Cosplay e corpo gordo: o empoderamento feminino através das vestimentas

Abstract

This paper pursues analyzing the presence (or the lack of it) of out of beauty standards bodies in the cosplay medium, as well as understanding how fantasy may bring a new point of view regarding a fat body. Its main goal is comprehending how the fat body may play a role in the deconstruction of skinny beauty standards in the cosplay medium. Its methodology at first was bibliographical research, so the theoric referential could be built up, and later, field research, which consisted in semistructured interviews with five fat women of the cosplay medium who have suffered fatfobia due to the contemporary body standards. Taking the interviews into account, it was possible to observe that the main motivation of fat cosplayers to make part of the cosplay medium is the identification with the characters, setting aside the worries about aesthetic standards so adapting to a identity that doesn’t belong to you, yet adds on your making of choices and principles. Thus, despite of criticism and indignation of some fans from the geek community, fat cosplayers, with the help of the costumes they wear, obtain a new point of view of their bodies, playing a role in the deconstruction of beauty standards in their daily routine and inside the geek community. After getting a new perspective of the beauty of their out of beauty standards bodies, we verify that the cosplay medium becomes a place of representativity for the interviewees, in which the fat body, although different from the chosen character’s body, is seen as beautiful due to the preservation of its naturalness and proportions.