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Crossplay (cosplay)

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Through Gender and Japan

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 (or even most) females will crossplay for the same reasons that they would cosplay – because they like the character and/or the costume, and wish to represent that. In Japan, female costumers tend to dominate (in numbers) the field of cosplay in general, often portraying a huge assortment of colorful characters regardless of gender.

As bishōnen are portrayed in manga and anime as liminal beings, 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.

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