“Oh, You Sexy Geek!”: “Geek Girls” and the Problem of Self-Objectification

“Oh, You Sexy Geek!”: “Geek Girls” and the Problem of Self-Objectification – A longish piece, but well worth reading. The sexiest cosplay I’ve done was probably the Wonder Woman outfit from Halloween last year. It falls in a weird area though. I didn’t alter the costume to be sexier; Wonder Woman by default wears a pretty skimpy costume. And I didn’t choose it to be sexy; I chose it because she was my childhood hero and I had the WW Underoos as a kid. (Unfortunately they don’t make WW Underoos for grown-ups.) I actually tried to de-sexy the outfit a bit by adding a skirt over the (very brief) shorts. I guess it’s a bit like the woman in the essay who defends dressing as slave Leia. For her, that outfit is about empowerment. “You put me in a gold bikini with a chain, and I’m gonna choke you to death with it.” For me, Wonder Woman was about embodying my inner 4-year-old’s ideal of a strong, powerful woman. (That said, I felt much more comfortable dressing that way at a party with my friends. I don’t think I would’ve done it at a convention.)