescent
girl who was
looking for her identity. I aligned my feelings and actions
with those around
me by giving way to boasting my breasts all over
the internet, and the streets
of D.C. this weekend. Like Solomon
Asch’s participants, I picked a line.
I am not the only girl in the Cosplay community to feel
this pressure. Most comic book or anime characters are done
disproportionately
and over sexualized. This is the way that most
of the girls are in the media.
The Cosplay community is made up
of people mostly my age, they’re probably
between the ages
of 14 and 25, and they’re making and modeling these less than
modest costumes (Cosplayer, 2014) . One
girl who’s under the age
of 18 said that she’s had “complete strangers walk up and put
their hands on my chest…, send me sexual messages online,
touch my butt when taking
pictures with me, try for the whole
'upskirt' thing while I’m walking up
stairs…” These guys see
these characters
which are literally their greatest fantasies
and they feel the need to touch us
and say inappropriate things to us.
Conventions should have policies put into place to protect
cosplayers. They have Disruptive behavior policies, line
etiquette
policies, 18+ policies, and many more (Otakorp, 2014) . Possibly
conventions should use the positive sides of conformity, and make it
“not cool”
to touch and even make it a positive thing for cosplayers
to stand up for one
another. Anime and comic book conventions
could use their pull in the community
to cause people to align aside
of them and stand up for those who are too
afraid to stand up for
themselves. Either option should be okay, whether it be
modifying
a costume so that it is as modest as the cosplayer feels, or even
flaunting their breasts at a convention. They could use the positive
effects of
conformity to enforce this, and eventually everyone will
align with the “attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors” of the
community.
Works Cited
Cosplayer Nation
Documentary [Motion Picture].
Asch, S. E. (1956). Studies of independence and
conformity: I. A minority of one against a unanimous majority. Retrieved
from PsychNET: http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/mon/70/9/1/
Brown, L. M., & Gilligan, C. (n.d.). Meeting at the
Crossroads: Women's Psychology and Girls' Development. Retrieved from
Feminism & Psychology: http://fap.sagepub.com/content/3/1/11.short
Lesko, N. (1996, December). Denaturalizing Adolescence.
Retrieved from Youth & Society:
http://yas.sagepub.com/content/28/2/139.short
Otakorp. (2014). Vitals: Policies. Retrieved from
Otakon.com.
Cosplayer. (2014, April 7). Cosplayer Interview.
(Cosplayer, Interviewer)
The Pull of Conformity . (n.d.). Retrieved from Psychology Today:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/conformity
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