all 8 comments

[–]gencritcurious 19 insightful - 1 fun19 insightful - 0 fun20 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I would say its a combination of photoshop/genes/makeup. Tall women with small breasts can look quite masculine, and since asian facial features tend to remain pretty similar in males and females (speaking as an asian female), while other races tend to have more pronounced male facial bones compared to females. Ive seen other asian female cosplayers pass on well as male because of this. Im assuming the muscles and some bone structure are enhanced with makeup/editing. You can tell shes a female in her pics- shes just a very tall one with a more masculine build (by masculine i mean not curvy). As for why she identifies as agender, i would say its community influence. A trans label is a good “synthesizer” for people, especially women who dont fit the traditional feminine roles (i was roped into it because of my homosexuality and discomfort with being traditionally feminine a few years ago until i realized how idiotic it was). Its a way to make you feel like your life has a narrative purpose and every bad experience is because of you being trans (which is not the case, but it makes for a good worldview for vulnerable people). Im not saying this is whats going through her head, but this is a what ive observed in myself and others similar to me, so this is my best hypothesis. added with the fact that twitter anime communities are infested with tras, you get a lot of praise for coming out as nonbinary in those spaces. the basis of agender is not having a woman or man “feeling” in the brain- basically meaning youre comfortable in your body at the core level, because gender isnt a feeling(ironically its basically gc theory but with a trans label slapped on it).

A bad habit that gc people tend to have is assuming that males and females have to look male/female in pictures- i used to get upset at this kind of stuff too until i came to the conclusion that 1) media is easy to manipulate 2) males and females will not always be immediately identifiable & androgyny is a thing that most definitely exists. it does mess with the base gc worldview when people are able to be indistinguishable as either sex, but after a while i realized that masculine expression in women with masculine traits ≠ male & that sex is not overriden by expression.

Sorry i went on a bit of a tangent there- i hope i answered your main question at least a little. i’d be happy to elaborate on anything i said if it didnt make sense, i wrote this in one sitting on my phone lol

[–]eddyelric 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I do admit it's a bad habit on my part. I used to be okay with androgynous fashion until I've come to associate it with gender stuff and then I became worried about someone enforcing new gender rules onto me.

There's a definite connection between anime, excessive internet activity and rapid onset gender dysphoria (ROGD). Anime is exaggerated in appearance and plot lines are simple to follow, until real life.

[–]MezozoicGay 14 insightful - 11 fun14 insightful - 10 fun15 insightful - 11 fun -  (0 children)

I'd say that "agender", "non-binary" and "trans" are all just cosplayers too.

[–]Thatstealthygal 13 insightful - 2 fun13 insightful - 1 fun14 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

She looks quite female to me in the more "androgynous" shots.

The one with the sixpack, I'd say there is a sculpting makeup going on there. Broad shoulders? That would be the cut of her shirts and jackets and in some cases padding.

Angles as well. Plus I expect photoshop.

[–]hfxB0oyA 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Makes it easier for them to justify touching kids, I'd wager.

[–]MaleFriedanFan 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Cosplay is a form of high fashion, so it can produce the same internal and external pressures (comparing yourself to artist's illustrations, the strange dynamics between a model and an audience, etc.) I think what makes this less obvious is that for many years it was largely non-commercial high-fashion, the models making their own copies of clothes that were never available for sale and that were created by a character-designer not a fashion-designer.

The original idea behind cosplay was that it was a way for the model to show appreciation for a character; sometimes the character did not have the same sex as the model. Crossplay was initially a positive influence because it made models less anxious about things that are difficult to change, such as their physical structure, when cosplaying as a character that they loved but did not really look like. Everyone laughed at "Sailor Bubba", but it was more of a relief sort of laughter; if a fat man can be Sailor Moon for a day, why can't you? However, fashion can be very competitive, so competitive crossplay also developed.

Much like with traditional high-fashion, many of the models are young, and may not know how to cope with these sort of pressures. When they reach out for help, these ideas are what they receive. :(

[–]QueenBread 4 insightful - 3 fun4 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 3 fun -  (0 children)

I couldn't tell this is a woman...... and I also couldn't tell this is a man. All I'm seeing is a HUGE pile of photoshop. Barely looks human. Out of curiosity, how old are you?

[–]emptiedriver 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

A lot look like an androgynous woman to me, and the ones where she has a male body look faked. Photos are always a bit hard to judge though, since even just the angle and lighting can have far more influence than is realistic. It really doesn't matter what someone looks like in a few pictures though. That doesn't change anything about their physical experience in the world.