Cosplay trends: Women becoming more dominant in the genre

Since the creation of comics, women have been seen primarily as a supporting character.

This male dominated genre at NC Comicon is accepting and welcomes the inclusion of women now more than ever.

“We’ve been around 10 years and inclusion in a very safe environment, welcoming everyone, making sure everyone has a place, that’s always been NC Comicon,” said Brockton McKinney, the group's creative director.

He sees the importance of female inclusion and its future and that is demonstrated by female artists, writers, and vendors .

Wonder Woman, Harley Quinn, Hit-Girl and now Captain Marvel.

It’s now time for women in comics to shine and that’s exactly what is happening.

Kenna Covington, owner of Modern Goldfish, started making Harry Porter style wands for a friend as a birthday gift.

She made so many that she started to give them away to her friends. Now that her friends own these wands, she has decided to now sell them at NC Comicon.

Covington says that she loves to visit the annual event because she gets to see all the creativity of these attendees.

“I think it’s a place where women and men of all colors, shapes, sizes, abilities (can) express themselves.”

She spoke about the rise of respect for women at events like NC Comicon.

“Within cosplay, we had to learn as a community that you don’t get to touch people without consent, you don’t get to take odd pictures.”

“There’s been a learning curve in the cosplay community," Covington said. "And let’s protect each other and be good to each other”.

The culture of inclusivity at cosplay events is evident through cross-play, a rising form of cosplay where gender fluency is welcomed.

Women play characters who are men, men play characters who are women.

When asked about the costumes and characters at NC Comicon, Rachel Braun, who works at Holy Mountain Printing, said she supports cross-play costumes.

“I see a lot of gender-bending ones," she said. "I see a lot of female jokers or female Batmans and that’s my favorite, I love seeing that.”

With Harley Quinn’s Bird of Prey and another Wonder Woman in the works, females in comics as the lead are something that won’t be dying down anytime soon.