University of Central Florida STARS HIM 1990-2015 2015 Understanding Gender Identity Among Women Cosplayers of the Gotham City Sirens Amber Morrison University of Central Florida Part of the Anthropology Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/honorstheses1990-2015 University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in HIM 1990-2015 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Recommended Citation Morrison, Amber, "Understanding Gender Identity Among Women Cosplayers of the Gotham City Sirens" (2015). HIM 1990-2015. 1728. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/honorstheses1990-2015/1728 UNDERSTANDING GENDER IDENTITY AMONG WOMEN COSPLAYERS OF THE GOTHAM CITY SIRENS by AMBER R. MORRISON A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Honors in the Major Program in Anthropology in the College of Sciences and in The Burnett Honors College at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Spring Term 2015 Thesis Chair: Joanna Mishtal, Ph.D. Abstract As popular culture has an increasing presence in America, so do its various sub-cultures. One of such sub-cultures is the world of comic book fans known as cosplayers. Cosplayers dress- up and emulate characters at comic book conventions throughout the United States and the world—a practice known as cosplay, also described as costume-play. Despite the growing popularity of cosplay, little is known about this population. In this research, I set out to answer the following research question: why are women choosing to dress-up and embody these characters (the Gotham City Sirens) when they are often viewed as oversexualized.