Anime Boston prides itself on being a convention at which everyone can feel comfortable. Our attendees include people of many gender and ethic identities, but the only thing that ought to matter is that we all love anime and are here to enjoy it together.
Two transgender presenters, Arthur and Sophie, presented “Gender Identity and Convention Culture” as a dialogue with panel attendees on making anime conventions a safe space for everyone. Here were some of the suggestions panelists and attendees made for fans:
Educate yourself on pronouns
Transgender means a person whose gender identity is different from what they were assigned at birth. Cisgender means your gender identity is congruent with what you were assigned at birth. Nonbinary individuals fall somewhere in between.
Arthur and Sophie encouraged attendees to learn about the various ways people choose to identify themselves in order to make congoers of diverse identities more comfortable.
“We wish we could make this panel a requirement,” said Sophie. “To educate people.”
Avoid making “trap” jokes.
“It’s a trap!” We’re not talking about Admiral Ackbar in this case. Sophie explained that the anime community joke of calling a person who looks like a woman but isn’t a “trap” is offensive, especially to transgender women.
The panelists explained that the joke isn’t harmless because it assumes that people who dress as women but have male genitalia are trying to “trick” or “trap” people maliciously. Still, they said there’s nothing wrong with donning your Misty costume with a full beard.
“Although there are trans cosplayers, there are also people who crossdress either as a joke or for fun, and it can be hard to tell what the person’s message is,” she said. “Don’t assume.”
New policies for gender support.
Anime Boston has a very thorough anti-harassment policy and take discrimination very seriously. We also have two gender neutral bathrooms on the third floor which congoers can feel comfortable using regardless of their gender identity.
However, the panelists and attendees suggested that conventions can do better. One attendee suggested mandatory gender empathy training for all volunteers.
“It’d also be great if the con provided optional pronoun ribbons so you can integrate your gender identity into your con badge,” said Arthur.
Use the gender of the cosplay, not the cosplayer.
Is that Naruto cosplayer a boy? Or is it a girl dressed as a boy? The panelists said that’s not something you should worry about. Simply refer to that person as “he” or “him” since they’re dressed as a recognizable male character, Naruto.
Sophie said that as a transgender woman, she is a little upset when people ask her for her pronouns in cosplay because, “I feel like I’m not doing my job.” She feels much more comfortable when people refer to the pronoun of whomever she is cosplaying.
“Refer to cosplayers by the pronouns of the character they are cosplaying,” said Sophie.
Anime Boston should be a safe space for people of all identities. If you don’t feel safe for any reason, alert a member of Anime Boston staff. We take attendee concerns very seriously.
SOPHIA 30/F/Inglessa Province
Expect to see lots of Gundam, robots (namely of the transforming and piloted variety), Star Trek, tokusatsu, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Marvel Comics, Overwatch, Dragon Age.
