Uncouth barbarians, the lot of them.

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**Piston Honda**

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2220586/Comic-Con-Mandy-Caruso-dressed-racy-costume-recalls-sexual-harassment-fans.html

Apparently this young lady went through a difficult time at the NYC Comic Con that just happened being asked about her cup sized and being asked to spank someone repeatedly. I feel bad something that should have been an enjoyable experiences turned out to be miserable. I did have to laugh a bit because it does stereotype the whole sex staved nerds you see in movies/shows

I think anyone who is aware of "geek conventions" is aware of these models. Is this sort of thing common for these women? or just an unfortunate encounter?

**d-usa**

I don't think it's a geek think.

Any women dressing up in a sexy outfit as a booth babe in a place with many guys and/or alcohol will have the same experience I think.

**Valkyrie**

I'm sorry, but they're just asking for it. Going to a comic-con dressed up in skintight latex with cleavage showing like that is bound to attract attention. Of all the girls going, probably only a small fraction dress like that, yet the article makes it out to imply that they all do it. I mean, look at those photos; one's dressed up in short shorts, fishnets and a tight leather jacket, with the only hint of the event being the Vader mask. I'm not complaining about what they're wearing, I'm saying that if they wear it, they'll have to suck up the fact that they're going to get some male attention that might be considered "overzealous".

**MrScience**

I don't get overly sexual cosplays.

It's different if they're going out for a night on the town, you can't blame them for dressing up then.

But at conventions it's literally just them screaming for attention.

**Yojiro**

Mind you I'm not saying she's asking for it but to quote Dave Chappelle:
"If you don't want to get treated like a whore, don't wear a whore's outfit."

**Piston Honda**

d-usa wrote:
I don't think it's a geek think.

Any women dressing up in a sexy outfit as a booth babe in a place with many guys and/or alcohol will have the same experience I think.

Of course not, I was just pointing out that at convention filled with geeks and a very attractive woman wearing the outfit of a sex fantasy more or less plays out the whole "geek thing" you see in skits like family guy, Simpsons, Robot Chicken, one of my personal favorite was That 70s Show Eric wanting Donna to dress up like Princess Leia. I ask my gal to dress up as Lara Croft for Halloween so I am guilty geek looking for his fantasy come true.

**d-usa**

Any man who doesn't ask his lady to dress like a slut for Halloween is not a man.

**Piston Honda**

d-usa wrote:
Any man who doesn't ask his lady to dress like a slut for Halloween is not a man.

I;m asking her to dress as a woman who can kick ass and take names while looking sexy.

And then handcuff and slap me around. Is that remotely normal?

**d-usa**

Piston Honda wrote:
d-usa wrote:
Any man who doesn't ask his lady to dress like a slut for Halloween is not a man.

I;m asking her to dress as a woman who can kick ass and take names while looking sexy.

And then handcuff and slap me around. Is that remotely normal?

Of course.

**mattyrm**

I don't buy the story frankly, nothing happened to her, other than the occasional gak pick up line/comment.. why the feth is it in a paper?

Oh its The Daily Mail and she has a decent rack, thats why then.

Its a none story. Attractive people have to put with with people trying to pick up on you, so what? I actually went to the NY comic con dressed in an awesome spidey costume and I fully expected to get more attention from people as a result of wearing it, it was mainly "awesome costume dude" at the con, and then occasional slapped ass off the odd woman/gay bloke when I wore it on the piss afterwards...

And I pulled a bird whilst still in costume in Hogs and Heiffers that night.... Obviously I'm essence of man and you dont see me whinging about all that attention.

The point is, if you don't want people to notice you, don't fething dress up. I think she is just talking gak to get in a newspaper, because I don't think nerds are more sexually aggressive than the next guy. In fact, they are a wee bit more shy (see hover hands)

If she wore that on a building site or a Naval base she would have had to put up with more than "Nice rack!" anyway!

**reds8n**

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/10/17/when-the-black-cat-was-sexually-harrassed-at-nycc/

from 5 days ago

At Comic Con today, I went as Black Cat. This is a gakky picture and there will be better ones of my whole costume coming up but I just want to say something.

Black Cat’s costume has a fair amount of cleavage (conservative compared to many other female comic characters but a good amount as far as what I’ve ever shown). I guess I was not surprised to have a couple men ask to pose with me and then do some doofy “WHOA LOOK AT THOSE KNOCKERS” poses. I just make a really ugly face when I see they’re doing it. One guy with the social graces of a lemur said to me “I was this close to wearing that same outfit. My breasts are large and supple and I think it would have been nice.” Nope. Stop talking.

But aside from guys being doofy and awkward (but clearly not foul-intentioned), I did have my first truly skeezy experience at Comic Con today.

And my first truly empowering moment as well.

This group of men from some kind of Stan Lee fan club blah blah internet video channel blah blah asked to interview with them on camera about Comic Con. I said well okay, sure. Camera is rolling. The “host” is a middle aged, rotund dude. It’s an all-male crew and lots of people (mostly guys) were beginning to crowd around. The following is the interview as burned in my mind. Keep in mind that I expected this to be about Comic Con in general.

Him: I’m here with…
Me: Mandy, aka Felicia Hardy aka Black Cat
Him: ..And she is HOT. Do you think I’m hot enough to pull that off?
Me: Uh, I’m not sure, I’ve never seen you in drag.
Him: I’ve got a great ass. Go on, spank me.
Me: (look at his large ass, popped up mere inches away from me then look into the camera like are you kidding me . No thanks. I may hurt you, I’m a lot stronger than I look.
Him: Aw come on!
Me: No, seriously. Stop.
Him: Damn, alright! Well let me ask you an important question then…what is your cup size?
Me: (big talk show smile) That is actually none of your fething business.
Him: Oh! I think that means to say she’s a C.
Me: I actually have no breasts at all, what you see is just all of the fat from my midsection pulled up to my chest and carefully held in place with this corset. It’s really uncomfortable, I don’t know why I do it.
Him: (to the male crowd) Aw, come on what do you guys think? C cup?
—a few males start to shout out cup sizes as I stand there looking at this guy like this has to be a fething joke, then look at the crowd and see that no amount of witty banter or fiestiness will stop making this whole thing fething dumb. It was clearly a ploy to single out cosplaying women to get them to talk sexual innuendos and flirt with this donkey-cave and let him talk down to them simply because they were in costume and were attractive. Whether I’m in a skintight catsuit or not, I’m a fething professional in everything I do and I don’t need to play nice for this idiot.
Me: This is not an interview, this is degrading. I’m done. (I walk away)
Him: (clearly dumbfounded and surprised) ..Come on, it’s all in good fun!
Me: Being degraded is fun? That was unprofessional and I hope that isn’t your day job because you can’t interview for gak, my man.
And the entire crew and the crowd were SILENT. NOTHING. SHOCK, HONEY. It felt like I was in a heated fog, full of rage and pride and I sashayed away feeling like the most badass melon-fether in the whole damn room, but kind of also on the verge of tears. A slow build of applause would have been appropriate, but from the looks on people’s faces, they were just completely not expecting me to do what I just did- which was really nothing more than speaking up for myself. It wasn’t something one should feel brave for doing but crazy for not doing when necessary.

It’s because many people at these cons expect women cosplaying as vixens (or even just wearing particularly flattering costumes) to be open/ welcoming to crude male commentary and lecherous ogling, like our presence comes with subtitles that say “I represent your fantasy thus you may treat me like a fantasy and not a human in a costume”. And maybe that will always be how the majority of people see us. But that does not mean we have to put up with gak that crosses the line, it does not mean we owe them a fantasy, it does not mean we dress up to have guys drooling over us and letting us know that we turn them on. It is not all about your dicks, gentlemen. So I encourage cosplaying women everywhere to be blunt and vocal with their rights, their personal boundaries, and their comfort level at conventions. I actually encourage girls to be brashly shameless about these things, to not be afraid to speak up if you feel uncomfortable and to let the person doing it know that they are crossing the line. Don’t keep quiet because you’re scared of what they might say or think- because if you say nothing they will continue to see what they’re doing as OK.

Mandy then wrote;

But seriously just want to clear up something: an experience being treated like that at Comic Con has never happened to me before, which is why I was compelled to post and discuss it here. The vast majority of men I’ve encountered show respect to me and other cosplaying women- they ask before posing with me, they often ask before taking a picture at all, they don’t make lewd or derogatory comments and they follow my (and most ladies’) basic rules on touching:Your hands can be on the places they’d be if I was your Mama- if you wouldn’t touch your Mama there, you won’t be touching me there. And it’s nice to know that 99% of men would not play grab-ass with their mamas!

If you’re one of the respectful guys, thank you for doing what you do and for making cons that much more enjoyable and fun for everyone- I truly appreciate it and you.

Now show me dat ass, Spidey.

**Ahtman**

I'm surprised it took this long for the story to make it to dakka, as it has been making the rounds everywhere else.

**AustonT**

d-usa wrote:
Any man who doesn't ask his lady to dress like a slut for International Dress Like a Whore Day is not a man.

AGREED...with fixd that for you.

**KalashnikovMarine**

Does this kind of thing happen to attractive people at cons? Yes. It happened to her, it happens to Jessica Nigiri (if you don't know, google her, you're welcome in advance) it happened to matty, it's happened to me, if you're any where on the attractive scale (six or better out of ten) you'll be getting attention from one gender or another that comes with a general lacking of social ability.

That said, as a community cosplay runs off of drama. Pure, un cut drama.

So the actual truth of what happened to the Black Cat at NYCC is gonna be somewhere in between.

AustonT wrote:
d-usa wrote:
Any man who doesn't ask his lady to dress like a slut for International Dress Like a Whore Day is not a man.

AGREED...with fixd that for you.

Thirded.

**Frazzled**

Piston Honda wrote:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2220586/Comic-Con-Mandy-Caruso-dressed-racy-costume-recalls-sexual-harassment-fans.html

Apparently this young lady went through a difficult time at the NYC Comic Con that just happened being asked about her cup sized and being asked to spank someone repeatedly. I feel bad something that should have been an enjoyable experiences turned out to be miserable. I did have to laugh a bit because it does stereotype the whole sex staved nerds you see in movies/shows

I think anyone who is aware of "geek conventions" is aware of these models. Is this sort of thing common for these women? or just an unfortunate encounter?

Its hard to put into words how concerned I am about her plight.

**KalashnikovMarine**

Frazzled wrote:
Piston Honda wrote:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2220586/Comic-Con-Mandy-Caruso-dressed-racy-costume-recalls-sexual-harassment-fans.html

Apparently this young lady went through a difficult time at the NYC Comic Con that just happened being asked about her cup sized and being asked to spank someone repeatedly. I feel bad something that should have been an enjoyable experiences turned out to be miserable. I did have to laugh a bit because it does stereotype the whole sex staved nerds you see in movies/shows

I think anyone who is aware of "geek conventions" is aware of these models. Is this sort of thing common for these women? or just an unfortunate encounter?

Its hard to put into words how concerned I am about her plight.

I'm sure you're just suffering Frazzled, shall the Wiener Dog nation rise up an ride to the rescue of this unfortunate woman?

**daedalus**

Step 1: Dress up to attract attention around unattractive people who characteristically have problems with social interaction, ESPECIALLY with women.

Step 2: Act surprised and outraged. Alert the media, because step 1 was still not enough attention.

Step 3: I blame the victim.

**Frazzled**

Well, interesting story.

When I was tournamenting in Austin a few times back when dinosaurs roamed, the Wife would show up around lunchtime with lunch. The crowd would just stop for a second.

**daedalus**

Frazzled wrote:

When I was tournamenting in Austin a few times back when dinosaurs roamed, the Wife would show up around lunchtime with lunch. The crowd would just stop for a second.

I had a prior girlfriend get her jollies out by going into game stores with me just to watch everyone stare agape at the person with two X chromosomes as if they'd never seen one. It's kind of sad.

**Ahtman**

Frazzled wrote:
Well, interesting story.

When I was tournamenting in Austin a few times back when dinosaurs roamed, the Wife would show up around lunchtime with lunch. The crowd would just stop for a second.

Well you know how gamers love their lunches.

**AustonT**

daedalus wrote:Step 1: Dress up to attract attention around unattractive people who characteristically have problems with social interaction, ESPECIALLY with women.

Step 2: Act surprised and outraged. Alert the media, because step 1 was still not enough attention.

Step 3: I blame the victim.

exalted
In this case I do blame the "victim"

**Manchu**

Does anyone know how to say "blame the victim" in Latin? I'd like to have it carved over the door. Also, might look nice on a Land Raider.

**Tibbsy**

Manchu wrote:
Does anyone know how to say "blame the victim" in Latin? I'd like to have it carved over the door. Also, might look nice on a Land Raider.

Querere victima according to Google translate... Which may or may not be incorrect.

Actually, that would be a pretty cool name for a Land Raider

**d-usa**

Manchu wrote:
Does anyone know how to say "blame the victim" in Latin? I'd like to have it carved over the door. Also, might look nice on a Land Raider.

Seems fitting for an inquisitorial tattoo.

**daedalus**

Google Translate gives me "culpabit victima" which is brief and catchy.

Actually sounds accurate too.

**whembly**

Manchu wrote:
Does anyone know how to say "blame the victim" in Latin? I'd like to have it carved over the door. Also, might look nice on a Land Raider.

Something like... accuso victor

**daedalus**

Tibbsy wrote:

Querere victima according to Google translate... Which may or may not be incorrect.

How did we, in the span of 10 seconds or so, get different results for that?

**AustonT**

Manchu wrote:
Does anyone know how to say "blame the victim" in Latin? I'd like to have it carved over the door. Also, might look nice on a Land Raider.

Just at a guess "Culpa bit victimia"
if google translate agrees it must be halting elementary latin.

**whembly**

Do you want classical latin or renaissance latin (catholic)?

Automatically Appended Next Post:

daedalus wrote:
Tibbsy wrote:

Querere victima according to Google translate... Which may or may not be incorrect.

How did we, in the span of 10 seconds or so, get different results for that?

Because there's so many permutations of 'latin"...

**Tibbsy**

daedalus wrote:
Tibbsy wrote:

Querere victima according to Google translate... Which may or may not be incorrect.

How did we, in the span of 10 seconds or so, get different results for that?

Haven't a fething clue

Blame Google.

EDIT: Just tested it, I capitalised the B in blame, and it changed... I got the same result as the rest of you without a capital B. Odd...