Male cosplay photographers : technology and the reconstruction of hegemonic masculinity

Abstract

Within the academic literature on the subculture of cosplay, the significance of the cosplay photographers (CPs) has been largely ignored. Through participant observations, “lurking” online and in-depth interviews methods, this paper will show how CPs use of technology, as an extension of their human bodies, mediate their interactions and influence their authority over other participants within the subculture. This paper further argue that CPs use of photography equipment is engaged in a two-way mutually shaping relationship between gender and technology and more importantly, it mediates male CPs (re)construction of a hegemonic masculinity within the subculture. Extending the theories from feminist technology studies (FTS) together with “embodiment relations” (Brey 2000b), “coproduced” (Wajcman 2002) and “hegemonic masculinity” (Connell 1987), this paper will examine the interplay between gender and technology within the subculture of cosplay in Singapore.