My Little Pony & Bronies: what's all the fuss about?

[lizzyjane101]

 

:D /) *Pan-hoof* :P My family have also been very tolerant and accepting of me; when I was a kid I was allowed to do anything I liked, I felt loved and they encouraged me to do the things I enjoy doing. I wasn't really aware of the discrimination and sexism all members of society are subject to and especially the burdens I carry on my shoulders until my teens, though. Now I'm pretty much stuck in the closet because of one (somewhat legit) reason. Sometimes it's better to wait for the ''right moment'' to come out... . I truly believe that my relatives won't freak out once I tell them, but this really isn't the right moment for me to come out, at least that's what I keep reminding myself of... . -_- *sigh* :mellow:

 

Yeah, I haven't really networked there myself, but after lurking around tumblr I reckon what you said. There's great people, not-so-great people and horrible people to be found on tumblr and as what happens with relationships in real life you'll just have to sort them out until you find the most suitable persons to be your friends. ;)

 

/haha ...We're all so very mature! x''D Maybe someone among us should start a discussion thread about it? Maybe this could be a good thread title ''What do you think your cutie mark would be?''. lol If I were to read about other people's cutie marks and maybe even see them that might help inspire me in order to create a better cutie mark for myself... . :glasses:

 

Yeah. Weirdly enough, the only reason I'm not out to my parents is because I don't want to make a bit deal out of it by saying it randomly because I know they won't care. I was going to just come home one day and be like 'hey parental units, here's my girlfriend'. The only stopper in that plan is that I thought I would have a girlfriend by now /forever alone. I'm out to pretty much the whole school and my grandma. Even this random aunt that I never talk to somehow knows about my ex-'special friend'. That was an awkward family dinner, I can tell you.

 

I love tumblr. It's my life and has been for years. I manage to find awesome people with whom I share interests. I had an awkward moment when I was followed by this awesome blog and we started reblogging each other all the time. After a couple of months, it turns out she's the girlfriend of one of my acquaintances. I'm terrified of real life people finding my tumblr (it's a little inappropriate at times). I met her IRL and was just like 'heyyy I'm that tumblr person.'

 

Yes! I will do it!

 

I'm not really involved in an MLP fan community at the moment but am a huge fan of MLP FIM.

I remember playing with the MLP toys when I was a little girl, and when I heard about all these adult male fans of it I wondered why grown men were watching the show. Was it a creeper thing or just a really good show? So I watched some episodes on Netflix and got totally hooked. So much that I went to build a bear and made a pinkie pie plushie, and even got a pinkie pie case for my phone. I've gotten other people into it too, and am happy to see some people on here who are also fans :)

 

Yay! Welcome to the community. I think my favourite thing to ever come out of this fandom is this video:

 

I've watched it a bajillion times. You can thank me later.

[Lady Lyuba]

 

Yes! I think that very much contributes to the stigma. I think some of it is indeed subtle sexism. One of the reasons I love it so much is that it's very feminine. It plays on many female stereotypes, yet the characters are still interesting and have depth. Rarity shows us that you can love to look pretty, care about your hair and clothes, and still be strong and meaningful. Rainbow shows us that ambition is not a negative thing. Applejack shows us that girls can do manual labour and be physically strong. Pinky is hyperactive and sometimes annoying, but guess what? She means well and we love her. Twilight is an intellectual female and I think that people have this idea that girls' shows can't have any of those things because girls aren't any of those things. Girls' shows can't be engaging and complex because girls aren't those things. You can't like girls' shows because being associated with femininity is not just a bad thing, it's unthinkable. If you ask a straight woman if she's gay, more often than not she'll just laugh it off. If you ask guys the same thing, they'll usually be terribly offended because they associate it with a loss of masculinity and that's the most terrible thing in the world.

 

Sorry if I misunderstood you, but I think that does have something to do with it.

 

Oh no, you understood me perfectly and you voiced exactly what society assumes of females and girls versus males That's exactly the idea people have.

 

 

Very interesting links Lady Lyuba! I'll take a better look at them later. ;)

What you said is exactly one of the many reasons why this show is so great. Generation 4 of MLP sure has managed to not get stuck in the ''girl ghetto'', making it a show that can be appreciated by children and adults alike. It's disgusting to live in a society that tries to ostracize you simply for liking something that's not ''suitable'' for your age and gender. I'm a dude, but since I don't have a very active social life at all, (too sick and tired of my old ''friends'' that I decided I was better off without them) I've yet to be ridiculed for being a brony (at most my best friend and my mom joke with me about it, but they accept it and have even enjoyed some MLP-related videos I've showed them, so that doesn't really count), although I do constantly feel the weight of society's expectations on how adults, especially how I as a man should act and think and what I should and shouldn't like. It's so very tiresome and so very sad to be subject to so many worries simply because you doesn't quite fit in with the role society deems appropriate for you. It's true that women have it somewhat easier in this fandom, but as you well said, you aren't completely immune to discrimination due to the fact that you're well over the age of the show's supposed target demographic (and other pernicious stereotypes that e.g. women can't be fangirls, that only men can be part of a fandom, etc.). It's nice to see shows with a varied cast and having at least shows with women as main protagonists in productions whose target demographic isn't only girls and/or women is a great start. Women can be strong, great leaders and brave! while men can be sensitive and caring, there's nothing wrong with that and society has to begin to accept that fact faster. Too bad I don't think I'll live long enough to see this world become the equal place I think it should be... . :sad01_anim:

 

I agree with you there, Katsuokai. It's truly a sad thing....Sexism exists on both sides of the spectrum, not just towards females, but males as well. And said sexism towards males comes full circle when MLP is brought up, or other well written works that happen to star female characters that men are fans of.

Ah yes, definitely good points you made, of how nerdy girls like me have to deal with people's idea that women cannot be geeks, fangirls, etc, and indeed I am not immune. And I also agree that society has to accept these changes much faster than they are willing to, that men can be just as sensitive and caring as women. We've strived to bring women to men's level for decades, even centuries, and women have only been seen as "people" since the 20th century, however, we have yet to get men equal to women. The patriarchal instinct of humanity despises the feminine, sadly, and I too doubt I'll live to see these fictional walls between masculine and feminine diminish, if it ever does... (I'm quite certain gender roles are instinctive as all human societies have established what the males and females do since they started walking on two legs, and even toddlers have a stereotypical view of what men and women are "supposed" to do). And can instinct ever truly be diminished?

[lizzyjane101]

 

Oh no, you understood me perfectly and you voiced exactly what society assumes of females and girls versus males That's exactly the idea people have.

 

 

 

I agree with you there, Katsuokai. It's truly a sad thing....Sexism exists on both sides of the spectrum, not just towards females, but males as well. And said sexism towards males comes full circle when MLP is brought up, or other works well written works that happen to star female characters that men are fans of.

Ah yes, definitely good points you made, of how nerdy girls like me have to deal with people's idea that women cannot be geeks, fangirls, etc, and indeed I am not immune. And I also agree that society has to accept these changes much faster than they are willing to, that men can be just as sensitive and caring as women. We've strived to bring women to men's level for decades, even centuries, and women have only been seen as "people" since the 20th century, however, we have yet to get men equal to women. The patriarchal instinct of humanity despises the feminine, sadly, and I too doubt I'll live to see these fictional walls between masculine and feminine diminish, if it ever does... (I'm quite certain gender roles are instinctive as all human societies have established what the males and females do since they started walking on two legs, and even toddlers have a stereotypical view of what men and women are "supposed" to do). And can instinct ever truly be diminished?

 

I see what you mean about the spectrum, but I think it's less to do with discrimination against males than discrimination against femininity. So when men are made fun of for liking mlp or fashion it's about the societal repugnance of the feminine rather than suppression of the male himself. You're right, sexism has negative consequences for men as well as women.

 

The think about nerd girls is a huge problem, especially in comic books and gaming. Felicia Day is a fantastic human being who has dedicated her life to dispelling sexism within nerd culture. You should check out her youtube channel 'Geek and Sundry'. She gives nerd girls the opportunity to show their stuff. She covers gaming, cosplay (MMORPGs, console, table top), comics, t.v. shows, everything.

This is a very interesting conversation. Going on from what you were saying about gender and instinct, I think gender was developed in reaction to sex for the original function of reproduction. As animals, we had to be mostly gender binary/ heterosexual to ensure the continuation of the species. Now that most people think of sex as 50 other things before reproduction, it's become less important. I think that when (and this won't happen for a very long time) alternative methods of reproduction, such as IVF, become so commonplace we don't need sex to reproduce, gender will cease to exist. A person's sex is determined by genitals and gender is just society's method of separating the roles of different genitals. Because plenty of people identify as non-cis, I don't think this can be the be all and end all of the human race.

 

Anyway, that's my two cents. Haha, this has turned from 'yay mlp' to 'gender studies 101'.

[Katsuokai]

 

Yeah. Weirdly enough, the only reason I'm not out to my parents is because I don't want to make a bit deal out of it by saying it randomly because I know they won't care. I was going to just come home one day and be like 'hey parental units, here's my girlfriend'. The only stopper in that plan is that I thought I would have a girlfriend by now /forever alone. I'm out to pretty much the whole school and my grandma. Even this random aunt that I never talk to somehow knows about my ex-'special friend'. That was an awkward family dinner, I can tell you.

 

I love tumblr. It's my life and has been for years. I manage to find awesome people with whom I share interests. I had an awkward moment when I was followed by this awesome blog and we started reblogging each other all the time. After a couple of months, it turns out she's the girlfriend of one of my acquaintances. I'm terrified of real life people finding my tumblr (it's a little inappropriate at times). I met her IRL and was just like 'heyyy I'm that tumblr person.'

 

Yes! I will do it!

 

 

Yay! Welcome to the community. I think my favourite thing to ever come out of this fandom is this video:

 

I've watched it a bajillion times. You can thank me later.

 

You're so right about that. I don't want to make this whole ''coming out thing'' a drama, but since I cannot express myself openly without coming out I'll just have to wait for that ''right moment'' to do it. You're not alone in the /forever alone part, /haha although I've started to think that I'm a pansexual aromantic (or maybe I just haven't found the right person yet?)... so I won't have it that ''easy'' when it comes to explaining myself. That must have been an awkward family dinner, indeed. lol It's kinda weird when everyone knows, but still no one dares to bring it up openly. My mom knows, but still she acts like she doesn't; when the conversation is about to be brought up she's just like ''not right now, when everything is under control you'll see how everything will be OK and then we'll also be able to talk about all this stuff without drama''. I understand her very well, so I'll just wait till that right moment comes up so this won't become a bigger drama than what it really is. ;)

 

Oh, all those more or less ''inappropriate'' tumblrs... I cannot even open my dashboard in public spaces because of the content some of the blogs I follow posts. x''D Once I'll start posting my own content over there I'll make sure to create multiple blogs, to the very least I'll have one NSFW blog and another SFW blog. Seems to be for the best. xP

 

Hahaha... that video! It's one of my favourite MLP fan-animations out there. Kanashiipanda knows how to create some utterly classy videos. :D

 

<-This, this is classy. :D

 

Also, woot!!! great you created the ''cutie mark'' thread! That way we'll not hijack this one. :P

 

 

Oh no, you understood me perfectly and you voiced exactly what society assumes of females and girls versus males That's exactly the idea people have.

 

 

 

I agree with you there, Katsuokai. It's truly a sad thing....Sexism exists on both sides of the spectrum, not just towards females, but males as well. And said sexism towards males comes full circle when MLP is brought up, or other well written works that happen to star female characters that men are fans of.

Ah yes, definitely good points you made, of how nerdy girls like me have to deal with people's idea that women cannot be geeks, fangirls, etc, and indeed I am not immune. And I also agree that society has to accept these changes much faster than they are willing to, that men can be just as sensitive and caring as women. We've strived to bring women to men's level for decades, even centuries, and women have only been seen as "people" since the 20th century, however, we have yet to get men equal to women. The patriarchal instinct of humanity despises the feminine, sadly, and I too doubt I'll live to see these fictional walls between masculine and feminine diminish, if it ever does... (I'm quite certain gender roles are instinctive as all human societies have established what the males and females do since they started walking on two legs, and even toddlers have a stereotypical view of what men and women are "supposed" to do). And can instinct ever truly be diminished?

There seem to be some instincts that makes men and women act slightly different stemming from the evolutionary need of survival of our species, but the big problem with our modern societies is that we have ''amplified'' those ''instincts'', converting them into defined ''gender roles'' that we make sure to imbue the coming generations with, thus completely forgetting that even if there are some differences between how the sexes act, not everyone fits into these roles. Studies have shown that e.g. the brains of homosexual people are often similar to those of the heterosexual counterpart of the opposite gender. Plus let's not forget that there exists more than 2 biological sexes; intersex people have always existed and still society acts like if they don't exist at all. :/ Instinct can never truly be diminished, but societies can learn, change and evolve to make space for all of us people that doesn't operate on the same ''instincts'' that the majority of people seems to operate on. ;) It will take a long time and great effort to see this world become the equal place we want it to be, but step by step, even if we might not manage to live long enough to see the fruits of our efforts we'll at least know that we have tried to do something about it, instead of simply standing idly by watching this world become even more rotten than what it was to begin with. At least that is what I keep saying to the misanthropic side of me that keeps thinking ''screw it all and let this world just rotten away!''... . Let's just hope that all of our efforts aren't in vain.

 

 

I see what you mean about the spectrum, but I think it's less to do with discrimination against males than discrimination against femininity. So when men are made fun of for liking mlp or fashion it's about the societal repugnance of the feminine rather than suppression of the male himself. You're right, sexism has negative consequences for men as well as women.

 

The think about nerd girls is a huge problem, especially in comic books and gaming. Felicia Day is a fantastic human being who has dedicated her life to dispelling sexism within nerd culture. You should check out her youtube channel 'Geek and Sundry'. She gives nerd girls the opportunity to show their stuff. She covers gaming, cosplay (MMORPGs, console, table top), comics, t.v. shows, everything.

This is a very interesting conversation. Going on from what you were saying about gender and instinct, I think gender was developed in reaction to sex for the original function of reproduction. As animals, we had to be mostly gender binary/ heterosexual to ensure the continuation of the species. Now that most people think of sex as 50 other things before reproduction, it's become less important. I think that when (and this won't happen for a very long time) alternative methods of reproduction, such as IVF, become so commonplace we don't need sex to reproduce, gender will cease to exist. A person's sex is determined by genitals and gender is just society's method of separating the roles of different genitals. Because plenty of people identify as non-cis, I don't think this can be the be all and end all of the human race.

 

Anyway, that's my two cents. Haha, this has turned from 'yay mlp' to 'gender studies 101'.

You really managed to express that very well. Our modern societies keep encouraging women to engage in traditional male-dominated areas like science and sport, since most things that are associated with masculinity are deemed as positive whereas most things that are associated with femininity are associated with negative labels like ''weakness'' and ''fragility'' and are thus not encouraged. That's wrong on so many levels, but still society has developed those beliefs into what we now know as ''traditional gender roles''. Women (and people of other sexes & gender identities even more) have such a long way to go until reaching true equality, but we must not forget that not only because women are steadily gaining access to male-dominated areas femininity are deemed as any less negative. Women are appreciated when they get into those male-dominated areas since they that way seem to have ''let go'' of the feminine attributes that makes most females, from a patriarchal society's view,''weak'' and ''second class citizens''. Of what use is it to express your emotions and take care of children and the elderly? None at all, at least according to the patriarchal view that only by getting a ''real job (i.e. paid work)'' and by being very bold you're gonna be of any ''real worth'' to society... . We have to show the world that there's nothing wrong about femininity, the same way as there's nothing wrong about masculinity. All sexes, identities and gender roles can be assertive, do things that are of utility to society and we can all, together, make this world a better place.

I also agree with what you said about reproduction. With the continuous advancements in reproduction techniques sooner or later it might not even be necessarily for female-bodied people to go through a pregnancy in order to have children. In today's society we see how people scream that ''the gays'' will make humanity come to an end simply because two persons of the same sex can't biologically have children together, when it has been more than proven that same-sex couples use all means from adoption to IVF to form a family of their own. Reproduction is one of those intrinsic needs most humans seem to have and only because one person happen to be gay or asexual that doesn't mean that they lack the desire and ability to procreate. Sadly, that's something most people don't seem to understand.

 

Hahaha.... yeah, this has really went from ''woot! go bronies!; long live mlp!'' to ''gender studies 101''. I don't think leverhelven knew what she was about to start by starting this thread. lol This fandom sure brings up to the possibility to talk about many interesting and relevant topics about how our modern societies work. Who knew that magical colourful ponies was such a serious topic? :glasses: ?

[leverhelven]

 

Yeah. Weirdly enough, the only reason I'm not out to my parents is because I don't want to make a bit deal out of it by saying it randomly because I know they won't care. I was going to just come home one day and be like 'hey parental units, here's my girlfriend'. The only stopper in that plan is that I thought I would have a girlfriend by now /forever alone. I'm out to pretty much the whole school and my grandma. Even this random aunt that I never talk to somehow knows about my ex-'special friend'. That was an awkward family dinner, I can tell you.

 

I love tumblr. It's my life and has been for years. I manage to find awesome people with whom I share interests. I had an awkward moment when I was followed by this awesome blog and we started reblogging each other all the time. After a couple of months, it turns out she's the girlfriend of one of my acquaintances. I'm terrified of real life people finding my tumblr (it's a little inappropriate at times). I met her IRL and was just like 'heyyy I'm that tumblr person.'

 

Yes! I will do it!

 

 

Yay! Welcome to the community. I think my favourite thing to ever come out of this fandom is this video:

 

I've watched it a bajillion times. You can thank me later.

 

What the. I can't even. ZOMG HAHAHAHAH THIS VIDEO

It's so random but... can't stop watching! :D

 

(ps: love it that you guys are discussing gender issues <3 )

[Lady Lyuba]

I would love to continue discussing these topics, but I will be gone for the weekend. I'll be back Monday night however! Still, I'm happy to be discussing these gender issues with you all, and you, Katsuokai, and you too, lizzyjane101, I'd especially like to discuss further with the points you made. Til next week!

 

Stay peaceful my friends. ;) Pony on. /)

[lizzyjane101]

I would love to continue discussing these topics, but I will be gone for the weekend. I'll be back Monday night however! Still, I'm happy to be discussing these gender issues with you all, and you, Katsuokai, and you too, lizzyjane101, I'd especially like to discuss further with the points you made. Til next week!

 

Stay peaceful my friends. ;) Pony on. /)

 

Awesome! Maybe we should start a new thread on gender discrepancies. Have fun over the weekend! I shall also be absent, since my final music performance exam in on Monday and I'll be practicing all day tomorrow :)