My Little Brony: We Appreciate Your… Enthusiasm

No, really. I’m sure the makers of the show are very excited at the massive fanbase My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic has generated. And a huge amount of that fanbase are “bronies,” men who hang out on Youtube commenting on every Pony video [I won't link them here, because you can easily find them.]

And that’s fine! It’s fine! A lot of the language around the show has gotten very masculine — talking about being a “man” if you watch the show, calling the ponies “badass” [an adjective arguably associated with masculinity], calling each other “brony.”

And again, that’s fine!

But… Lauren Faust made this show for teh womens [Lauren Faust on Television for Young Girls; she's also quite smart My Little NON-Homophobic, NON-Racist, NON-Smart-Shaming Pony: A Rebuttal]. Lauren Faust created the show in an effort to give young girls positive role models, and show that things that are traditionally associated with women [fashion, pink, and baking] aren’t necessarily crap — to put it into terms the internet likes, things traditionally associated with ladies can be “badass” while still being associated with ladies. You do not have to make them associated with male characteristics [seriously] in order to make them “badass,” AND they do not have to be associated with women, either, obviously.

That’s one of the kinds of things feminism tries to fight, anyway.

My point here is that the language around this show is starting to get a little… exclusive. As though to say, “Hey, ladies, this is, like, duder territory now. Butt the fuck out because you’re making us look girly.” I mean, don’t get me wrong: IRL, I watch this show with ONLY BOYS [my best friend's favorite is Rainbow Dash.]

Someone also decided shes a lesbian.

But that doesn’t mean that ONLY BOYS watch the show. And because WOMEN watch the show, some of teh menz might feel threatened.

Stop it.

Just… stop that now, and hear me out: just because ladies like it, doesn’t make you less manly. Liking something intended for a women doesn’t make you a woman, it doesn’t make you gay [which isn't even a bad thing, isn't even necessarily a feminine thing, and FEMININE THINGS ARE NOT BAD, AND ARE NOT JUST ASSOCIATED WITH LADIES FOR FUCK'S SAKE. This isn't the 90's people]; liking something intended for women, that women watch, just makes you someone who identifies as male, who likes something intended for women. It’s like my female friend being a gigantic fan of M.A.S.H.: that’s a show that’s OBVIOUSLY targeted at men, starring men, in what was, at the time, a male-dominated field. Liking M.A.S.H. didn’t make my female friend a lesbian, didn’t make her masculine — well, if you want to follow traditional gender lines, then yes, it did.

And you don’t have to watch My Little Pony ironically — that’s just… it’s silly. Just enjoy the show! And stop, like, shoving women away from you going, “NOO, YOU’RE GETTING YOUR VAGINA IN MY PONIES!” Because, guess what, women are on the internet, they watch this show… there might even be one in the room with you… RIGHT NOW.

And she might be thinking about ponies.

Dream on brony, keep watching the show, keep loving it, just remember: you’re watching a feminist show, and loving it… maybe it’s time to rethink your attitudes about feminism and women… and… pink, or something.

Okay, so it isn’t a video game

Let me just start this post by saying that 1) I’m aware that Dr. Who isn’t a video game, which this blog is about, and 2) that I love Dr. Who, I love it so much that there are noises I’ve made whilst watching it that can only be matched by noises small, excited dogs make. I’ve watched older Dr. Who episodes, I’ve watched all of the “new” series, I… I love it. I’ve got a papercraft sonic screwdriver and psychic wallet that I bought at a Powell’s Books in Portland, OR. I just finished my character for the Dr. Who: Adventures in Time and Space table-top RPG that I bought my boyfriend for his birthday… so that he could run the game for me. I cried when he had to leave Rose. I cried the day after I watched that episode, when someone mentioned it. I’ve had Master-themed nightmares. I’m a Whooligan! Yes, I know, I have a damn problem!

But I don’t care about all that, because I like the show and it plays heavily on my need to see mysteries in space and time! Which is basically the over-arching theme of all my greatest dreams. But there is something that Dr. Who fails to do for me, and that is make me a happy feminist.

No, it’s not as terrible as some shows. And it certainly has gotten better. My friend recently took on the epic task of watching through all of the old series that she could get her hands on, and was [righteously] bemoaning how often they shake women for crying and how often those women cry at the sight of, like, a Dalek. [Seriously, who the fuck was scared of Daleks before they could get up stairs? One was defeated by a doggamn coat, for fuck's sake.] Yes, the old show was a 1940′s “I’m-a-slap-you-’cause-bitches-be-hysterical” film compared to the newest Dr. Who episodes.

But if there is one thing I’ve learned whilst being a feminist and a woman, it’s that you should never be satisfied. Never, ever, ever, ever; why? Because there is going to be a generation after mine that will still feel oppressed, and rightly so, when the only heroines they have to admire are trying to fuck the good Doctor behind bushes on their wedding day [okay, so snog, make-out, whatever; point is, fuck you Amelia Pond.]

Every female he picks up on his crew wants to jump his doggamn bones except for Donna, and Donna was still posed as a crazy man-chaser, because, well, she couldn’t be sane and useful, now could she? The boys always get to redeem themselves; like Mickey, who was left by Rose for the Doctor and ended up with Martha and a badass attitude. Doggamn… Martha, she fucking rocked. But she still was in love with the Doctor!

My point is this: can we please have a female Doctor? It’s possible, the new Doctor implied it was when he was terrified of his long hair [FOR FUCK'S SAKE]. Or, hey, maybe just a companion who isn’t interested in relationships at all, just awesome time-and-space-traveling shenanigans?

Oh, and btw, the writers need to stop acting like the new Doctor is anything but weird-looking. Sure, weird-looking is attractive–even hot–but don’t shove it down my throat like I’m supposed to just accept it. Fuckers.