Geek Girls of PAX South 2016
The second annual PAX South was last month, and it was amazing! I was lucky to go the previous year, and whilst I had a lot of fun, I noticed that there were not many female cosplayers. Part of the fun, for me anyways, is seeing all the cool costumes that my fellow lady geeks create. But hell, there weren’t many women in general. I guess this shouldn’t be shocking to me since, Penny Arcade (the founders of PAX) have a large male demographic.
However, I like to think of myself as an optimist, so with camera in hand, I headed back to San Antonio for PAX South 2016, in hopes to meet and see female cosplayers. My friends, I was not disappointed! Thousands of people turned out for the three day convention, and everywhere I looked there was a female cosplayer! I will admit, I was a bit shy approaching people and asking them for a photo; but after I realized that these women were very friendly and enjoyed talking to people about their hobby, I relaxed and started asking them questions and got to know them better.
What got you into cosplay? How long have you been making your own costumes? What do you love most about the geek girl community? These are just a of the few questions that I asked the women that I met. What I didn’t expect was the wide range of answers! I met women who’ve been cosplaying for over 15 years, and others only a few months! Even though the convention was held in Texas, cosplayers came from all over the world to attend, such as New York, California, and Australia. Whilst PAX is mostly geared towards video games, there was no shortage of women cosplaying as characters from anime and film!
The general consensus seemed to be very positive in the way other con-goers treated the women in costumes. Everyone seemed to be polite and asked if it was OK to take their photo. PAX is notorious for its zero tolerance policy on harassment and booth babes. Maybe this policy and the relaxed nature of PAX in general contributes to the way cosplayers are treated? As for me, meeting and interacting with all of these creative and inspiring women was the highlight of my trip! To be able to express your passion, and share it with the world, is an amazing feeling that more people should embrace.
Here’s a gallery of photos that I took of some of the amazing cosplayers that I met. Enjoy!