I'm sure that every cosplayer has at least heard one horror story of being groped, asked for something inappropriate, or being send weird messages. I've got a few good ones, so I'm here to share. And before we continue, I do want to say that this is not child friendly and is definitely 18+ mature content. So if you're underage, please don't read this post.
At my first convention, Animazment 2019, I was cosplaying Chloe from Miraculous Ladybug. If you're unfamiliar with the character or show, just know that Chloe is an older middle school student or a young high school student. Officially she's between 13 and 15 years old. So definitely underage. Plus the show is made for kids, so it also doesn't have any sexual themes at all. It was my first time cosplayer and I didn't know what I do now about stretchy white material acting as pants. If you're unaware, they become kinda transparent and are extremely skin-tight. I even bought a special pair of panties to make sure that you couldn't see anything inappropriate.
At the con I was stopped by tons of parents with kids or other people my own age who liked the show. At one point a man by himself stopped me and asked for a picture. He said his daughter was a fan of the show so he'd love to have a picture to show her. I said of course and a stranger offered to take a picture of us together. He and I stood next to each other and he asked if it was okay to put his hand on my back for the picture. I said that was fine, and then we smiled and posed. Then the man slid his hand down my back and grabbed my butt. And when I say grabbed I mean grabbed. He full on squeezed my rear. I turned and smacked him on his arm immediately and said that he did not have permission to do that and that he needed to go. He left quickly, but not before grinning at me like he thought that he had accomplished something great.
Looking back now I should have reported him, the stranger who took the picture would have been a perfect witness (they were in shock that it actually happened so I don't blame them at all), but it was my first convention and I didn't know I could do that. I've also since then replaced the tights with white jeans.
At Ichibancon 2019 I was dressed as baby Nel Tu from Bleach. She herself is even younger than Chloe, being probably around the age of 5. We never do get an official age for her, but since she shifts between ages and is an espada (which can live for hundred of years) when at her strongest I supposed that does make sense. Her adult form is in the prime of her life, so I'm assuming mid 20s-ish. In the end I suppose Nel is a few hundred years old in terms of her life span when in any form, but she definitely is around the age of an elementary school child when in her child form, thus making her a minor when in her younger form.
I was in line for a panel early, so there was only about 4 or 5 of us in line at the time. We were chatting about our favorite Bleach characters and what we would be if we were characters from the show and just general good nerdy talk. But then suddenly one of the guys in the line turns to me and asks if he could ask for a favor from me. I say he can, but that it may not be granted depending on what it is. In my mind I'm thinking that he's going to ask for maybe a picture where I'm kissing him on the cheek or something that normally doesn't happen for a simple con floor photo. But instead he asks for something that I'd never had come up with in a million years. And also worthy of note, he didn't even offer to pay me.
He asked for a picture of me cosplaying baby Nel but without any clothes while I was laying on a bed. He wanted me to shove a toy in my vagina (not a sex toy, but a child's toy like a Barbie or something) and have three fingers in my butt while my mouth was open and drooling.
I was so shocked that I couldn't respond at first. One of the other guys in line thankfully stepped in and said "dude, I'm going to respond for her. NO." After he spoke I spoke up and said that what he'd said could be considered harassment and was able to be reported to con security. If he didn't want me to report him then he needed to leave the line and not get near me for the rest of the convention. Thankfully he did leave the line and I didn't see him in the panel, but I did see him watching me at random times throughout the rest of the day. I also didn't hear anything about him bothering anyone else at the convention, so he must have just had a fetish for baby Nel.
At Momocon 2019 I was cosplaying Ochaco Uraraka from My Hero Academia and I had taken off the over shirt for my UA uniform. It was hot and I had a simple black sports bra on so it was all fine. I was standing just inside the doors on the convention drinking some water and cooling off when I was approached by a girl dressed as Toga, also from My Hero Academia, and she asked to take a picture together. I agreed, put my water in my bag, and got ready to pose. Her friend held her phone and we took a few cute pictures, then she asked if she could take one behind me like she was after my blood, this being very in-character and actually happen at one point in the show. I said sure, then we posed. After we took a few like that she said that she shipped Ocahco and Toga together, and asked if she could take one standing behind me while she held my boobs. She was still behind me and didn't really wait for me to respond, but just moved and tried to reach into my sports bra and hold my chest. I immediately said no and moved away.
Inappropriate experiences at cons can come from anywhere and anyone. Male or female, old or young. It's sad that I have to expect it but I do. In terms of messages, I get messages asking for nude pictures pretty regularly. Those who ask are blocked or trolled. I do have it in my PSA highlight on my profile, so they have been warned. And I do have my Patreon where I offer lewds and specifically say that I don't do nudes.
In the end, I'm glad that these experiences happened to me instead of an actual minor, or even someone else who may have a negative past where experiences like this could cause panic or anxiety attacks.
Comment below with your experiences! I'd love to hear!