iandsharman:

Yes, Facebook is a wonderful place where you are free to post whatever you like, and you should, of course, feel free to exercise your right to free speech.

However, I would like to make you aware of how your comments are interpreted, when you comment on your female cosplayer friends’ pictures of intended future cosplays. I know that this may not be your intent when making these comments, but, nevertheless, this is how you sound…

You post: “Hey, you should totally cosplay as Emma Frost/Lady Death/Vampirella…”
It sounds like: “I don’t give a crap about what you want to cosplay as, I just want to see you in your underwear.”

You post: “Hey, you should totally cosplay as Sailor Moon!”
It sounds like: “I don’t give a crap about what you want to cosplay as, service my schoolgirl fetish, now!”

You post: “Hot/Sexy! I can’t wait to see the pics!”
It sounds like: “I am going to fap to your pictures.”

You post: “Why do you keep choosing costumes like this? You have a great body and should make the most of it!”
It sounds like: “I want to see you naked, and then fap to the pics.”

I’m not saying that this is how you mean to come across, all I’m saying is that you should, perhaps, think about what you’re saying and how it’s likely to be interpreted.

So, in future, when one of your female cosplaying friends posts a picture of a costume she’s intending to do in the future, how about, rather than commenting on the costumes she’s not planning to do, you actually comment on the one she is planning to do. Tell her you think it’ll look great! Tell her you think it’ll be a real challenge to her costuming skills and you’re interested to see how it turns out! Tell her you think she doesn’t suit the character so you’re intrigued as to how well she’ll pull it off!

Of course, it’s just a suggestion…and if you’d rather just tell her she’d look hot in something else, that is, of course, your prerogative.

Reblogging this old post of mine because, sadly, it continues to be relevant…