Crossplay (the term is a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordscrossdressing Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothes usually worn by a different gender. From as early as pre-modern history, cross-dressing has been practiced in order to disguise, comfort, entertain, and self-express oneself. Cross-dressing has play ...

'' and ''

cosplay Cosplay, a portmanteau of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture, ...

'') is a type of cosplay in which the person dresses up as a

character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

of a different

gender Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures u ...

. Crossplay's origins lie in the

anime convention An anime convention is an event or gathering with a primary focus on anime, manga and Japanese culture. Commonly, anime conventions are multi-day events hosted at convention centers, hotels or college campuses. They feature a wide variety of activ ...

circuit, though, like cosplay, it has not remained exclusive to the genre. While it is similar to

Rule 63 Rule 63 is an Internet meme that states that, as a rule, "for every given male character, there is a female version of that character" and vice versa. It is one of the "Rules of the Internet" that began in 2006 as a Netiquette guide on 4chan and ...

(gender-bending) cosplay, it can be differentiated by the performer becoming completely immersed in the codes of another gender, rather than picking and choosing what behavior enhances the performance.

Female-to-male crossplay

In most countries that play host to hobbyists who would call themselves cosplayers, female-to-male crossplayers (females costumed as male characters, sometimes abbreviated "FtM") are far more common, due to a variety of social and cultural factors. Many (or even most) females will crossplay for the same reasons that they would cosplay – because they like the character and/or the costume, and wish to represent that. In

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, female costumers tend to dominate (in numbers) the field of cosplay in general, often portraying a huge assortment of colorful characters regardless of gender. As

bishōnen (; also transliterated ) is a Japanese term literally meaning "beautiful youth (boy)" and describes an aesthetic that can be found in disparate areas in East Asia: a young man of androgynous beauty. This word originated from the Tang dynasty ...

are portrayed in manga and anime as liminal beings, it is considered "easier" for a female to cross-play as a bishōnen than it would be for her to crossplay as a male character from a Western series.

Male-to-female crossplay

Comic Market 91 Day 1- Cosplayers (36106848610)

Male-to-female crossplayers, (males costumed as female characters, sometimes abbreviated "MtF"), are somewhat more common outside Japan. Originally, in America, a popular anime series for MtF crossplayers was ''

Sailor Moon is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Nakayoshi'' from 1991 to 1997; the 52 individual chapters were published in 18 volumes. The seri ...

'', creating "humorous effect and social levity".

References

External links

An article about Crossplay on TokyoPop's website
* ttp://news.bbc.co.uk/media/video/39966000/rm/_39966185_manga20_head_vi.ram BBC story on cosplay and conventions(RealVideo) {{crossdressing footer Cosplay Cross-dressing

Female-to-male crossplay

Male-to-female crossplay

See also

References

External links