Abstract
Decades of research have documented the presence of the thin ideal, as well as the numerous negative psychological consequences on body image because of internalization of the thin ideal. Cosplay is a fast-growing hobby, gaining a large community following. Cosplay is an appearance related hobby that includes multiple sources or targets for social comparisons. However, research on this microcosm of society is in infancy, and no research has investigated cosplay and its impact on community members’ body image. The following qualitative exploratory study aimed to answer the following question: how does cosplay impact body image? This study interviewed individual cosplayers (n = 10) to investigate how cosplay and the cosplay community had impacted their body image both positively and negatively. Seven themes and thirty subthemes were found to impact these individuals’ body image. These themes included: community beauty standards including a preference for thinness, youth, and exaggerated features, pressures to conform to community beauty standards including dieting, exercising and costuming methods to change imperfections, expectation for accurate representations of characters portrayed reinforced by community and self, increased attention to appearances resulting in new insecurities and boosted confidence, numerous comparisons including to fellow cosplayers, character source material, celebrities and former self exacerbated by the use of social media, community including perceived support levels and specific interactions effects and lastly, the physical and financial costs of cosplay. Implications are discussed for clinicians who have clients who cosplay as well as guidelines for healthy cosplay participation.