Pretty Girls Cosplay Disability
Abstract
From the corsets of the romantic era, to the 21st century Met Gala’s extravagant requirements, the standards of beauty for women have been plenty, and the requirements to be feminine, strongly linked to being beautiful. Such standards of performance thus leave out women who struggle to hit all or most of them, notably disabled women. This article looks at the link between the physical limitations and discomfort induced by aesthetic decisions women make to attain emphasized/dominant femininity and, the perhaps, at first glance contradictory exclusion of physically disabled women who live with these limitations from our collective understanding of femininity. In other words, how is the feminine essence we perceive as exuding from able-bodied women who limit their own abilities a conversation about overcoming discomfort, complimentary nature and domination, conversation that should be seen through a gendered disability lens.
