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I feel the same way about crossplaying females as I do about cosplaying (and crossplaying) males -- if you're *good* and *convincing*? Have at it! Are you enthusiastic and in-character and not unpleasant to look at (Yes, we all must have a *little* shame)? Great! I understand it's nice to ogle a genuine prettyboy, but I've seen a lot of girls through the years that look far more like a shmexy bishonen than some of the guys I've seen getting special treatment around the con. And frankly, unless you're banking on seeing some full-frontal anatomy (in which case go socialize in the real world and find a boyfriend or a girlfriend or a prostitute, don't try and poach some sausage at an anime convention) what's the friggin' difference? Those who want to take photos and draw sketches and have freaky LARP fun with their Bishonen Auction prizes should be able to pick from some of the pretty shorts-stuffers, and the purists can have the real meat if they want to be picky. But there should be a variety to pick from. Hell, I'd be tempted to drop some cash for some of these girls -- but I don't think my boyfriend (as blessedly tolerant as he is) would appreciate it too much if I ponied up for one of the "Bishies". And I know for a confirmed fact that I'm not the only one in that situation.
The phrase "in the spirit of Yaoi-Con" has been thrown around a lot lately. If this auction was really in the spirit of the BL genre, women wouldn't even be able to *bid* on the guys -- because as we all know, in the fantasy world of BL the only people who bid on guys that prance around on a stage are hard-handed seme studs or rosy-cheeked experimental uke jailbait. How many yaoi manga have you read where a bishonen gets towed around a hotel on a leash by a female? Not many. Shoujo manga, perhaps. But does it happen at YaoiCon? Sure! I think everyone needs to take a step back and re-evaluate what sort of quasi-sexual dynamics are *really* taking place here, but in the meantime why can't we just let everyone have fun?
Everyone just needs to take YaoiCon with a really big grain of salt and remember that once we start keeping people from having a good time, it's no good anymore.
And lest I leave myself open for peltings by rotten garbage, let me say wholeheartedly that I support the staff and their decisions -- whatever they are. Damned if *I* could plan a better convention. People who work hard on these things don't need shit-disturbers.
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