Cosplaying

I am a young woman of Korean decent living in the US. I enjoy going to comic/anime conventions. (I also enjoy cosplaying) And every year without fail I am subject to harassment and degradation. One specific convention I have attended the past 4 consecutive years. The first year I was 15 and a man lifted my skirt as I walked up the stairs, then he and his friends corners me and made lewd comments while pulling and prodding at me/my costume. I have been bowed to by white men, criticized for cosplaying non Asian characters. And even spoken to in broken Japanese by other attendees (I’m of Korean decent and was born in the US). People just throw me into a vague place of “Asian” rather than trying to understand the difference of my culture and heratige. The worst is the fetisization of East Asian women and how it surfaces within interactions during these events. Other attendees would never touch or harass another cosplayer because they hold cosplay in high regard as an art. But many of the see me and break boundaries that my friends say have never been crossed with them. I feel as though they see my handmade cosplay as a cheap costume in an Asian themed porno. Like I am there to cater to them instead of dressing up for fun and to express myself (like the other cosplayers)