I was in a comic shop yesterday and there were

[Down2thefloor]

3 men, dressed head to toe in baby pink. Frilly skirts, very short skirts, over knee socks, bows everywhere. Wigs (varying shades of pink) Size 11 Mary Jane shoes.

They were being SO loud. And in the middle of Manchester were talking in fake American accents, with that certain way they talk in dubbed animes, I can't explain it but where they sound shocked about everything.
They were picking up books and shouting 'Omg I love thisssss! "

They must have all been mid thirties.

They just took over the whole shop with what they were wearing, their loudness and shrieking.

I left because I didn't want to say anything as I'd be in FB within the hour for being a TERF.

My point is not a single real woman in that shop or any others I went in that day were behaving like that.

None.

What do they think they are pretending to be??

This behaviour hasn't been illegal for about 40 years. I would find it offensive and would leave. DD would openly laugh at them.

O tempus o mores!

If they are dressed like little girls it means they are sexually attracted to little girls, only now they feel emboldened by transactivism to signal the fact. There's a giant red flag planted on anything sexualising childhood.

Atwood said: "Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them." And this is true.

Laugh at them, clearly and without reserve. A quick look, laugh and move on. It will piss them off but that's that thing that will linger in their minds and upset them. Shame works.

Everything else they will twist and turn into their into their fetish.

There is a reason why shaming is an evolutionary trait. It works to keep the community/society healthy.

Anime catgirls.

Unfortunately, humiliation is a big part of sissy fetish.Infuriating when the Be Kind brigade comes in coyly denying that this is about nerd boners. Those aren't dudes in dresses, they aren't cosplaying, we all know what the fishnets and programmer socks mean. (Programmer socks = thigh highs. Yes, it's a thing.)

I would say a grown man stood a few feet from my child, who is eye height to this man's visible frilly knickers matters, yeah.

Look one man straight in the eye, then tell your children that they're doing it for a very unfunny joke.

Can someone explain why it's sexual? Aren't they just dressed up in short skirts and high heels and pretending to be something?

No. The humiliation part is controlled. They decide who, when and where. The fact that they choose the humiliation and control it is part of the kick as a sick way of taking back previous situations they felt out of control. It makes them feel powerful.

When it gets out of their control, random women laughing at them at the store, it's when everything crumbles and they are left with unexpected shame. But like I said, it works so well they can get angry.

The be kind brigade is just getting ridiculous at this point. How far are they willing to let things slide?

I live in a hot, humid climate and it is Summer here. I work as a first aid officer in a sensibly air-conditioned building. I was watching as about 200 “Furries” went past, marching for their rights to be recognised, etc… I was just waiting for the emergency phone calls to start coming in when they over-heated, knowing I’d have to be first on the scene giving first aid to someone who identifies as a badger, refusing to take the head of their costume off. Luckily the first aid calls happened about ten minutes after they went past us and of course they sabotaged treatment, threatened first aiders and ambulance workers for “outing” then and not being supportive of their rights or recognizing their “gender” (animal) ID. Ffs. Let them cook in fake fur and foam then???

Naw.

Lolita is pretty prim. Knee length skirts and tights, definitely no stockings:

www.pinterest.co.uk/liliheleo/lolita/

"I like comic conventions so men dressing up as pornified children and going out in public is fine by by me" sounds like you've had your boundaries lowered and isn't the sophisticated argument you may think.

In reality, it's so fatuous, a teenager would be reluctant to advance it.

OP can confirm it is grim.

I used to work in a setting that was open to the public, and had school kids, usually primary, visiting almost every day - with 2-3 coach loads regularly coming into the car park.

One one day a staff member came in on his day off. Dressed as Little Bo Peep.

He was in his 50s.

Pink checked short dress, hair in pigtails so no wig but basically dressed exactly how you described. Could see knickers.

Unfortunately he was there to see me. I was sat on a table outside the cafe when he turned up.

It was uncomfortable, and I couldn't end that meeting fast enough. I've never forgotten it and never will. It's the point I realised that he was co-opting people into his kink.

What woman in her 50s would turn up at work, day off or not, dressed like that? None.

Sounds to me like these dudes were cosplaying their own waifus

www.dictionary.com/e/fictional-characters/waifu/

More Kawaii than Lolita?

www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/408420259933218851/

A grown man dressing up as a anime -style sexualised version of a teenage girl is definitely something you don’t want to stumble across in broad daylight when shopping for comics with your kids.

Better than trying to give mouth to mouth resuscitation to a furry tho!

(all my links are SFW btw!)

When I were a lad (80s), bus stop snogging was a thing (don't know if it still is). Youthful couples would slurp each other incessantly, to the discomfort of everyone else there. There are things that should be restricted to the private sphere - tonsil hockey is one and fetish clothing certainly is another.

My DC are into Anime and I have been to a few events and Comic-Con, often with DD dressed up.
There is a big difference between cos play and what these people were doing and anyone claiming otherwise is deluded or a bit dim

I may have been guilty of that on the last train back from town one time c. 1992
Belated apologies to my fellow passengers

Heh!

I remember being stood at the bus stop when the slurpage was taking place in a car opposite. A girl I knew was with her skinhead-looking boyfriend who paused at one point to sneer over her shoulder at my skinny, younger self.

An old lady walked past the car and Skinhead honked his horn suddenly. The poor woman jumped out of her skin and the car occupants laughed raucously. That's the point I should have petrol-bombed the car.

Yep, this.

Women just aren't this dim, in general, particularly when it comes to protecting their children from grooming / inappropriate sexualisation / being co-opted into some male adult's child endangering fetish.

They must get so angry when we say 'no, this really isn't the same as dressing up as superman (insert other character)'

I would imagine that that's one way to put children off of comics, if they were in the shop and you told them that they'd grow up to be like that they'd definitely go off of it!

You what?

Aren't they just dressed up in short skirts and high heels and pretending to be something?

It's what the something is that's the issue.

I can't actually believe there are people on this thread trying to argue that an adult man dressed up in stockings and frilly knickers is not motivated by a sexual fetish. Anime porn is a very big thing. Are they just naive? Is it willful blindness? Brainwashing by queer theory? I don't get it.

I think they’re probably #BeKind-ers.

And in addition, it is related to something they're interested in (dressing up as fantasy people in a convention centre). Of course, this is usually a harmless activity and you would think that they'd be interested in not looking overly supportive of obvious perverts, but no.

For a man to be dressing in filly knickers in public is acting out a fetish. It's not just 'dressing up' for historical larping or to go to a Star Trek convention etc.