Level 7: Cosplay Safety

Travel with friends. Stay in a group and don’t leave friends alone in costume.
Don’t give out your phone number. Exchange email instead.
If the event is at a hotel, don’t give out your room number to anyone. If you think someone is following you to your room, get off at a different floor. Return to the lobby & contact security.
If your costume is hard to move in or risqué, have a friend with you as a ‘handler’. Agree on a safety word or gesture to use if you feel unsafe and need to leave.
Use an alias instead of a real name on your badge if possible. This will make it harder for strangers to pose as a ‘friend’ to others.
Do not go off alone for photos, no matter how nice the person you have met is. If a friend isn’t around to go with you, offer to pose somewhere out in the main convention area.
If you feel you are being stalked or followed, find convention staff. Most events have staff roaming the grounds that can help you.

Use an alias instead of a real name on accounts that allow for this. Twitter, TikTok & Instagram are places with large cosplay communities that allow you to use a screen name to identify yourself.
Set up a cosplay email account to keep your correspondence with photographers and other cosplayers separate from your own personal account.
Instead of listing the city in which you live on your profile, use state or region information.
If you anticipate needing to give out a phone number to others at an event, sign up for a Google Voice number. It’s free to sign up for one and you can use it from your phone like your normal number.
Beef up your social media security settings & consider closing your DMs to accept only friends and those you follow.
If you are a minor, consider using a ‘locked’ account. Some sites like Twitter allow users to keep their posts from being public.
‘Block’ is your shield. Use it. There’s nothing wrong with saying ‘this person can’t communicate with me or view my content’ for any reason.
Don’t be guilted by the guilty. Some bad actors online may try to overstep your boundaries & guilt you into accommodating them. Don’t fall for it. Predators attempt to trick you out of following your gut instinct. A person who is socially awkward will apologize and feel terrible for overstepping your boundaries. A creep will try to make YOU apologize.