Crossplay (a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of ''

crossdressing Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothes traditionally or stereotypically associated with a different gender. From as early as pre-modern history, cross-dressing has been practiced in order to disguise, comfort, entertain, and express onesel ...

'' and ''

cosplay Cosplay, a blend word of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and Fashion accessory, fashion accessories to represent a specific Character (arts), character. Cosplayers often i ...

'') is a type of cosplay in which the person dresses up as a character of a different

gender Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender. Although gender often corresponds to sex, a transgender person may identify with a gender other tha ...

. Crossplay's origins lie in the

anime convention An anime and manga convention (often called just anime convention) is a fan convention with a primary focus on anime, manga and Japanese culture. Anime conventions are commonly multi-day events hosted at convention centers, hotels or college cam ...

circuit, though, like cosplay, it has not remained exclusive to the genre. While it is similar to Rule 63 (gender-bending) cosplay, it can be differentiated by the performer becoming completely immersed in the codes of another gender, rather than picking and choosing what behavior enhances the performance.

Female-to-male crossplay

In most countries that play host to hobbyists who would call themselves cosplayers, female-to-male crossplayers (females costumed as male characters, sometimes abbreviated "FtM") are far more common, due to a variety of social and cultural factors. Many females crossplay for the same reasons that they would cosplay – because they like the character or the costume, and wish to represent that. In

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, female costumers tend to dominate the field of cosplay in general, often portraying an assortment of colorful characters regardless of gender. As are portrayed in manga and anime as

liminal being Liminal beings are entities that cannot easily be placed into a single category of existence. The concept was developed by the cultural anthropologist Victor Turner. It is associated with the threshold state of liminality, from Latin ''līmen'', ...

s, it is considered "easier" for a female to cross-play as a bishōnen than it would be for her to crossplay as a male character from a Western series.

Male-to-female crossplay

Male-to-female crossplayers (males costumed as female characters, sometimes abbreviated "MtF") are somewhat more common outside Japan. Originally, in America, a popular anime series for MtF crossplayers was ''

Sailor Moon is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's Shōjo manga, ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Nakayoshi'' from 1991 to 1997; the 60 individual chapters (later reorganized into ...

'', creating "humorous effect and social levity".

References

External links

An article about Crossplay on TokyoPop's website
(August 26, 2001)
BBC story on cosplay and conventions
(RealVideo) {{crossdressing footer Cosplay Cross-dressing

Female-to-male crossplay

Male-to-female crossplay

See also

References

External links