My niece talks about cosplay and the word as well as the concept bothers me. Feels as if they’re being primed to accept being something other than what they are.
Cosplay what we called “playing pretend,” when I was a girl. Dressing up as, say, “The Aristocats” or “Super Friends” and acting out a story. Nowadays it’s teenagers going to the mall dressed as cartoon characters. A lot of it is Japanese, though, so it’s weirder.
Also, we live in a weirder time. In the 70s, nobody would have said that little girls acting out Batman or Superman shows - or boy kittens, because we couldn’t all be Marie - were “transgender.” Now, I shudder to think.