The final of 5 parts continuing my interview with Booster Gold cosplayer Nicole (Demyrie).

BOOSTERRIFIC: What statement do you think you are making about sexual politics by dressing as a gender-bent version of a male fictional character?

NICOLE: Haha! Wow, you opened a door. I have to say, this constant question is perfectly encapsulated by one guy at SDCC who saw us, did a double-take, crowed "AWESOME!", and then "... why?". Why, indeed, dress in a male superhero suit/persona with full intention of portraying the character... just, female?

First, it comes down to possible cosplay options. I don't like many female characters, therefore I don't spend the effort to cosplay Supergirl and Batgirl and so on. Also, if I'm going to strut around in public, I'd like to be dressed in a little more than a bikini and thigh-highs, so that eliminates most other super-females!

But it becomes a little bit more than simple process of elimination when you consider that I've been gender-bending since day one, and don't see it ending anytime soon. It's obvious that male heroes get the lions-share of characterization and compelling story-lines, so I sync with them completely and want to portray them in a way that tricks fans into believing they could exist for just a little while. If I were a dude, I would just do it, but as a girl I have a few problems. This conundrum would be a great deal easier in, say, Japan, where effeminate heroes make cross-playing (dressing up as a fictional character of the opposite gender; essentially "drag") both easy and widely-accepted, but the American ideal of hyper-masculinity really doesn't allow for a smooth or believable transition from female to male if we're talking comics.

I mean, can you imagine how much that muscle-suit would cost? And I like my chin, but Booster's was chiseled out of granite.

Therefore this interesting gender-queer middle-space is created by the virtue of alternate universes (which comics are so fond of), where a woman can essentially appropriate the history, authority, presence and strength of a male character, and the result is very, very excited fans. More often than not, the cosplayers of genderbent heroes appear far more approachable than cut-and-dry female heroes (Rogue, Wonder Woman, Black Canary) which I believe stems from the fact that it's the costume equivalent of a girl walking up to a shy guy and suggesting a night of beer and football. We aren't hyper-sexualized — we're more nerds than girls, because I'm NOT talking about the "prostitute She-Robin" Halloween costumes on Ebay — and we clearly know comics well enough to successfully translate one of YOUR favorite characters to Earth #11, preserving back-story, motivations, super-powers and that smug, smug smile.

So, you wanna talk about Chocos?

That said, I think that gendered polarization of cosplay in comics is a terrible thing. Especially because I respect the hell out of women who cosplay who they want, I hate that those who cosplay female heroes are reliably treated as sex-objects because objectification is built into the super-heroine design. Either that, or that it's assumed these women know nothing of comics and just want the male attention that only a leotard with a boob-window can afford. I don't want that kind of attention and I felt nauseated when I received it as Silk Spectre II: men touched me differently, talked to me differently and I swore never again. Guy nerds have long-since become suspicious that their sex-drives are being taken advantage of at places like Comic Con (the Booth Babe trend has absolutely no pretense on this) and frequently see cosplaying women as disembodied boobs when that fails, so gender-bending is a way of cutting through the ritual sexualization of women, escaping the Nerd Dismissal, and actually getting to talk with some damn fans about some damn comics.

Though gender-bending is my natural inclination, I honestly wish I didn't have to prove my nerd-dom like this. I dearly wish that more female characters were both respectably clothed and more developed akin to male characters. If you need any proof of the difference, just look at how many men genderbend to presumably just-as-awesome female characters (although Beetle and I are honorary members of the Genderbent Justice League and that saw some of the first serious MtF bends) and google "Women in Refrigerators". I may be ridiculously gender-queer and keep doing my weird thing regardless, but that imbalance just ain't right, which is why it found its way into my Honors thesis. And that was 50 pages!

I owe a huge thank you to Nicole for her participation in our Q&A. Follow these links to parts 1, 2, 3, and 4 of this interview.

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It has been well established in the past three decades of comic book adventures that Booster Gold is a red-blooded male, always interested in the female form. That history has not been forgotten by his fans.

Last week's poll question: What would be your reaction to Booster Gold coming out of the closet? (39 votes)

I was trying to be a little provocative with last week's poll question. Interested in topping that, I asked myself what's more personal than someone's sexual preferences? Their pets!

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Hey, DC, the mob has spoken: we want to see Booster Gold's supporting cast in the post-Flashpoint DCnU!

Last week's poll question: What should Booster Gold do during his September 2012 vacation? (47 votes)

Last month, DC made a lot of waves by teasing that one of their formerly heterosexual characters was switching teams. We now know that the character whose sexual preference was switched was Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern, but for awhile it was anybody's guess. Now that we know the character in question, it's fair to ask, "what if it had been Booster Gold?"

Does it matter to us hardcore Booster Gold fans what equipment our hero prefers in his sexual partners? Sure, Booster Gold had his share of one-night stands in his early days, but he hasn't been seen with a love interest on panel for years. It's no surprise that Booster has a sizable following among "shippers" who enjoy pairing him romantically with his best friend, Ted Kord. They'd be pretty happy to see Booster publicly admit his affinity for men, right?

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Frequent commenter and native-Israeli deusex2 drops by to explain the small changes that Booster Gold would need to make to comfortably join Israel society in today's entry in the "Booster Gold International" files:

OK, first of all it's important to remember that Israel is a multicultural country, there are people, litteraly from all over the world and they all bring their culture with them. Therefore, an Israeli Booster Gold would be no different from the original American Booster. The character, his goals and his past would all be the same for the most part but of course, there would be some differences.

First and foremost, the star on Booster's costume would have to go and instead Israeli Booster would, probably, end up wearing David's Star instead. I say probably, because the original looks too darn well to be changed and Booster isn't really that great at maintaining his suit during his first years of hero career, so this is more like a speculation on my part.

Now here's the hard truth part and this is a must for an Israeli Booster-his sport career. You see, people in Israel aren't all that familiar with American Football, they on the other hand, are soccer junkies, most of Israelis are, really. So Israeli Booster wouldn't fail as American Football player, but rather he would fail as a soccer player. A small, but significant difference.

Next important difference is that, well, stereotypes exist for a reason. And as such, Israeli Booster Gold would be far more successful businessman than the original Booster Gold...He'll still lose it all in the end, but for some time Israeli Booster and Ted Kord will become filthy rich.

And last but not least-commercials! We, Boostermaniacs, all know that commercials are very important part of Booster Gold. Quite frankly, we can't picture Booster Gold NOT doing any commercials and what's more-we actually love those commercials because they bring out the character in Booster Gold. So, anyway, most of commercials actually fit quite well, from soder cola to children toys. However there's one thing that just doesn't makes any sense for Israeli Booster Gold-cornflakes commercial!

Yes, we have those things in Israel, but nobody eats them! It's pretty much a lost cause for Booster. Which is why, Israeli Booster Gold wouldn't bother with it, period. He would partake in hummus commercial, though. Heck! He'd have his own hummus product! Hummus Gold-it's Boosterrific!

I think I could still recognize Booster after those changes, deusex2. (I even think he might look better in a Star of David than in a Jim Lee-designed costume.)

The next post in this series will be from Germany. If you wish to share what Booster Gold would mean to your culture, drop me an email at webmaster at Boosterrific.com.

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